Silence in Business Negotiation

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I、Introduction

silence is the relative or total lack of audible sound. In our daily life, it is an indispensable part of communication, in reference to non verbal communication.

When used in business negotiation, silence is the rhetorical practice of saying nothing when an opponent expects something to be said. Poorly executed, it can be very offensive, which would even bring a negotiation into a deadlock. However, well-timed silence can completely throw an opponent and give the negotiator the upper hand.

People of different cultures have different attitudes towards silence. The attitudes of Japanese and Americans are two extreme examples. To the Japanese, silence is a multi-layered communication method mastered by all members of Japanese society. This virtue goes hand in hand with the desire to maintain harmony and avoid insulting someone by accident. Such a complex usage of silence as a communicative element is bound to make an appearance during business negotiation, where often the Japanese utilize silence as a calculated move. In Japan, as long as you remain silent, you project a favorable impression and are assumed to be thinking deeply about the problem. However, in westerners’ perception, typically represented by Americans, silence, this desirable quality in Japan, indicates a lack of knowledge or understanding and signifies a lack of confidence and professionalism. Westerners often feel embarrassed if silence lasts too long and will seek to fill a gap in conversation.

Because of these cultural differences, when dong business with American enterprises, Japanese negotiators usually tactically use silence as a method of inducing the opponent to expose his soul and limitations. That’s why, historically, Japanese business people have excelled in this field.?Whatever, Japanese negotiators’ successful experience in this field could bring to us great enlightenment.

II、Positive and negative attributes of silence in business negotiation

As is known, silence can function both positively and negatively. If we manipulate silence in a poor way, let’s say, we refuse to answer any questions the other party advocates, we will leave them such a bad impression that we do not respect them at all, which is likely to bring the negotiation to a deadlock. However, if we use them tactically but seemingly naturally, we could put ourselves in a good position by taking the initiative.

2.1 Silence as tactics in business negotiation

While we usually view negotiations as talking, the more we speak the more vulnerable we make ourselves. By not speaking, we’ll have a chance to listen for vulnerabilities in the other business’s offer and we’ll be able to think carefully about the deal instead of about what we want to say next.?

In short, when we use silence as tactics, we could put ourselves in such a favorable condition that we could gain more time to think , impose great pressure to the other side, show our disapproval and gain more information. The following part will further elaborate on the above four advantages.

2.1.1 Using silence to gain time

Silence can buy us time to think, especially when we find ourselves in such a tough situation in a negotiation that we could not give quick response at the moment. On such occasion, shutting up and listening more is our best choice. By doing this we can not only gain more time to think about what we should do next, but also induce the opponent to speak more, which could inevitably increase their danger to expose their weakness.

To put it more specific, when we want to use silence to gain time, there are two tricks we could play. One is to stop talking and take notes slowly, which looks really intelligent. Since silence can be uncomfortable for the other party as well, they are usually compelled to fill the empty space by talking about themselves, which is exactly what they don’t want to do. However, we are not to be blamed because by taking notes we only show to them our serious attitude towards this negotiation and the close attention that we have paid to our opponent’s opinions. Then we can make full advantage of this period to think over thoroughly before taking any action.

Besides taking notes, the second trick is that when we find our opponent negotiator has finished one aspect of a point, look into his eyes with a smile or nod our head. Such facial expressions not only show them our understanding of what they said, but purposeful cue them to continue their talking either by explaining the aspect in details or by shifting into other aspects. As a result, his further explanation would provide us with more time.

2.1.2 Using silence to impose pressure

Power negotiators know that what we don’t say is sometimes more powerful than what we do say. So it is really a good idea to measure the opponent’s confidence in their position and to see if it really is as solid as they would like you to believe by keeping silence.

Many cultures are aware and possibly bemused by the pressure that silence can cause in Westerners. Some negotiators will deliberately manufacture an embarrassing period of silence when bargaining.

To be more concrete, the most useful way to impose pressure when bargaining is to combine silence with a blank face. Blank face means a lack of the facial expressions such as smiling, frowning, or direct eye contact. This is also a typical negotiation style in Japanese culture. If a Japanese businessman laughs or becomes angry, he may feel as if he unintentionally insulted someone by laughing at the wrong thing or becoming angry unnecessarily. Therefore, it becomes vital to the Japanese businessman to conduct himself in an emotionless manner. The following case has vividly depicted to us how the Japanese negotiators gained a fruitful result by combine silence with blank face unconsciously.

(Two Americans are talking about the negotiation they just finished with the Japanese)

Marry: How did the negotiation go?

Janet: Not so well.

Marry: What happened?

Janet: Well, I proposed our starting price, and Maruoka didn’t say anything.

Marry: Nothing?

Janet: He just sat there, looking very serious. So then I brought the price down.

Marry: And?

Janet: Still nothing. But he looked a little surprised. So I brought it down to our last offer and just waited. I couldn’t go any further.

Marry: What did he say?

Janet: Well, he was quiet for about a minute, and then agreed.

Marry: Well, at last we ‘ve got a deal. You should be pleased.

Janet: I guess so. But later I learned that he thought our first price was very generous.

From the above example, it is clearly that Janet’s impropriate perception of her opponents’ silence and seriousness can lead to influential effects may often determine the outcome of their joint business relations. Since silence begs a response, when Janet made an offer, she expected the other party to respond, to counter or accept. However, the reaction of the Japanese negotiator was ambiguous and implicit, which made Janet puzzled about his attitude. As a result, she had to bring the price down again and again until her bottom line.

For we Chinese negotiators, this tactic is also a good one and could be employed to generate a concession from the other side.

2.1.3 Using silence as disapproval

As mentioned above, silence may often be interpreted as disapproval from the person that maintains silence on the other negotiating party. Often this can be used to elicit a response from the other party that can be advantageous to the party that uses silence. When a person, engaged in negotiations, feels that the other party disapproves of their offer or terms, they will feel compelled to improve what they have already offered and put forth a better “deal”.

Disapproval and the concomitant need to gain approval can be a powerful motivating factor if used appropriately. A good and experienced negotiator would first try to gain the respect and trust of the other party before using silence as a signal of disapproval. Under these conditions, the other party would be motivated to gain the approval of someone that deserves respect and would be more likely to adjust their demands to achieve approval.

However, the negotiator that decides to use silence as a negotiating tool must be careful to use silence with care and sensitivity so that the other party does not become personally offended. To avoid this misunderstanding, the negotiator that uses the approach of silence must take prior steps to assure the other party that he or she is competent and qualified to engage in the negotiating process.

2.2 Silence as a barrier in business negotiation

Silence may also become a barrier in a setting of business negotiation. The party that decides to use silence as a negotiating tool should be aware of this possibility and try to avoid this situation from occurring. Silence can become a barrier in effective negotiation when both parties to the negotiations use silence as a tactic. In this situation, one effective method to use, in order to break the mutual silence, is to restate what you have said previously. Repeating what you have already said often challenges the opposing negotiator to respond and move the negotiation forward.

Another way that a policy of silence in business negotiations may become a barrier is when the party on the receiving end of the silence strategy interprets the silence as disapproval directed at him or her and becomes personally offended. If this occurs, the offended party might become “disengaged” and effectively end the negotiation process prematurely. To avoid this, the party receiving the “silent treatment” must have been reassured that nothing in the negotiating process is about their own person or any personal failing.

Another way to circumvent misinterpreting silence and avoid silence becoming a barrier to the negotiations is to use long pauses instead of just remaining silent or to use silence while doing another task such as writing or reading something related to the negotiation.

III、Responses to silence in business negotiation

3.1 Addressing opponents’ strategic use of silence

In the negotiating process, negotiating sides are more aware of the value brought by silence, either by using it to gain time to think over or by utilizing it to pose pressures in order to win interests. An old German Proverb says, “Silence is a fence around wisdom”. What we need to do is to expose the real purpose behind the silence and find ways to address it to different tactics.

When opponents employ silence to buy time to think, they tend to fall into two types：take notes and show their kind facial expressions. They try to grasp the time to consider the price or the term of the order, waiting for us to fill the gap with more words so as to find more about our vulnerabilities. Once we sense the tendency, we need to keep a cool head and show them the time limits for the negotiation by keeping saying: what’s your opinion on our terms; Can you share with us your preferable prices or acceptable conditions; The time is for you and we need to finish the negotiation by 5: pm……Keep in mind that a speedy move or hasty deeds are often what our opponents expect. Be sure to keep such amicable facial expression as they do and restrain ourselves. Moreover, we are supposed to make their silence inactive and ineffective. At some point starting at each other waiting for the other to speak seems pointless. In this case, we can just restate what we said previously. Often this restatement challenges the other party to reply. Listen to what they say next. When opponents seem to be serious with a blank face in the negotiating table, trying to show their disapproval, which is another pressure on our side. A compromise or concession may occur on such an occasion. Sometimes we need to keep a firm stand consistently instead of making a hasty concession. Be more tough with some conditions may turn other way around. Our opponents may step behind and appear less determined, while it is not the panacea to cure all serious silence. We should be cautious enough to adopt.

3.2 Breaking the deadlock caused by silence

Fact is that a deadlock may occur when both sides make no concession or expect further discussions. These are what we need to avoid for it inclines to break or end the negotiation without any beneficial results.

If our opponents keep silence after indicating they have made their final and best offer and are ready to close the negotiation, or seem disinterested in what we said. Our reaction to these should be trying to focus their attention and decide if it is worth our time or if we need to postpone the meeting, leaving more time for both sides to ponder over and become less offensive.

IV、Conclusion

Business negotiation is more than verbal language, non-verbal ones like silence may be more effective, which is an integral part to conversation, selling and presenting. Silence boasts both positive and negative results in negotiating practice. Once well-timed and appropriate- adopted can it win time, causing the opponent parts to feel compelled to make compromise. However, interpretation of silence is ambiguous and obscure and surely differs in different cultural understandings. Better awareness of the differences combined with masterly uses of the strategy brings us an edge in business field. We do understand how to give our response to opponents same tricks too. Silence also poses threats to negotiating process when both sides are aggressive on some terms and prices. In this case, silence acts as a barrier blocking both sides to join hands. We should avoid such a case and find ways to break the ice.

Silence, one of the most powerful tools in a negotiator’s toolbox, is increasingly playing their weight in negotiation practices. Masterly utilization plus tactical responses of silence are needed to bring all-win results.