A negotiation approach to project sales and implementation

To successfully sell and implement a project, project managers must work with their clients to negotiate a project's issues, challenges, and processes. This article examines how project managers can use a conceptual framework--based on the negotiation analytic approach--to improve their decision-making with negotiating with clients. In doing so, it overviews the literature on project marketing and project management to explain how and why project managers and their clients must work together to negotiate positive agreements. It defines the purpose of negotiating and the process of using the negotiation analytic approach, identifying the four characteristics common to all negotiation situations. It also describes the framework's four features and the three elements comprising its body of knowledge. It then discusses these three elements in relation to three negotiating strategies and details the significance of using this framework to conduct project negotiations.