In order to establish successful partnerships with your clients, you need to constantly hone & use your negotiation skills. To negotiate means to discuss and agree terms of a particular transaction or deal.

To avoid unnecessary conflict, consultants must ensure that all terms are clearly understood and agreed to by their clients. It is like establishing the rules before you embark on a game; everyone has to be clear and agree.

Often clients will be disgruntled because they were not told of the Terms & Conditions of dealing with a particular company; it may be the payment terms, the guarantee terms or the number of guarantees provided in the event of a placement not working out. Whatever the conditions, a clear agreement needs to be established and agreed to.

When you consider the conflicts that reach court, ironically they are often ones that pertain to one off recruitment jobs or a temp going onto a client's payroll rather than the big exclusive contracts or PSAs. These agreements usually have specific defined rules of engagement relating to the minutiae of the contract to be entered into by the all parties.

Whilst in the course of chasing individual job orders, few consultants are trained or coached in the art of negotiation. Some consultants even avoid discussions about fees and terms as they are worried that the client may change their mind and go elsewhere. Yet this is an integral part of a business relationship where the consultant can demonstrate their professionalism.

Here are a few things to consider when you negotiate:

1. Be clear on communicating the outcome/goal you want to achieve e.g. the client understands that you have an exclusive period of 6 weeks before the client may list the vacancy with another agency. The consequences of the client doing so before the 6 weeks must also be clear e.g. a fee for service may apply. This allows the client the opportunity to agree or disagree. If the client disagrees, get clear on their ideal outcome.
2. If you are in a sticky situation because terms were not agreed prior to the relationship commencing, then always try to see the client's point of view. E.g. the client is unaware that a full fee is payable if the temp becomes a permanent employee regardless of the duration temped and there is no guarantee. Listen to the client's gripe and hear what they want. If you have neglected to spell out the full Terms & Conditions prior to the temp starting, then taking some of the responsibility and seeking to meet the client half- or some way will get you a lot further than just referring to the Terms. Even if you do get the fee, you may have lost any future opportunities with the client.
3. Occasionally clients may perceive you as inflexible when the problem is that they simply did not understand the terms e.g. a client neglects to pay a placement fee, the candidate falls off and you agree to replace it before the payment is in hand. When the replacement starts, you inform the client that there is no guarantee on the new employee. The client thinks you are unreasonable, but if your terms are one guarantee per placement, then this fact needs to be communicated at the very outset and reiterated when the first candidate fell off.

To grow and nurture mutually rewarding business relationships, you must master the art of negotiation which is an important part of a superior communication skill set to establish the rules of engagement and to resolve conflicts when they occur. In order to achieve a win-win result, both parties must feel there has been empathy and where appropriate some give/take on both sides. Which clients do you need to negotiate with today?