IndiaThink

Top 5 Mistakes Executives Make Preparing for Initial Business Negotiation inside India

1. )Assume business negotiations will take place at appointed time.

• Any meeting scheduled in India will, most likely, be delayed. You many have to wait, and wait, and wait till very late hours in the evening to have the live conversation you believed was secured when you left the states. Be patient. Be awake. Be there. Don’t be surprised if the meeting happens at 2am. This is not an affront; rather they will be extremely pleased you have agreed to stay available while they confront the daily madness of a country that has no sense of time.

2.)Assume Yes means Yes in the western context.

• All executives need to be aware of how the “Indian Yes” it will confront you at every turn during your trip to India. From your hotel waitress when they assure you they have Coke and they bring you Pepsi to the person you are asking to agree to your contract terms. Yes means little in India. You should view it as a casual comment, rather a affirmation that someone heard what you said, and they are letting you know that the information was received. The desire to say yes is rooted in India’s culture and as a rule they generally feel uncomfortable contradicting another person. If they perceive bias or a particular preferred response, they will provide it. Walk carefully through your negotiation. People are saying yes because they are agreeing to your terms or because they are being courteous. Kind. Polite. Confirm all yes answers with a very detailed pattern of questions to affirm that all tenants of agreements are actually agreed upon.  REMEMBER:  India’s yes may look like a no in the physical sense of their head nod.  Their nod is closer to a roll (the Mumbai Roll it is often called).  Be aware of the verbal and physical queue of the conversation.

3.) Assume a meeting will consist of an office meeting and last for one hour.  And then you will leave.

• Meetings will rarely be on time(repetition here is purposeful.  a statement to the impact of time on your negotiation attempts). Build a schedule around late starts and late endings. Unexpected dinners. Invitations to things you never imagined but MUST accept to close the deal such as setting of completely dangerous fireworks outside the building to celebrate the new year. Now would be a good time to discuss the family aspects of India’s culture. Open doors are a rule. You must accept invites to whatever social gatherings are presented. Don’t refuse invitations based on your western notions. Your future business partner may invite you to his daughters wedding and you should plan to spend the next few days sitting, eating and enjoying the Indian culture.

4.) Assume India is joking when they mention auspicious days to meet.

• Red flags should be raised when a future business partner mentions that the day you have selected to meet is not auspicious to meet for business relationships. This is a serious comment and should be accepted in a polite manner, immediately offering a different time to meet. India has many complicated calendars, which could never be covered in this simple blog post, that dictate bad days for business, fruitful days for marriage and everything in between. Be flexible and your host will be pleased with your advanced cultural knowledge.

5.) Assume negotiation tactics centered around time will make any impact with the India side.

• A lot of sales tactics in the US are based on quarters---making the “number” for the quarter. These ideas, while very relevant for business around the world, will not work well in India. Time is not “money” in India. Rather it is an ever evolving item unfolding around them. There is time to get things done right. There is little sense of hurry in the same sense of US standards. Do not expect much reaction when attempting to negotiate decreased contracts around time.

And one more for a bonus:
6.)Assume timelines set for implementation of relationship will come to fruition.

• Congratulations! You have successfully engaged in an India based business engagement. Now is the time to set expectations on when the engagement will kick-off. Be very clear on what your needs are, when they need to be met, and expect that these objectives will not be met. What does this mean to you? Set objectives that are more than you need. Push your must have dates forward and be pleased if they are met initially. Your relationship with India is beginning, be patient and allow some time to teach the team what you need and how they can get there.

How To: VideoConference

Talk, talk, talk. We talk too much. American’s love the limelight (floor control) and we are disquieted by silence.

The individual speaking in a group setting owns what is known as “floor control.” What most of us don’t know is that floor control preferences are cultural and happen quite naturally. Aspects of floor control become important to achieve a successful interaction with an Indian audience when communicating through a videoconference.

Americans, operating under low power distance, will spontaneously take the floor without formal cues. We then complain when no response from India is received. Indians experience high organizational power distance, making it likely that a team will wait for their leader to speak for them, or they will seek out a formal cue to speak. Both of these processes involve non-verbal cues, which are absent if everyone is on the phone or using a video system that does not enable sight of the entire group. In their absence, lengthy spaces of silence may be prevalent. We would do ourselves a favor by following my S.O.’s advice to me when I interrupt him mid-stream: “Wait for it”.

Americans can attempt to facilitate balanced conversation by offering up open-ended questions and waiting patiently for a response. Researchers Dustdar and Hofstede go so far as to recommend the use of a timer to temper the length of discussion on both sides in a work published in 1999. This added formality encourages increased Indian participation and reduces overzealous Americans.