Q & A Table of Contents
What About Italians?
From: Selena, Charlotte, North Carolina
Question: I have an Italian client. I am about to negotiate a project and
need some help on negotiating with Italians. Can you give me some advice
please?
Response: It is tempting to make generalizations about the negotiation
styles of people from different countries. However, just thinking about
Italy, one might question several things: is the party a man or a woman?,
from which section of Italy? what sort of educational background? what is
his/her political situation in his/her company? how comfortable is s/he
negotiating in English?
There is a virtually infinite set of questions one might ask -- because
everyone is an individual. What may be true for a woman from urban North
Carolina could be completely different regarding a man from rural Alaska.
The important thing is to come up with a wide variety of questions that are
designed to yield information about your client's interests and concerns.
Asking open-ended questions and listening hard and seriously to the answers
will reveal far more about their negotiation style and the likely
possibilities for resolution than any pigeon-hole assumptions one might have
about Italians in general.
Perhaps the most important question is to ask your client, 'How would you
describe your negotiating style? Are there elements of communication or
interaction you find particularly convincing, offensive, confusing, etc?'
And you should encourage your client to ask you about your own negotiating
style. Of course this requires figuring out what your style is before the
question is raised.
Asking questions shows you are interested in other people. Listening well
makes that point even clearer. No matter what a person's cultural
background, having others pay attention to them is a gratifying experience
that can lead to more civilized negotiation.
Good luck,
Steve
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