Negotiate agreements with partners in a food and drink business

This standard is about the skills and knowledge needed for you to negotiate with partners in a food and drink business. Negotiating is a key skill in the current highly competitive food and drink industry. Tight profit margins and the influencer of multiple retailers requires a strong negotiating style that ensures the best outcomes for your food and drink business. Negotiating is also an important every day skill for managers in a food and drink business who must deal with the demands of production, quality, compliance and resource availability. The creation of strategic business partnerships also requires negotiation to define the terms of reference for the partnership. You will need the skills and knowledge to prepare to negotiate including gathering relevant information on yours and the partners business, liaise with colleagues to determine the desired outcomes of the negotiations and the level of acceptable flexibility in the desired outcomes. You will also need the skills and knowledge to decide on the style of negotiation, the strategy and tactics you will use. This standard is for you if you work in food and drink manufacture and/or supply operations and are involved in negotiating with partners in a food and drink business.

Prepare to negotiate

1. source information about your food and drink business relevant to

   the negotiation activities

2. research business information and intelligence about the partner

   organisation you will be negotiating with

3. research the culture of your food and drink business and the

   partner organisation you will be negotiating with and use this to

   your advantage while negotiating

4. build relationships during negotiations in accordance with your

   food and drink business standards

5. design the meeting practicalities, flow of information and meeting

   agenda to your best advantage

6. confirm with colleagues the negotiation outcomes that are

   acceptable to your food and drink business

7. decide on the style of negotiation you will use, the strategy and

   tactics to be taken when negotiations have begun

   Negotiate to the best advantage of your food and drink

   business

8. ascertain the partners minimum expectations and requirements

   through questioning

9. determine the degree of flexibility the partner organisation will

   agree to

10. use creative techniques to address issues of disagreement

11. determine and communicate the options available to both partners

12. agree final outcome/s of the negotiation

13. adhere to organisational requirements for the confirmation of

    these outcomes

1. the organisational policies and requirements to be adhered to

   when negotiating with external organisations

   2. how to source information about your food and drink business and

   why it is important to do this when negotiating with a partner

   organisation

   3. why it is important to research information and intelligence about

   the partner organisation, the type of information thought to be

   useful and how to source this information

   4. the importance of determining and confirming with colleagues the

   minimum requirements of the partnership and the maximum

   flexibility in the final agreed outcomes

   5. what the limits of your authority are when negotiating with

   partners and the action to take if the negotiations require more

   than this authority

   6. why it is important to prepare strategy, tactics and a style of

   negotiation and how to do this

   7. how to organise the practicalities of negotiating between

   organisations including flow of information, venue, time and

   meeting agenda and why it is important to manage this

   8. the techniques of determining solutions to disagreements

   between partner organisations

   9. the organisational requirements for confirming outcome/s of

   negotiations