Art of Negotiation

It's been 2 weeks now since I joined Brocade in bangalore. We were informed beforehand that for the first 3 weeks we would be undergoing training in soft skills. Each day, a new topic is chosen and deliberated upon. Since it was happening in a 5 star hotel, along with free lunch, we had no reasons to complaint. Today, as usual, a new day, a new topic.

The topic of the day today was "Negotiating Skills". As part of this, all of us had to take part in a role play where the 32 of us were divided into 2 groups. One group will be the employees of the company TechPartner (TP) whereas the other group will represent the company MegaHard (MH). Each group was given a sheet which contained details of only their own company, but it contained no details whatsoever about the company the other group represents. Each member of TP was mapped to a member of MH and both of them had to negotiate a successful deal favorable to both the companies so as to to replace the current contract. All of us were given 30 minutes to go through the sheet and prepare for the "negotiations".

I was in the group that represented TP. There was so much data in the sheet that by the time I could make out what the numbers meant I was already asked to go to the negotiating table.

The tough negotiator that I had to face on the other side of the table was none other than.............

DEBOJYOTI ulf DEBO ulf DADA!!! (Ok now everyone no need to laugh, he's a good guy).

Dada, with a menacing  look in his eyes, came and sat next to me. Those eyes had a fire that I had never seen before (I may have missed it because he used to sleep 24x7 in IIT). Dada never let his gaze off my eyes even for a second. I started sweating.

"How can I save my company from the tough negotiator that MH had sent", I thought. I had no answer.

I had to talk to myself to calm down.

"Ok dude, take a deep breath. Relaxxxxxxx. Just remember this is just our Debo boy. You can do it. You know your CEO has given you some flexibility. All you need to make sure is that this guy does not raise the prices, mentioned in the current contract, by too much an amount. A small amount is something we can live with. Also make sure that we need to limit the period of contract to 2 years though MH guys will want it for a minimum 3 years. You also need to ensure that the we must have a guarantee from MH that we will be delivered atleast 20 units each month, double of what is mentioned in the current contract. So just relax. Everything will be just fine".

I calmed down a bit. I wiped the sweat flowing down my face. I decided I will just go for it. I must have rehearsed my opening statement a 100 times. I wanted the opening to be perfect. But even before I had a chance to blurt out my well rehearsed statement, which was by the way "Good Morning", Dada exploded :-

"I can give you only 5% discount"


I was shocked for a couple of seconds

"You what?"


"I can give you only 5% discount", Dada repeated.

"You will?"

"Only 5%".

Wow....here I was trying to see how to make sure MH will not increase the price and this fool is offering me 5% discount!!!

But since this was a role play for negotiation skills, I thought I will play along.

"No I want 10% discount", I said, putting on a stern face.

"I won't go a step furthur from 5%", Debo stated, standing his ground.

"As if I care", I thought.  I started laughing in my mind.


"Ok fine so be it, as you wish. 5% it is", I replied, as if I am doing him some service.

Next in the agenda was number of units to purchase. I had to convince him that I need a guarantee that MH will provide me with 20 units per month, compared to the 10 mentioned in the current contract

"I want a guarantee that MH will give us 20 units each month", I informed Debo.

"Ok done", he replied.

"What? Done? So fast? So easily? No fight?".

"You sure?", I asked just to make sure I heard him right.

"Yeah", he replied


Man, I am good at this, I complimented myself. Debo is really a dumbo.

The last point was about the period of the contract. I was hoping to be third time lucky.

"I can commit only for a period of 2 years", I told Debo.

"No that can't be. It has to be for 3 years"

"No 2 years", I protested

"No 3"

"2"

"3"

"TWOOOOOOOO"

"THREE"

"Abee 2"

"3"

"Saale tera kya jaata hei. Maan jaana be. Class ke baath lime soda pila doonga", I pleaded.
[Idiot, what is there for you to lose. If u agree to 2 years, I will buy you a lime soda]

"Ok done. Agreed".

Hahaha, this guy really is a dumbo. He agreed to all my terms without me conceding anything. Man I am good.

We went back to the class. We had to report our negotiation terms to Eve, the instructor from US, who was coordinating the class. After we told her the terms of the negotiation, she turned to me and asked

"So do you think this deal was beneficial for your company TP"

"Definitely Eve. My CEO wanted me to ensure the price rise per unit was minimum, but through my hard negotiating tactics, I actually got a discount of 5%. Man I am good. I had to put my negotiating skills to a even harder test with respect to ensuring that TP could secure a guarantee of 20 units per month, but in the end, the better guy prevailed and the deal will guarantee TP 20 units per month. Man I rock. And last, but definitely not the least, I kicked his ass by limiting the period of contract to 2 years. Man I am the best".

Eve was impressed.

"Goooooooooooood. Well Doneeeee. Now Dibaaajoti, how was the deal for you. Was it beneficial for your company MH".

I was laughing in my mind. What will this dumbo say

"Well Eve, these are my points

 - My CEO had asked me to ensure that I do not give more than 15% discount. I ensured I gave only 5%.

 - My boss had instructed me to ensure atleast 15 guaranteed units per month, I am giving him 20. 

 - I ensured that there was nothing in the contract wherein MH could have to pay any fines in case of late deliveries.

 - Though my boss ideally would have liked the deal to be for a period of 3 years, he was ready for 2 years, provided the discount in the price was not more than 10%. Since we had agreed on the 5% discount, it automatically ensured that I could have the period of deal for 2 years.

Taking all this into account, I must say I couldn't have got a better deal"

From somewhere above a 1000 ton hammer fell on me.

Those were the best days of my life

This blog is dedicated to all my friends of CSE MTech 2008-10/11 batch. I miss you guys so much.

The golden era has come to an end. 2010 June 2nd, 3:20 pm - the final journey homewards from IITB. Many of my friends had already left and the campus was wearing a deserted look. It was one of those moments which I had dreaded long ago, but I had kept convincing myself that this moment would never come, so much so that it was a little too much to handle when the moment did arrive. I was fortunate enough that almost all my friends who were still left in the campus had come to see me off. It is a moment that will be ingrained in my memory forever.

IITB - a place that truly made me, helped me realize myself, helped me make the person I am now. I have never known how much this place meant to me, but now when I sit at home typing this post, I realize that I have left a part of me there forever, a part which will always want me to come back to that campus again and again. Now that I have all the time in this world to sit back and just think about everything that happened to me in the last 2 years, I am overwhelmed at the many "firsts" that I did and experienced, after coming here :-

The foremost "first" is that it was the first time ever that I got the taste of hostel life. The experience was mind blowing - I made friends for life, total independence, lessons on how to survive bad food and last but not the least the hostel competitions. It was a truly alien world to me, but to which I became a part of very quickly.

I started blogging after coming to IITB - I have never told this to anyone before, but I actually got the inspiration to blog after reading my classmate, Devshree's first post in her blog. Though initially my idea of blog was of a digital database of all my experiences in IITB, as time progressed, I decided to change my blog goals a bit. I decided to write all the major experiences in an actual real world diary, but I was also pretty sure that I didn't want to miss out on those small small experiences that I had during my 2 years here and that is what I wanted my blog to reflect. I am sure many many years down the line I will read my own posts once again and hopefully recollect all those golden moments.

Continuing with the list of firsts, it was in IITB that I did my first ever solo performance. The occasion was the freshers' party, a few days into my IITB "career". Fortunately I didn't mess it up. But I more than made up for it by trying to be a hero once again, went solo again for the annual onam celebrations of mallus, but this time made a big fool of myself in front of the audience (another first). Needless to say that was and will be my last solo performance ever.

It was in IITB that I acted in a movie for the first time ever - a role of Circuit, with Adil donning the role of Munnabhai. Though the 5 minute film, was made as an entry for PG Cult fest 2009 and got a 2nd prize, everytime I see that film I laugh at how stupid I look in that film. Speaking of movies, it was also the first time I was part of the team that directed a movie, which made as an entry for PG Cult fest 2010, and it won a third place. As the part of movie spoof team for PG Cult 2010, for the first time ever, I acted in a live skit in front of a live audience. For first time in my life I won medals for some sports events - bronze for badminton and gold for football, both as part of PG Sports 2010. It was the first time ever that I had assumed a major role of responsibility, that of being department placement nominee, and I think I, along with Raka, have done an ok job. At the last count 83 out of 85 students had got placed. I really hope the ones who are yet to get placed gets placed soon.

But the most integral part of my campus life involves my friends, all different from one another, each special in their own ways, and yet all of them contributing in their own ways to make me what I am. I think I was able to learn atleast something, irrespective of however big or small it is, from each and every one of my friends :- Raka, Adil, Saurab taught me what it means to work-hard-party-harder, Shubs, Riju and Chotu showed me what is meant by dedication to one's work, a lesson on how to face problems without tension from Anna, true definition of the word geek from Borol and Kashyap, how to be an inspirational leader from Ajitav, a lesson on sharing from Sheiku, time management lessons from Ambu and Akshat, how-to-increase-your-friends-circle lesson from Maate, a lesson on never-giveup attitude from Sandeep Mukherjee (I still remember those stressful placement days when, after each rejection by a company, you looked forward to the next company with no less enthu as the previous company you faced. I salute your courage dude. Anyone else would have long givenup on the cause) ...the list can go on and on and on. Not all experiences had an happy ending, but nevertheless they are as memorable as others.

Now, when I look back at my 2 years in this wonderful campus, I can see that IITB has given me much more than I had ever hoped for. It will always be a defining period in my life. I wish all my friends, who are about to enter the corporate world, all the very best and hope that this flame of friendship will last forever. These truly were the best days of my life. (A special thanks to our junior batch for making this wonderful farewell video).