Keynote
Cross-Cultural Negotiation: Protect Value Across Borders
Face, time, and decision power – the economics and psychology of global negotiation.
Negotiators in an international context know the frustrations:
- We drop the price to move things forward: weeks later the real decision maker appears and we can start all over.
- Silence, delays, and a polite “yes” turn into no action and lost time.
- We negotiate with the people in the room, only to find out the decision-makers are in another place.
- Concessions are one-way: the other party does not respond to the moves we make, but keeps demanding more.
- Headquarters and the regional businesses send mixed signals: we seem to be start negotiating against ourselves.
- We treat culture as trivia instead of power, face, and time dynamics.
- We need a way to read signals, map authority, and keep value in the deal.
In this talk, we turn cross-border negotiation into applied economics and psychology: face, time orientation, and hierarchy represent value, and the behaviours of the negotiators and their mindset determine the rest of the outcome. The goal is price-protected agreements that survive Monday.
High-quality, complex negotiations start with mapping real authority beyond the room, reading silence and delay without panic, and using plain-language probes that keep face intact. You’ll get a Cultural Stakeholder Map to identify decision-power and veto points, plus ‘Silence-Decoding Rules’ to test intent without forcing a corner.
Then we choreograph concessions so reciprocity, timing, and signaling protect margin and trust. And while the primary focus is often on external dynamics, internally, we lock a single message between HQ and regions so you don’t bid against yourself. The outcome of good preparation: higher close rates, cleaner deals, fewer “unknown blockers,” and fewer reversals post-negotiation.
YOU DON’T LOSE ON PRICE. YOU LOSE ON MISREAD POWER, FACE, AND SILENCE. FIX THAT, AND VALUE STAYS IN.
- Cultural Stakeholder Map: chart authority beyond the room. Identify influencers, veto players, and face risks.
- Silence-Decoding Rules: the four meanings of silence. Exact follow-ups that probe without loss of face.
- Concession Choreography: sequence, reciprocity, and signaling to protect margin across time orientations.
- Authority tests in plain language: verify decision power without embarrassing your counterpart.
- Internal alignment: one story from HQ and regions. Avoid self-negotiation or mixed signals.
- Recognize the dirty tricks of negotiation, and counter constructively, avoiding battle that destroys value.
- Playbook metrics: win rate, margin kept, cycle time, reopen count—simple dashboards to sustain gains.
Practical
Frank’s keynotes are lively, funny, yet grounded in deep research about the topics he is speaking about. Striving for maximum interaction, he will invite the different perspectives living in the room. Use his keynotes as a katalyst to discuss the undiscussable with your teams, or include a talk by Frank in the next offsite when different – and perhaps unwelcome – perspectives should be heard.
Keynotes are 30-75 minutes and always tailored to the needs of your audience, and your intentions for the event.
Information
Anecdotes from real-life global negotiations, followed by sharp and practical tips.
Book a keynote by Frank Garten!
Anecdotes from real-life global negotiations, followed by sharp and practical tips.
Book a keynote by Frank Garten.