Hi there, welcome back to The Art of Business English. Today we are going to look at idioms for negotiating. Negotiating is not something new, in fact most of us have to negotiate every single day of our working life. Furthermore, many negotiations take place in the home, between wife and husband, kids and parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As you can imagine, English has a wide range of idiomatic expressions for negotiating. Sometimes these expressions can be a little confusing for a non-native speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today at AOBE we are going to start by looking at some of the most common expression for negotiating in business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of the today\u2019s lesson you will be able to do the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, let\u2019s get started with a look at some common idioms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opening the negotiation<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When opening a negotiation, you should follow the following steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
State interests. Here you tell the other party briefly what you would like to achieve as a result of the talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making \u200bproposals<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the proposal stage of a negotiation, delegates make proposals, react to them, and if they don\u00b4t agree with the suggestion made, they may offer a counter-proposal as an alternative. When reacting to proposals, using diplomatic language such as \u201cI\u00b4m afraid that is not really what we had in mind\u201d instead of \u201cNo, that\u00b4s not good enough\u201d can help you sound less direct or negative. This can promote a good working relationship between you and your business partner, and is more likely to lead to a successful outcome in the negotiation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to reach an agreement, we need to use persuading and bargaining skills. We must listen carefully, and we should always check and clarify what the other person has offered, while at the same time giving reassurances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When bargaining we often use conditionals. The first conditional suggests there is a more real possibility (If you give us a discount we will order more units\u2026). This is much more probably than using the inversion (Were you to give us a discount then, we would order more units) or the second conditional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this stage of the negotiation it is advisable to give the condition before the offer because your counterpart will have to wait to hear what you have to say rather than interrupting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, learn to read between the lines. \u201cI might meet Friday\u00b4s deadline\u201d, does not necessarily mean \u201cI will meet Friday\u00b4s deadline\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember, will is a promise, whereas might is a probability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u200bSo, there you have it, a quick overview of some idioms to use at the different stages of a negotiation. Of course, there are many more that we can learn. If you have some more idioms to add to the list, then please post them in the comments section below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have any questions regarding these idioms, then please don\u2019t hesitate to contact us. We will be more than happy to help you. Until next time, keep learning and improving your business English.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u200bIdioms for negotiating Hi there, welcome back to The Art of Business English. Today we are going to look at idioms for negotiating. Negotiating is not something new, in fact most of us have to negotiate every single day of our working life. Furthermore, many negotiations take place in the home, between wife and husband, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","tve_updated_post":"","tve_custom_css":"","tve_user_custom_css":"","tve_globals":{},"tcb2_ready":0,"tcb_editor_enabled":0,"tve_landing_page":"","_tve_header":"","_tve_footer":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/castellsimmerscom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/castellsimmerscom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/castellsimmerscom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/castellsimmerscom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/castellsimmerscom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/castellsimmerscom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/castellsimmerscom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/castellsimmerscom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/castellsimmerscom.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Small talk<\/strong><\/td> Meaning<\/strong><\/td> Example<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> How\u2019s tricks?<\/td> How are things going?<\/td> How\u2019s things at work?<\/td><\/tr> To feel under the weather<\/td> Feel ill<\/td> I feel a bit under the weather this week.<\/td><\/tr> To be on top of the world<\/td> Very excited and feeling good<\/td> I\u2019m on top of the world! I just got promoted.<\/td><\/tr> To ask someone over<\/td> Invite to your house<\/td> You should come over some time with your family.<\/td><\/tr> To drop in<\/td> Visit unexpectedly<\/td> Why don\u2019t you drop in sometime?<\/td><\/tr> To meet up<\/td> Arrange to meet<\/td> Let\u2019s meet up when we close this deal.<\/td><\/tr> To see the sights<\/td> Tourism<\/td> Have you seen the sights since you arrived?<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Set the agenda<\/strong><\/td> Meaning<\/strong><\/td> Example<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> To get the ball rolling<\/td> Get started<\/td> Let\u2019s get the ball rolling.<\/td><\/tr> To kick off<\/td> Begin<\/td> Who wants to kick things off?<\/td><\/tr> To go over the agenda<\/td> Review the agenda<\/td> I think we should start by going over the agenda<\/td><\/tr> To wrap things up<\/td> Finish<\/td> I hope to have the meeting wrapped up by 3pm.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Stating interests<\/strong><\/td> Meaning<\/strong><\/td> Example<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> To be looking to\u2026<\/td> Have as an objective<\/td> Our company is looking to diversify.<\/td><\/tr> To take into consideration<\/td> Consider<\/td> An important thing to take into consideration is\u2026<\/td><\/tr> To be keen to\u2026<\/td> Be eager or willing<\/td> Our company is keen to work with new talent.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Making proposals<\/strong><\/td> Meaning<\/strong><\/td> Example<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> To have a tight budget<\/td> Limited amount to spend<\/td> I know you\u2019re on a tight budget, so I will offer you my lowest price.<\/td><\/tr> To squeeze someone on cost<\/td> Pressure someone on price<\/td> The buyer really squeezed me on price per unit.<\/td><\/tr> To provide someone with a quote<\/td> Give someone a cost estimate<\/td> Before we can proceed, we will need an official quote.<\/td><\/tr> Bone of contention<\/td> An unresolved problem<\/td> There is still the bone of contention regarding delivery times.<\/td><\/tr> To push it<\/td> Be overly insistent or forward<\/td> I don\u2019t think we should push it, he is offering a good deal.<\/td><\/tr> To draw the line<\/td> Set a limit<\/td> I draw the line at that price offering.<\/td><\/tr> To have something in mind<\/td> Be thinking about<\/td> Do you have in mind what conditions we can offer?<\/td><\/tr> To be afraid<\/td> Be sorry<\/td> I am afraid I can\u2019t accept those conditions.<\/td><\/tr> To lead to a successful outcome<\/td> Reach a positive conclusion<\/td> The negotiation led to a successful outcome for all parties.<\/td><\/tr> To have some reservations about something<\/td> Have concerns about<\/td> I have some reservations about your last point.<\/td><\/tr> To give ground<\/td> Retreat<\/td> Let\u2019s give some ground and see if they will meet us halfway.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Reaching agreement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Grammar notes<\/strong> To form the first conditional, use if + (do) + will\/can\/may (do): If you reduce the price, I will accept your offer. To form the second conditional, use if + (did) + would\/could\/might (do): If you reduced the price, I\u00b4d accept your offer.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Reaching agreement<\/strong><\/td> Meaning<\/strong><\/td> Example<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> To close a deal<\/td> Formally conclude bargaining<\/td> We finally closed the deal after 2 hours of negotiations.<\/td><\/tr> To come to an agreement<\/td> Reach agreement<\/td> We came to an agreement on the last point.<\/td><\/tr> A gentleman\u2019s agreement<\/td> A legally non-binding arrangement that is guaranteed only by a verbal or mutually understood agreement<\/td> We made a gentleman\u2019s agreement until the official papers are signed.<\/td><\/tr> To reach an accord<\/td> To agree<\/td> Despite our differences we reached an accord.<\/td><\/tr> An agreement in principle<\/td> An agreement in which the general terms and\/or conditions of a deal are accepted without the complete details having been specified or necessarily agreed upon.<\/td> Even though we didn\u2019t finish the negotiation, we reached an agreement in principle, which we will finalise next week.<\/td><\/tr> Couldn\u2019t agree more<\/td> Total agreement<\/td> I couldn\u2019t agree more with what you said.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n