Beyond Dealmaking: Five Steps to Negotiating Profitable Relationships

Getting to yes is not the same as getting results. In Beyond Dealmaking, international negotiation expert and mediator Melanie Billings-Yun shows that the key to winning unbeatable, long-term results in today’s complex economic landscape is to ­negotiate solid long-term relationships.

Traditionally, negotiation has been approached as an isolated activity, separate from the business relationship. But those who focus only on getting the deal closed often find their victory doesn’t translate into sustainable profits. Any deal is as fragile as the paper it’s written on. Countless disputes arise and deals easily collapse when the negotiation ­process leaves one party unhappy, feeling forced into unfair terms, or even disgruntled at a change in circumstances.

In five clear steps, Billings-Yun takes the pain and fear out of negotiation with her proven GRASP method, showing how to:

• Understand the Goals of all parties, beyond the immediate deal
• Develop Routes to maximize mutual benefit and promote synergy among the parties
• Build openness, trust, and common understanding through valid Arguments
• Benchmark Substitutes to keep relationships from growing stale or one-sided
• Increase your Persuasion through empathetic communication and genuine care

Filled with real-life examples of negotiations that have gone right and wrong, this ­groundbreaking book shows how fairness, honesty, empathy, flexibility, and mutual problem-­solving lead to sustainable success. By following the powerful five-step GRASP ­negotiation process, anyone can learn to negotiate in a way that is positive, exciting, and rewarding. Most importantly, they will learn that the greatest victories come not through fighting ­battles, but through building alliances.

Melanie Billings-Yun, Ph.D., founded and was senior partner of Global Resolutions, a consulting firm providing negotiation assistance and expertise to businesses, governments, and individuals around the globe. Formerly a research director and lecturer on history at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, she has spent the past two decades working with leading companies to improve their internal and external relationships through negotiation. She teaches at the Master of International Management program at Portland State University and resides in Washington, D.C.

For more information, please visit www.beyond-dealmaking.com.