How a CESMAR Follow-Up Prevents Future Negotiation Problems

According to Weight Watchers, more than 50% of its successful dieters maintain weight loss after five years

But the dieters don’t achieve this by chance. They have a strict system that they go through:

• the Weight Watchers process is explained to them in detail;
• they meet in groups to share their experiences;
• and there is regular monitoring of their progress.

The CESMAR follow-up of a negotiation is similar to the Weight Watchers system:

• everyone involved in the agreement will need the details explained to them;
• everyone should share their experiences;
• and there should be regular monitoring of an agreement.

The CESMAR system relies on everyone knowing what is happening. But it also assumes that mistakes can be made in negotiations. It assumes that systems may not be perfect. And that not everything will go according to plan.

What is the CESMAR system?

The CESMAR system is a three-stage system to make sure that negotiations are put into practice realistically. The three stages are:

• Confirm and Explain
• Share feedback
• Monitor And Review

It’s not a “tell everyone and forget” process. It’s a system that encourages a negotiator to stay involved with the agreement.

That’s why the CESMAR follow-up system is so effective

Negotiators who use the CESMAR system have a way of achieving what they expect from their negotiations. And sometimes they achieve even more. They stay in control of the agreements and processes. And they form strong partnerships with their negotiation partners.

Negotiators who rely on a simpler system are often arguing with their negotiation partners. That’s because things have gone wrong. They have no control over what is happening. They do not achieve what they expect from their negotiations.

If only they had used the CESMAR system, they wouldn’t have these problems. They would have known what was going on.

But staying involved with the agreement sounds like a lot of work

And that’s exactly what it shouldn’t be. The system allows you to schedule a series of brief meetings over the lifetime of the agreement. It doesn’t require you to be endlessly involved on a daily basis.

The three stages of the CESMAR process are designed to be efficient. Let’s look at the three stages in detail:

1. The confirm and explain stage

This stage requires you to make sure that everybody understands the agreement that you have made. By everybody, I mean absolutely everyone involved in making the agreement happen. So this includes people like the accounts department and the despatch staff. And it includes everyone from both parties. You will need to be sure that all departments at the other company are briefed too.

2. The share feedback stage

This stage is designed to review how an agreement is working in practice. It focuses on two areas of feedback. The first is to make sure that everything that was agreed upon is actually happening. And the second is to find out if there is anything that could be adapted. It happens just after the agreement has been put into practice. The aim is to make the agreement work even better.

3. The monitor and review stage

This stage ensures that you keep in touch with what is happening for the lifetime of the agreement. To get this stage going you need to make some dates in your diary as soon as you have made an agreement with the other negotiator.

Don’t assume that you know about everything that is going on

It is important to make sure that what you think is going on actually is reality. It is important to talk to the staff at your company that are involved in the agreement. And it is important to hear the other company’s side as well. They may not see things in the same way that your company does.

Understand the importance of a good system

Weight watchers don’t rely on chance to achieve the success results that they do. And if you want successful results from your negotiations, you shouldn’t rely on chance either.

P.S. Find out more ideas on how to engage with today’s buyers: download my free e-book “Ten Common Print Selling Errors and What To Do About Them” right now. You’ll also receive my regular “Views from the print buyer” bulletin, full of ideas on how to sell print effectively. Also, check out “How to Make Print More Profitable: The Print Industry Negotiation Handbook” where I share a seven stage negotiation process that stops you giving way on price.