And The Trophy Goes To…

   When somebody is buying and somebody is selling, worlds collide. And not in one of those romantic ”
opposites attract” sort of ways… It’s more like two individuals fighting over the last piece of pizza, than two friends sitting down for a candlelit dinner and meeting in the middle of a strand of spaghetti.

   I can appreciate that. I’m sure they are very nice! But allow me to first say that we’re quite happy that negotiators typically have a tough time getting along. If buying and selling was like going on a date, a company like Agfinity might not even exist. Which would mean you wouldn’t even be reading this right now. Scary thought, I know!

    When somebody wants to receive the most, and the other person wants to give the least, this is a situation that requires mediation. You see, a mediator’s goal is for every transaction to include at least two winners. Allow me to use a case study from last night’s movie-club meeting to better explain.

   My friend Jesse loves photography. But he’s not in the business of taking photos for free. So when our other friend Alex invited him to take before-and-after pictures of one of his larger landscaping jobs this summer, a work order was issued, but a price was never set. And how come…? Well, because Alex was buying, and Jesse was selling. And, like two starved bulls in a pizza shop, they just charged into the situation. But when the last photo had been taken, and one remaining piece of pizza looked upon them in ambiguous hesitancy, they both knew that a bill needed to be paid. But for how much?

   In steps Jon, our hotelier friend.

   “Jon, I think I’ve screwed up,” Alex confided as Jesse stepped out to take a work call.
“I have no idea how much I should be paying for Jesse’s pictures, and I don’t want to offend him… and I also don’t want to overpay and embarrass myself in front of Jared!”

   “This,” Jon began, after a few seconds of pondering,
“has an easy solution.” And by the time Jesse got back, a piece of paper had been torn into two, and two pens were waiting on opposite sides of the coffee table. For a dramatic, disarming effect, Jon even directed his bright and bendy floor lamp toward us, giving his living room a nice, interrogative atmosphere.
“Alright, men,” Jon continued,
“I want you to write down the price you think this job deserves. If your both mostly in agreement, I will set the price for the photos. If you are too far apart, I won’t judge either one of you – I’m the mediator and your numbers are safe with me. – But I will ask you to jot down new digits, and we’ll try this again.”

   “You really want to do this…?” Jesse laughed. Alex avoided eye contact, wrote a number down, and passed his paper to Jon. Still sniggering, Jesse grabbed his own pen, deliberated for a few seconds, and passed the paper to Jon, who quickly took it back to his mediation room, a.k.a. his kitchen island. Before long, Jon’s face lit up like a pumpkin on Halloween.
“Guys! We have ourselves a deal! The price is $425.”

   And just like that, instead of one of our friends being a loser that evening, both had risen as champions. Mediation takes what both parties know to be true:
how many pieces of pizza had been devoured; if the recipient was satisfied by the quality and speed of service; and most importantly, what each party is expecting, but might be too afraid to come right out and demand, and ultimately connects them in the middle. But, still not in that ooey-gooey,
Lady and the Tramp kind of way.

   Mediation determines a good-to-fair value for all parties involved. But the funny thing about Alex, Jesse, farmers and grain buyers alike, is that meeting in the middle is not as satisfying when you feel like you could have taken a bigger piece of the pie…

“So, you would have been happy with just $400 then?” Alex laughed.

“Well… I would have been happier taking your offer of $450,” Jesse chuckled.