There are five ways to measure how Accordence can make you better in your negotiations:

1. Time - Accordence can reduce the time it takes to reach agreement and close the deal on both internal and external negotiations.  If time is money in your business, as it is in ours, we can save you hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions of dollars here. It should be fairly easy to check the length of your negotiation cycle on big deals and set some goals about reducing the time required to close the deal.
   
   
2. Dollar Value - We believe that in every negotiation, there are three pies: One, the pie that everyone realizes is possible; two, the potentially greater pie which can only be achieved if the parties use the right process of negotiation; and three, the shrinking pie, what you actually end up with if the negotiation process is poor and the negotiators aren't very skilled. We can show your negotiators several processes that will help them expand the pie beyond what either party thought was possible when they came to the table. We can also help them avoid and defend against the dynamics that actually shrink the available pie. We could measure this by having you give us your estimate of what's possible and base our fee on helping you achieve a return that exceeds that possibility.
   
   
3. Working Relationships - In high-stakes, multi-party, complex negotiations in which you hope to do business in the future, the working relationships you build before, during, and after the negotiation process are a critical part of your success. Accordence can help you define the relationship you need and achieve it without having to give up vital interests you bring to the table. Giving in just because they are your biggest customer only teaches them to bully you more. If a critical relationship has gone sour, we can show you strategies for repairing and reviving that relationship.
   
   
4. Crisis Intervention - If a critical relationship or negotiation is about to go up in smoke or is hopelessly deadlocked, Accordence can advise, consult, and/or facilitate so that the crisis is resolved in a way that benefits both you and the customer. When clients hire us in this instance, they use us as neutral facilitators or partisan advisors. The proof is in the results you get. We'd be happy to give you a list of references of clients we've helped in this way.
   
   
5. Internal negotiations - Our clients often tell us that their internal negotiations are their most difficult.  We have two diagnoses for this: One, they don't prepare for internal negotiations like they do for those that are external, and two, they are using the wrong process. Accordence can help your company create a common, shared process and vocabulary for internal negotiations and reduce the time it takes to resolve internal issues. It is our experience that a company's ability to maximize its return on external negotiations is directly proportional to how well it coordinates and conducts internal negotiations.