[Vnbiz] Business Negotiation -- The Jesus Style

[ONG CHEW SENG ANDRE]

Dear Hoanh,
   
  Thank you very much for the very inspiring and practical way of doing business. 
   
  As a matter of fact whilst I was in HCM promoting my heat pump wood drying system, I had kept in mind all the time of the way to help the timber industry develop a low cost drying system. In the past the conventional system with expensive boilers and infrastructure can be replaced and still being able to do the drying process thoroughly.I thought of how I would conduct courses and seminars on effective low cost drying systems using the heat pump. 
  I was willing to give first, the contribute to the inadequate standards of drying technology. My client was so impressed and glad he even suggested that the system could well be applied to rice drying. This could save the farmers about 20% of losses due to current practise of 'sunning' and panicking when the rain comes. A collective grouping could be formed to install the system in a warehouse and a fee levied for the drying service. Viet Nam is the 2nd largest exporter of rice, with proper drying the price would certainly be better.
   
  I would welcome any problem on drying wood, and would try to explain any difficulties to the best of my abilities. (I have 30 years experience in this field)
   
  My contact: servereliably at yahoo.com.sg
   
  kindest regards to you and all VietNamese
  Andre

Tran Dinh Hoanh <tdhoanh at gmail.com> wrote:
  
[Vietnam Business Forum]



  Dear Andre & CACC,
   
  Andre, as promised, here is a story about business negotiation in the Jesus style, to share with you and our brothers and sisters.   
   
  This story happened either in the late 1995 or early 1996.  I was staying in Hanoi trying to develop a business there.  The place I stayed was Nha Khach Ban Viet Kieu Trung Uong (The guesthouse for overseas Vietnamese) on Ba Trieu street.   There was a Vietnamese from France, who I will just call K., staying there.  He was the vice president of a French-based IT company.  He was there to help the Vietnamese government in some computer program. Since only two of us were "permanent" guests at the guesthouse, we hung out with each other often. 
   
  One day, K. told me: "Anh Hoanh, I think you will be very successful in business.  You are sharp, you know many things, and you're trustworthy.   Everyone who meets you feels that they can trust you.  So you have to be successful.   I want to learn more about business from you." 
   
  I said, "Thank you. Not sure I would be very successful or not, but I would love to share with you whatever I know." 
   
  Several days later, I had an appointment to meet with the president of an import company (my "counterpart") to talk about a potential deal.  I was representing the third largest chicken producer in the US and was planning to build some chicken plants in Vietnam.   But at that stage, I was at the first step, i.e., testing and opening the market, by selling US-produced frozen chicken into Vietnam to see how Vietnam market would take.   I asked K.: "I will negotiate a contract tomorrow and possibly sign the contract if the negotiation is successful.  Would you like to sit in to see how I negotiate?"   He said, "Sure.  I love too."  
   
  I checked with my counterpart and asked him if I could bring an assistant into the meeting, he said OK.  So both of us were there at my counterpart's office.   (Notes: In many negotiations, people want to use their own office for "home field" (psychological) advantage.   Many negotiation books will teach you that.  I purposefully went against that advice. I  agreed to my counterpart's office to give him the comfort of being in his own office).  We started out with the Hanoi tea ceremony, then I said, "Let me clear away things we don't need to talk about first, so that we can talk about things that we may need to discuss.   First, the price.  I have gotten from my client the rock-bottom price, which they absolutely can't go lower.   I have the authority to settle for anything above that bottom price.   I just give you that price now, so you don't have to negotiate on price with me.   I don't want to waste your time.  I'd like to do this as fast as I can.  I am interested
 in long-term relationship with you.   I have no interest in having a little more on the price and my client doesn't care about that either.  Second, my client will need to have a letter of credit from you before they start shipping their products.   Other than that, I am here to help you solve all the concerns and difficulties you may have.  Just tell me what your concerns would be I'll try my best to help." 
   
  So we chatted a little and went over a number of issues, which I've now forgotten.  One of the issues was banking.   My client wanted the letter of credit from ANZ, my counterpart couldn't afford ANZ because it was so expensive and it required a huge chunk of deposit.   My counterpart asked if he could use Vietcom Bank, the only Vietnamese bank recognized for international transaction then. I said, "I am willing to bet on Vietcom Bank.   Let's do Vietcom Bank and I will convince my client of that."  We also went over a number of other logistical issues and potential ways to cooperate in the future.   After chatting for about an hour, we signed the contract.
   
  After getting out of my counterpart's office, I asked K.: "How do you think about the session?"  
  He said: "It's OK.  You guys talked happily and you signed the contract."  
  I asked:  "You saw anything else?"  
  "Not really," he said. 
  "You didn't notice anything unusual?" I asked.
   "No."  
  Then I said, "You didn't see us try to haggle or bargain or outdo each other, did you?"
  "That's right.  No."
  "You didn't feel that we were doing business negotiation, did you?  It was more like two guys talking about the weather and soccer, wasn't it?" 
  "That's right.  Now that you mention it, it was more like social chatting in a coffee shop."
  I said: "That is the point.  I made it so easy and so pleasant that you didn't even see any business negotiation going on in front of your eyes.   We just drank tea and chatted and signed the contract."
  "Yeah.  How did you do that?"
   
  I said, "Let me explain the process to you. In the old days, negotiation meant both side trying to outdo and outsmart each other.   I win you lose or you win I lose.  That is fairly destructive.  Today, everyone learns the new negotiation theory of win-win.   Both sides win in a deal and no one loses.  The most advanced books and schools in the world now teach that win-win theory, do you agree?"
  "Yes."
  "And you agree that there is no other theory more advanced than the current win-win theory, right?"
  "Right."
  "But I do have a more advanced theory.  When we talk about win-win, it sounds good, but there are still two sides.   My side and your side.  We both win.  But still two sides.  That means, there is still a distance between us.   In my negotiation technique, there is only one side, not two sides.  Before entering a negotiation room, I check my heart and tell myself that I will act as my counterpart's assistant.   I will not step into that room to outsmart him, but only to figure out his problems and try to help him solve them, exactly as his faithful assistant.   There will be one side in the negotiation—his side.  I don't have to worry about my side at all.  I already know exactly what my client has authorized me to do, what I can settle, what I cannot.   It means, I know exactly what my limits are.  I can settle for any deal within such limits.  As long as my counterpart agrees to settle within my limits, I am OK.   So I won't worry about my side.  What I am concerned
 is that he may have lots of problems that may hinder the deal.   I have to know about those problems and have to be able to help him solve them. Once I have solved all his problems, he may be able to sign the contract.  In order to do that, I have to commit myself, my heart and my mind to think that I am truly his assistant.  I will feel and think exactly like his assistant, will try to work for him like his faithful assistant.   If I feel that my state of mind is not ready to be his assistant, then I won't step into that negotiation room. I will find an excuse to delay the negotiation for another day, when my heart is ready. 
   
  Once I am in the negotiation room, because I really think in my heart that I am his assistant, automatically I will talk to him and help him solve the issues as his assistant.   Usually after about 10 minutes of talking, he will feel comfortable with me and will trust me, just because I have that commitment so strong in my heart.   So he will open himself up to me and tell me one problem after another, including problems he would not have mentioned otherwise, because of, say, embarrassment, for example, his company doesn't have enough money for a large load.   Once all the problems are solved, of course, he will sign the contract.  And there is no haggling or bargaining because he and I are on the same side mentally." 
   
  K. said, "That is fascinating.  That makes a lot of sense.  Where did you learn that technique?" 
  "If I give you the answer, you won't believe me," I said.
  K said, "I will believe you.  Just tell me."
  I said, "I learn it from the Bible."
  He said, "Really?  I wouldn't think that the Bible has business negotiation."
  I said, "You would be surprised.  There are lots of stuffs in the Bible.  We just have to figure it out.  If you want to read about girl, boy and love, and sweet lips and soft breasts, read Salomon's Songs of Songs.  Really sensual stuff.   So the Bible is not dry at all as many imagine. But here is business negotiation.  Jesus said, "Love your enemy.  When someone slaps you on one cheek, give him the other cheek also."   When I was little, I thought this was just an idealistic saying without any resemblance to reality.  Most of the things Jesus said sound so extreme and naïve that you would think he was a little cookoo in the head.  But as I grew up, I slowly realized that he was truly a master in human heart. He knew at the deepest level how the human heart works, and what he said is usually so intelligent that most of us just can't get it.   One day I pondered over the craziness of the idea of offering another cheek to the enemy, suddenly I discovered the insight. 
 Jesus was not so naïve at all.   He was really practical and strategic.  When you offer another cheek to you enemy, you turn your enemy into your friend.   There are no longer two sides.  You have just turned two sides into one side.  Once your enemy and you have become friend, chances are you would be able to talk to your friend about things that you couldn't talk to him when he was still your enemy.   So you may be able to achieve with your friend much more than fighting against your enemy.   That is the art of turning two sides into one side to achieve the common good." 
  K. said, "That is outstanding, I love it.  Are there lots of things like that in the Bible?"
  I said, "Yes.  Lots of them.  But you won't see them right away.   The insight will come to you whenever it comes.  You can't tell in advance when you will see something clever.  In the Christian tradition, they say that is the "revelation of the Holy Spirit."  I think it is similar to the "sudden enlightenment" (hot nhien dai ngo) in Buddhism.  Whatever it is called, my experience is that if you keep reading the Bible, one in awhile an incredible piece of wisdom will jump right at you.   You can read a sentence one thousand times already, and on the 1001st time, all of a sudden something astounding would just leap out of the sentence right into your mind.   That's why I am so fascinated with the Bible and keep reading it so often."
  K. said. "That is interesting.  Can I have a copy?"
  I said, 'Sure.  I'll be happy to give you a copy.  Just be patient with it.   If you read it with a serious mind, eventually a lot of wisdom will jump out at you.  But be patient.  You can't tell when something will jump out.   Just read."
   
  Then I give him a French copy that I happened to have then.
   
  That is to share with you, Andre & CACC.
   
  Have fun!
   
  Hoanh 


-- 
Tran Dinh Hoanh, LLB, JD
Attorney of Law
Washington DC _______________________________________________
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