Why Summarising is Essential in Negotiations

Summarising is more than just a recap of the conversation. It’s a powerful technique that helps ensure clarity, builds rapport, and opens up new opportunities through reframing. When used effectively, it can turn a negotiation into a collaborative process rather than a contentious one. By incorporating tactics like reframing, mirroring, and anchoring, you can guide the negotiation towards mutually beneficial outcomes.

1. Ensuring Mutual Understanding

Negotiations often involve complex terms, multiple variables, and conflicting interests. Summarising allows you to ensure that both sides are interpreting the conversation in the same way. Checking in periodically with a summary avoids last-minute surprises where something misunderstood early on unravels the whole agreement. It’s far better to validate understanding throughout than to discover a major issue at the conclusion.

2. Building Rapport and Trust

When you summarise, you’re doing more than just clarifying points—you’re showing the other party that you are actively listening. This can have a profound impact on building trust and rapport. People want to feel heard, and when they do, they’re more likely to share additional information, which can lead to new opportunities or concessions.

3. Signalling Intent

It’s important to signal to the other party when you’re summarising. By saying, “Let me summarise to ensure we’re on the same page,” you make it clear that you’re not necessarily agreeing or considering the terms, but simply checking your understanding. This transparency can help avoid confusion or unintended commitments.

How to Practice Summarising at The Negotiation Club

At The Negotiation Club, we believe that the key to mastering summarisation is practice. Here are some exercises that can help you sharpen these skills:

1. Role-Based Summaries

Set up a scenario where one negotiator presents their position, and the other negotiator must summarise it before moving on to their own points.

• Example: One negotiator proposes a price for a product. Before responding with a counteroffer, the other negotiator summarises the price and associated terms to ensure clarity.
• Focus: Accuracy and the ability to summarise without adding personal judgment.

2. Observer Feedback

• Include a third-party observer whose role is to provide feedback on the accuracy and timing of the summaries.
• Key Question: Did the summary contribute to greater understanding and rapport, or did it feel mechanical and redundant?

3. Ending with Your Own Position

• Train negotiators to summarise the other party’s position first and then follow up with their own. This technique takes advantage of the recency effect, where people tend to remember the last thing they hear.
• Example: “So, your offer is a delivery within four weeks at £10,000. From our side, we’re looking at a six-week delivery, but we can provide additional support at £9,000.”
• Focus: Reinforce your own position by ending with it.

4. Layered Summaries

• For complex negotiations, practice layered summarising, where each negotiator breaks down different components of the deal (price, delivery, terms) and ensures understanding at each stage.
• Example: After discussing the budget, move on to summarising payment terms and then delivery schedules. Each variable is summarised separately to avoid confusion.

5. Practice Reframing in Simulations

• Set up scenarios where one party presents a problem, and the other party must reframe it as an opportunity. For example, if one party expresses a concern about high costs, the other negotiator can reframe the concern by focusing on long-term value and return on investment.
• Example: “I understand that the upfront cost is higher than expected, but the faster delivery schedule will save operational costs in the long run.”

Negotiation Tactics to Support Summarising and Reframing

To make your summaries and reframing even more effective, consider combining them with other powerful negotiation tactics:

1. The “F” Word (Fair)

When summarising or reframing, invoking fairness can anchor the negotiation around perceived equity. For example: “What you’re asking seems fair based on your constraints. Here’s how we can make it work from our side…”

2. Open-Ended Questions

Use open-ended questions after summarising to invite more information. This not only shows you’re listening but also encourages the other party to share more insights.

Example: “I understand your position on the price; can you explain how you arrived at that figure?”

3. Mirroring

While summarising and reframing, mirroring key words or phrases can help build empathy. It makes the other party feel validated and heard, which can lead to more collaboration.

4. The Anchor

When summarising, make sure your summaries are consistent with your anchored position. Use the summary to bring the conversation back to your key anchor points, reinforcing your stance in the negotiation.

5. Summarise Early and Often

Don’t wait until the end of the negotiation to summarise. Regular summaries ensure that each party stays aligned, and it keeps the negotiation progressing smoothly. This also provides opportunities to reframe multiple times throughout the process.