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out later on. The mantra of collaborative negotiators is: 'it's not enough
that I win, I will not be happy until you have won too.'
When to use?
Under most circumstances collaboration is the primary style you

should use for most goals in business to business negotiations.
As mentioned briefly in the Compete section: if a relationship is
important to you, and if your market reputation is important, if the other

side needs to perform and not just exchange a standard product for cash,
high risk (e.g. new market or new product or both), if there is a large
amount of money at stake, then you are best advised to think about all
the ways in which you can build a more trusting collaborative working

relationship.
If you need to understand the feelings and deeper interests or
motivations of all negotiators, then collaboration is your best path.

What's the Danger?
Be careful not to collaborate with competitive style negotiators –
unless they agree to and live up to your agreed (written or unwritten)

rules of collaboration. Die hard competitive negotiators can be treated in
transactional trading manner - e.g. "I'll only give you this if you give me
that".

When we share information we need to make sure that we share
information at the same level of detail. Too much and we could be
exploited - too little and the other side can lock up like a clam.
Collaboration requires more time and needs to be at the right level.

So if you're a vendor and your buyer doesn't have the authority or
knowledge or won't invest the time, save your effort. Best to talk with
them about your style of negotiation or build a relationship at another

level of their organization. Same advice goes for buyers in reverse.
Self Defense
So when might you need to defend yourself against a Collaborative
negotiator? If you have decided that it's not in your interest to use a

collaborative style with a negotiator, then decide on your alternative
style and flesh out what behaviour translates into. So a commodity
supplier who suffers a great deal of competition in their market place

will try to get their foot in your door. A wise procurement manager will
be careful to not investing too much time, or give any time - unless there
is value. Your time is short, so be careful who you collaborate with.