The Fine Art of Negotiation.

Hello gang,

Chris French here from Modern Midwest Entertainment. Recently, I had the opportunity to have a phone chat with Jason Dilyard, founder of Hillsdale, Michigan's Dily Promotions. Since the beginning of 2008, "Dily", as he's known to everyone that knows of him, has been involved in over 50 different negotiation sessions with artists from comedians to rock bands to country bands. During the course of our discussion, we talked about different issues in doing negotiations.

I started off the interview by discussing the issue of people. More specifically, we talked about how he separates people from the problem, or basically, how the human factor doesn't affect his negotiations. "You have to work with people you don't know. That way, personal interest, such as working with friends, isn't there. It allows me to be more objective in what I want and how I'm going to get it."

Most of the time, a negotiation is conducted to garner a mutually beneficial result for both parties. When I asked Dily about this, he stated that his role in negotiations has been a little bit different. "Most of the deals I've done, I've been the middleman. I gotta make the clubs happy, I gotta make the acts happy. I have to make sure the venue's gonna make money by getting people into the place, and I gotta make sure the band gets a good price from the venue."

When a negotiator can show affiliation to the other party, such as an Oscar winning actor, a Golden Globe winning producer or director, it lends credibility to that person as an expert in their field. I asked Dily his thoughts on affiliation, "It goes to benefit because everyone knows that you bring more to the table. You have to keep all of your newspaper clippings and stuff so people can see what you've done. Bands that you've booked, venues you've gotten bands into. Name recognition is a lot to this business."

Getting into the heart of the negotiation, leverage and power are two key elements that each negotiator hopes to curry in their direction during the negotiation. "Try to keep it on your side," Dily commented, "It helps make it so much easier when you're able to have that leverage and power. You're able to get what you want. It helps make a profit and get things done when you get what you want from someone."

Sometimes in a negotiation, one party may try to "pull the wool" over somebody's eyes. I asked Dily how he deals with dirty tricks from a venue or a band when he's in a negotiation. "If it comes to a lost venue, you have to suck it up and take it. Sometimes you just have to deal with it and move on. That's when you have to realize that they're not the only venue or band out there and you have plenty of other opportunity."

Often times in a negotiation, the first deal is not readily accepted. That's when you have to turn to The Best Alternative To the Negotiated Agreement (BATNA*), "I try to concede to a middle ground so that each side leaves somewhat happy."

I would like to thank Jason "Dily" Dilyard for speaking with Me about negotiations. I hope you've learned a little something today!

*na-na na-na na-na na-na nah. . .BAT-NA!!! Sorry, I couldn't resist!