{"id":13021,"date":"2025-05-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T00:00:00","slug":"what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s wrong with a better deal?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When we ask clients about their objectives, they frequently respond, \u201cWe want a better deal.\u201d I get it: The phrase rolls off the tongue, feels assertive, and suggests a sense of urgency and purpose. But what does \u201cbetter\u201d mean? Without a clear objective, negotiators operate in the dark, where they rely on instinct or aggression and are at risk of damaging relationships, undermining internal alignment, and being taken advantage of.<\/p>\n

The current discourse around tariffs brings this into sharp relief. A tariff is often employed as leverage to extract a \u201cbetter\u201d outcome from a trading partner. But without a precise definition, \u201cbetter\u201d becomes subjective. The ambiguity not only makes the negotiation more challenging, but it also creates confusion internally. How can a team rally around a vague notion? The answer is simple: they can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Years ago, I experienced firsthand the pitfalls of vague objectives. In the mid-\u201990s, desktop computers were entering mass retail, and I worked for a major manufacturer leading the charge. I had a scheduled meeting with an executive known for his aggressive negotiating style. As I approached his office, I heard shouting through the closed door: \u201cNo! No! No!\u201d punctuated by the thud of his fist pounding the desk. \u201cTwo, not three\u2026 NO! It must be two\u2026 Fine\u2026 Deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once inside the office, I could see he was red-faced and breathing heavily. I began our meeting cautiously, asking, \u201cWhat was that about?\u201d\u201cI just finalized a great deal.\u201dCurious, I pressed further: \u201cWhat\u2019s the deal?\u201dHe shrugged dismissively, admitting, \u201cI don\u2019t know, but we got it one cent cheaper!\u201d<\/p>\n

At face value, that sounded like a victory. Less expense, after all, seems beneficial. But here\u2019s the hidden cost: His definition of success was \u201cless,\u201d so he sacrificed any opportunity to explore other ways to add value to his deal beyond just getting it for \u201cless.\u201d Who knows what else he might have gained had he defined clearer goals beyond merely shaving off a penny?<\/p>\n

Moreover, stubborn, aggressive behavior threatens relationships. In business, and especially negotiations, relationships are assets, not disposable commodities. Aggression may win a battle but often loses the war as it costs trust, respect, and mutual benefit. Relationships are damaged, collaboration becomes difficult, future deals suffer as partners brace themselves for another hostile round of bargaining.<\/p>\n

Negotiation isn\u2019t solely about getting less or paying fewer cents. It\u2019s about creating sustainable, mutually beneficial outcomes that everyone can support. Having clearly defined objectives enables negotiators to be strategic, thoughtful, and adaptable. Clear objectives help them measure progress, rally support internally, and encourage creativity at the table. They also allow frank conversation when a negotiation is going off-track.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s wrong with wanting \u201ca better deal\u201d? Nothing \u2014 provided you clearly define what \u201cbetter\u201d means. Negotiations succeed not when they\u2019re reduced to winning pennies but when they open the door to comprehensive, creative, and sustainable solutions. Aim for clarity first; the better deal will naturally follow.<\/p>\n\n

We Can Help You Define Your Goals for a Deal Everyone Supports.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Want a \u201cbetter deal\u201d? Rely on Scotwork\u2019s 50 years of experience to help you define precisely what that means \u2014 and to get it.Talk to one of our experts today.E: info@scotwork.co.nz<\/a>P: 042979069<\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When we ask clients about their objectives, they frequently respond, \u201cWe want a better deal.\u201d I get it: The phrase rolls off the tongue, feels assertive, and suggests a sense of urgency and purpose. But what does \u201cbetter\u201d mean? Without a clear objective, negotiators operate in the dark, where they rely on instinct or aggression…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":13022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_legacy_url":"blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's wrong with a better deal?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"World leaders in business negotiation training and consultancy with experts across 120 countries, with negotiation courses taught in 29 languages.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What's wrong with a better deal?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"World leaders in business negotiation training and consultancy with experts across 120 countries, with negotiation courses taught in 29 languages.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"New Zealand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-01T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2026\/05\/whats-wrong-witha-better-deal.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1114\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"738\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brian Buck\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brian Buck\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/\",\"name\":\"What's wrong with a better deal?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2026\/05\/whats-wrong-witha-better-deal.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-01T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/8403cfdd2f3af41ec9fafaafaa0a1313\"},\"description\":\"World leaders in business negotiation training and consultancy with experts across 120 countries, with negotiation courses taught in 29 languages.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2026\/05\/whats-wrong-witha-better-deal.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2026\/05\/whats-wrong-witha-better-deal.jpg\",\"width\":1114,\"height\":738},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What’s wrong with a better deal?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/\",\"name\":\"New Zealand\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/8403cfdd2f3af41ec9fafaafaa0a1313\",\"name\":\"Brian Buck\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/194613bfd067f0d98c0ae31de0e9bf7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/194613bfd067f0d98c0ae31de0e9bf7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Brian Buck\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/author\/brianscotwork\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What's wrong with a better deal?","description":"World leaders in business negotiation training and consultancy with experts across 120 countries, with negotiation courses taught in 29 languages.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What's wrong with a better deal?","og_description":"World leaders in business negotiation training and consultancy with experts across 120 countries, with negotiation courses taught in 29 languages.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/","og_site_name":"New Zealand","article_published_time":"2025-05-01T00:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1114,"height":738,"url":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2026\/05\/whats-wrong-witha-better-deal.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Brian Buck","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Brian Buck","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/","name":"What's wrong with a better deal?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2026\/05\/whats-wrong-witha-better-deal.jpg","datePublished":"2025-05-01T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/8403cfdd2f3af41ec9fafaafaa0a1313"},"description":"World leaders in business negotiation training and consultancy with experts across 120 countries, with negotiation courses taught in 29 languages.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/#primaryimage","url":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2026\/05\/whats-wrong-witha-better-deal.jpg","contentUrl":"\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2026\/05\/whats-wrong-witha-better-deal.jpg","width":1114,"height":738},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2025\/what-s-wrong-with-a-better-deal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What’s wrong with a better deal?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/","name":"New Zealand","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/8403cfdd2f3af41ec9fafaafaa0a1313","name":"Brian Buck","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/194613bfd067f0d98c0ae31de0e9bf7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/194613bfd067f0d98c0ae31de0e9bf7f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Brian Buck"},"url":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/author\/brianscotwork\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}