Sometimes the Best Solution Isn't the One That Wins

The longer I spend in business, the more convinced I become that the best commercial outcomes are rarely created by someone winning and someone losing.

One of the more interesting conversations I've had recently centred on a business owner reviewing a long-standing commercial relationship.

On the surface it looked like a straightforward negotiation. There were contracts to review, financial returns to assess and several options that all appeared commercially reasonable.

As we talked, I found myself asking a different question.

"If both businesses are still working together five years from now, what would a successful relationship actually look like?"

That question changed the conversation.

Instead of focusing on who might gain the most today, we began looking at what would make the relationship stronger tomorrow.

Sometimes that meant challenging assumptions that had existed for years.

Sometimes it meant recognising that one party's short-term gain could easily become the other party's long-term frustration.

The more we explored the options, the clearer it became that the real opportunity wasn't negotiating a better agreement.

It was creating a better business model.

One that both parties genuinely wanted to protect.

Over the years I've noticed that business owners can become so focused on dividing today's pie that they forget to ask how tomorrow's pie might become bigger.

The strongest commercial relationships I've seen haven't been built because one side negotiated brilliantly.

They've been built because both sides walked away believing the relationship had become stronger than it was before they sat down together.

That's one of the things I enjoy most about working with business owners.

The discussion is rarely just about contracts or money.

It's about people.

It's about trust.

It's about building something that still makes sense long after the negotiation has been forgotten.

Business is rarely about finding winners and losers.

It's about finding solutions that people still value years after the agreement has been signed.

Steve Wilkinson

Commercial Common Sense.