Negotiating and Deal Making: My interview with D Evans.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing D Evans for my Negotiating and Deal Making Course at Full Sail. As part of my masters program we are learning more about professionals in the entertainment industry and what they do to negotiate their successes. D is the front woman of two successful bands “Dierdre”, and “Southwest by Midnight”. Both bands have to work together in studio time, on albums, both digital and physical releases of records, booking of shows, budgets, and time. As we know, time is sometimes the most difficult item to negotiate. I sat down with D and asked her the following questions on how she has made it work, with not only one, but two successful bands. Me: “How do you separate the people from the problem when you are negotiating? What tips do you have for new negotiators who are trying to do this”? D. “If I was recording a band's album in the studio and we were all trying to decide what to name the album, we would do this in a democratic fashion. I would reason with them and give them the pros and cons of the choices that we all came up with/the choices at hand, and then we would use democracy and data and vote on all of the options". Me: I see that you use the important aspects of objective criteria, “appreciation, the desire to be recognized and valued; affiliation, the desire to belong as an accepted member of some peer group; role, the desire to have a meaningful purpose; and status, the desire to feel fairly seen and acknowledged”(Fisher, R. 2011). Each member of the band has a voice when you use democracy. Everyone having a voice makes them feel appreciated. Me: “How do you handle positional bargaining tactics? D: “If I am negotiating a deal, I already know the maximum amount that I can afford. I start low and I know what I want to pay. I will usually split the difference of 50%. So, when buying gear (studio gear, or guitars, amps, etc) for instance off Craigslist or other sites, if something was being sold for $800 and I was willing to pay $600, I would offer the guy $400 to start negotiations. With those kind of negotiations you usually end up at $600. A fair price for both parties”. Me: “Wow! Great example of positional bargaining! That is great you continued to negotiation for mutual benefit. When both parties in a negotiation win, everyone feels satisfied”. Me: “Can you give me an example of how you worked toward mutual benefit when you were negotiating a deal”? D “For instance, if negotiating a deal between a band and a bar/venue, and the venue doesn't want to put out any money to pay the band out of their pocket. We would negotiate a deal where the bar/venue could keep the money from the alcohol sales, and the band would keep the money from the ticket sales at the door. Thus, everyone gets a fair cut”. Me: “This is an awesome example of the term BATNA I learned in my course, which translates to “Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement” (Fisher, R. 2011) When an initial deal could not be made; getting paid upfront, the best alternative was to keep the money from the door. Negotiations are tricky, but as we can see when you separate the people and their raw emotions, from the task or problem at hand, a conclusion everyone can walk away happy with can be met". Roger, Fisher,, Ury, L.. Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In. Penguin Books, 05/2011. VitalBook file.