【Learning Notes】 Derak Callan‘s Business English P36

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Introduction

Note that this is the short version.

Phrases for negotiating

welcome & relationship building

e.g. welcome to (name of your company).
e.g. It’s great to finally meet you in person.

the less formal version:

e.g. It’s great to put a face to the name.
e.g. I hope you had no trouble finding your way here.
e.g. How was your trip?
e.g. Is this your first time in …?
e.g. How’s business/ the weather in…?

establishing the procedure

So you may have already agreed on a procedure for your negotiation by email or over the phone. But if you haven’t, this is what you can say here:

e.g. To start with, I think we should establish a procedure. Perhaps we could start by outlining our position. After that, you could present yours. Then we’ll discuss everything in detail and see what our options are. How does that sound?
【establish /ɪˈstæblɪʃ/】
e.g. As we see it, there are 4 main points we need to discuss…
e.g. There are three main areas we’d like to discuss…

expressing priorities

e.g. Our main priority is…
e.g. The most important issue for us is…

ask for clarification

e.g. I’m not exactly sure if I understood your position on this. Would you mind going over again?
e.g. Could you please clarify your position on…?
e.g. Could you be more specific please?

making a proposal

e.g. Our proposal is to…?
e.g. We’d like to propose…
e.g. We propose…/suggest…

asking questions and making counter-proposals

e.g. How do you feel about…?
e.g. What are your views on…?
e.g. What would you say to…?
e.g. I’d like to propose an alternative. What if we…?
e.g. Wouldn’t it be better to…?

expressing disagreement

e.g. I’m afraid we can’t agree to that.
e.g. I’m sorry, but we can’t quite agree with you on that.
e.g. I’m afraid we had something different in mind.
e.g. I’m not sure that would work for us.
e.g. I’m sorry, but I have some reservations about…
【reservations /ˌrɛzəˈveɪʃənz/ n.预订；保留意见
If you have reservations about a proposal or an idea, it means you have doubts. You are unsure that it will work.】
e.g. That would be very difficult for us because…

bargaining & compromising

we would be prepared to…if you could…
e.g. we would be prepared to offer a discount if you could increase your order.
e.g. We might be able to bring the price down if you could increase your order.

If we were to …, would you be willing to…?
e.g. If we were to increase our order, would you be willing to offer a discount?

e.g. In exchange for this, would you be prepared to…?
e.g. Would you be willing to accept a compromise?
e.g. Maybe we could meet halfway on this?
【meet halfway on 对此达成共识】
e.g. We’re happy to accept your offer, but there is one condition…
e.g. From our point of view, an acceptable price would be…
e.g. I’m afraid we just can’t go below this price.
e.g. Is that the best you can do?
e.g. I am sorry, but that’s our final offer.

delaying

sometimes you just need more time.

e.g. I think we’ll need more time to consider these options.

And sometimes you don’t have the authority to make certain decisions.

e.g. I am afraid i’m not in a position to make this decision myself. I will need to discuss it with our CEO first.

expressing agreement

e.g. We can agree to that.
e.g. That sounds reasonable.
e.g. I think that would be acceptable.
e.g. I think we can go along with that.

And when you’ve reached agreement on the main areas of the negotiation, you might say:

e.g. It looks like we have a deal.

concluding the negotiation

e.g. Let’s sum up everything we’ve agreed on today.
e.g. So we just need to finalise…, but I think we can wait until we meet again next week. Do you agree?【finalise /'faɪnəlaɪz/ v.确定；定案】
e.g. There are still a few minor details to work out here, but I think we can do that tomorrow.
e.g. I hope I haven’t missed anything. Let’s just confirm the details.
e.g. Great. Let’s get this in writing.
e.g. Excellent. Well, it’s been a pleasure doing business with you.
e.g. Here’s to a successful long-term relationship!

And if you couldn’t reach a deal:

e.g. I suggest we meet again next week once we’ve had time to consider everything we discussed here today.

• Reference video【40集】工作英语 | 外企上班族必备！Derek Callan的商务英语学习教室【合集】