Today’s comment came from a busy professional and an entrepreneur:
How do you negotiate with difficult people?
I am working on a partnership with another local business to benefit each others’ sales. While we are aligned on where we see the benefits to both of our businesses, I feel the potential partner is being difficult on some of the details. I don’t want to stop the discussions, as a partnership will definitely help both of us, but I am struggling over how to work with this person.

“A bird in the hand…” isn’t always worth “…two in the bush”. Just because this person is standing in front of you now, doesn’t mean that you should be working with this difficult person. Would you go out of your way to marry a difficult person? Starting a partnership with someone is a business marriage.
One mistake that new entrepreneurs make is to try to “close” every deal that is in front of them or to close every sale that is presented. But that’s not always the most beneficial.
If you agree with the above premise, then how do you figure out which deal to engage and which to let pass? Where do you deliberately spend your time and energy?

Things to Consider:

•  How often will you need to work with this particular person? Is he on the fringe of your business or will your success depends on this partnership?
•  If you are having difficulty with this person at the “dating” stage, how will the relationship evolve after the “newlywed stage” has passed? Like a first date, people should be putting their best foot forward. If this person is being difficult now, it is unlikely to get better later
•  Do you want to be spending your time and energy going back and forth with this person, or do you want to spend most of your time making money for your company? Do you want to have a friendly and easy relationship with your partner?
• Do you feel that this person is the only person that can fill in the business gap for you? Is this the only person that can fill this particular need?
• A high-maintenance partner or client costs more than the revenue they generate. If you can’t seem to please this person, then you simply can’t please them. Consider the ROI (return on investment) in all business transactions. Sometimes the best way to keep the client or partner happy is to recommend someone or somewhere else.

Possible Next Step
I don’t know how often you will need to work with this particular person or how close your affiliation will be. My initial reaction is to “ease off” of this specific “person” and look for another person in the same business that is a better personality fit with you (reach out to his competitors).

The great thing about this situation is that this particular opportunity has already served its intended purpose. This situation has clarified exactly what you are looking for; the exact local business you are interested in aligning with; the location that you desire; the shared benefits; and even how you want to be working with a potential partner. Now that you have clarified what you like and don’t like about this particular potential partner, you can better recognize the right partner.

Because you see this specific partner as being difficult and are having trouble with this person from the start (at the dating stage, the stage when people put their best foot forward) – you should see this as a sign to look for a better fitting partnership.
My recommendation is to not focus too much energy and attention on how to create a partnership with this “difficult partner”. Stay friendly and professional with him, but don’t push it. Agree that working with him is still a potential and agree to put this idea on the backburner for now. And when things are better aligned for both of you, feel free to reconnect. Then change your focus for awhile.

In the meantime – spend that energy and attention (that you just released) on attracting a better fitting partner in that same industry. Reach out to his competitors with the same proposal.
Conclusion:
You don’t have to marry the first person you date. Each person you interact with will give you better clarity on who you really want as a partner.
Consider the salesman quote: “SWSWSW-Next”. In this instance, this means, Some Will work, Some Won’t work; So What; just investigate the Next opportunity.

If you need additional help on this topic, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info
I am a business coach and this is what I do professionally. It’s easy to sign up for a complementary one-on-one coaching call, just use this link https://www.timetrade.com/book/WFSFQ