NEGOTIATING TIPS FOR ARTS MANAGERS

1. NEGOTIATING TIPSFOR ARTS MANAGERS

2. Introduction • Successful win-win contract negotiations should be taught as part of every arts management curriculum. Agents negotiate with producers, actors negotiate with agents, designers negotiate with directors, directors negotiate with artistic directors and arts managers generally negotiate with everybody, everyday in myriad ways. Negotiating in the nonprofit world can be very different than corporate negotiations. Oftentimes, there are specific values, personal needs, and competitive realities that motivate arts employees in ways that would be foreign to many for-profit employers. For example, how many employers are hiring in an atmosphere where, historically, there has been 80-90% unemployment (actors) or where an employee is thrilled with the salary and company but turns down the position because he doesn’t like his specific “role?”

3.  I once consulted with the treasurer of a Board of Directors of a nonprofit theatre who was experiencing labor concerns due to low, noncompetitive salaries, morale problems, and leadership concerns. His solution to the problem was summed up in his opening statement: “If they aren’t happy in their jobs, just fire them and hire new people—that’s what I do in my factory!” However, the reality in this rather remote professional theatre was that the workers were highly skilled as costume shop cutters, theatrical welders, scene painters, and props designers. Replacing them in a timely fashion would involve more than twice the resources and result in either a delayed theatre opening or an inferior product. Everyone would lose. The arts are a different beast and there is a reason why Hollywood producers, film agents, theatre casting directors, personal managers, and savvy arts negotiators are among the highest paid professionals in America. 

4. This isn’t to say that arts professionals can’t learn from the negotiating skills of corporate “sharks” or that the basics of an effective negotiation aren’t similar in the for-profit and nonprofit arenas. In every instance, it is crucial to know your prospective employee’s wants, needs and desires and plan out a negotiating strategy that either meets or shapes their expectations.

5. Whether you are negotiating a million dollar Broadway contract or soft-drink pouring privileges for your outdoor drama, it’s important to understand what motivates the parties with whom you are negotiating. What do they want, what do you want, and what are your mutual objectives? What are the key priorities on both sides and what are the negotiable and non-negotiable issues?

6. MOTIVATIONAL POINTS TO CONSIDER

7. 1) A Sense of Belonging • Many prospective arts employees crave an artistic home, a creative family, and an institutional base, especially in the early stages of their career. Never underestimate the power and attractiveness of inviting someone to be a member of your very exclusive, creative, exciting arts institution. Establishing rapport in a negotiation can set the stage for productive proposals and agreements.

8. 2) Artistic Challenge • Why do “stars” choose to do Don Quixote, Hamlet, a brilliant new play, or Lady Macbeth for free (or union scale) when they could be making millions of dollars pursuing television and film projects? The answers center on the performer’s desires for artistic challenges, creative yearnings, and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. The right project for the right artist at the right time may be worth much more than the most competitive salary you could ever offer.

9. 3) Fair Compensation • In big business it’s fairly easy to determine the identities of your best salespeople and reward them accordingly. In nonprofit environments that stress collaboration (music/dance/theatre, etc.), it is not only difficult, but potentially crude to attempt to pay orchestra members, dancers or theatre cast members on the basis of their individual contributions to the project. Granted, additional compensation often goes to individuals who bring name recognition, years of experience, or rare skills to a performance. Generally speaking, however, most arts employees simply want to be treated and compensated fairly and honestly.

10. 4) Being Needed • Communicating the institution’s need for the unique skills of potential employees while instilling a sense of importance and prominence in the prospective employee may help motivate nonprofit employees who want to be wanted. Too often, brilliant artists, craftspersons and managers are put off by recruiters who blatantly use a “take it or leave it,” “there’s plenty more where you came from,” or “your lucky just to have the opportunity to work for us” sales pitch.

11. 5) Career Advancement •  A liberal arts college in Colorado was straightforward in their recruiting assertion that “we pay our employees with mountains vs. money.” They knew that the glorious weather, awe-inspiring vistas, and snow-covered mountain peaks were worth thousands of dollars as recruitment lures. In other words, use your every advantage to full advantage. Many professional orchestras, museums, and Tony Award-winning theatres use their reputations in the field to recruit free interns, low-cost entry-level employees, and ambitious middle-managers. They know that their prestigious name on an employee’s resume has the potential to translate into future dollars, benefits, and positions and use this clout for bargaining purposes. What do you have to offer?

12. THE BOTTOM LINE & GOLDEN RULES • Although it’s true that considering the “whole individual” (including the needs, wants, desires, and expectations of employees), is a great way to research negotiations, a strong negotiator certainly understands the power of money, benefits, and related compensation. “Fair Compensation” is certainly a debatable topic and researching industry standards while applying regional differences and cost-of-living indexes usually leads to market standards for the nonprofit field. It’s the job of the employer, agents, personal managers, and prospective employee to know what these market standards are and how they may impact the negotiation. Understanding how to research, prepare and conduct a negotiation should also be part of every arts manager’s job description.

13. Golden Rules for Negotiation Preparations: • Nothing is set in stone until everything is set in stone; • Bargaining is a mutual proposition (“if you give me this, I’ll give you that”); • Never give up anything without receiving something in return; • Never offer what you can’t deliver; • Don’t bluff unless you can afford to lose; • The strategy of “splitting the difference” can work for and against you; • What goes around, comes around (don’t resort to stretching-the-truth, half-truths, dirty tricks, or unsavory deal-making unless you want your long term reputation sullied and your future effectiveness compromised).

14. THE NEGOTIATIONTIP SHEET

15. 1) SELECT THE RIGHT NEGOTIATOR! • Once your institution has conducted the proper research (resume analysis, interviews, auditions, etc.), matching the perfect recruiter and negotiator with the prospective employee is often the next step. One theatre company utilized a frustrating, mind-numbing actor hiring process that often proved useless for all involved. The Artistic Director would play the “good guy,” call actors personally, and dangle fabulous theatre roles for their consideration. A few days later, a business office negotiator would call with the “bad news” that the actors would be expected to take significant pay cuts and work at low “favored nations” rates if they wanted to work for the company and play these “great roles.” • Although some actors complied, they usually reported to work feeling bamboozled and were forever suspicious of the company leaders. Many actors and agents simply refused the contract, devastated that they were built up for a financial letdown. Learning from their mistakes, the company eventually found one negotiator who would outline the financial constraints of the offer (and the institution) and proceed with the great news of significant roles and the company’s strong desire to work with the talented, unique, much needed actor. The results were phenomenal--two entirely different outcomes utilizing the same institutional resources.

16. 2) MATCH THE SKILLS TO THE NEGOTIATION! • Knowing how to do the job is not the same as knowing how to negotiate. Oftentimes, arts professionals delegate crucial negotiations to an area head who is brilliant at their core position. Unfortunately, they are most likely not the best person to conduct high level, difficult negotiations. An expert welder is not necessarily the best person to negotiate the best deal for thousands of dollars worth of welding equipment or hire a fellow welder. A technical director who is adept at motivating young workers may not be the best person to negotiate lumber purchases or close a deal with a senior scenic, lighting, or costume designer.

17. 3) YIPES! MY POTS ARE OVERFLOWING! • This is a running joke in my negotiating classes and serves as a reminder to “negotiate only when you are prepared to negotiate” and to “do your homework.” The “pots are overflowing” phrase is especially useful to actors, directors, designers, and other arts personnel who do most of their negotiations over the telephone and receive a surprise call out of the blue following large, “cattle-call” auditions or interviews. • The point is to make an excuse, any plausible excuse, to get off the phone, find your notes, research the negotiator and the negotiation, and find a mutually agreeable time to reschedule the phone call. “My pots are overflowing on the stove and I’m surrounded by a dozen dinner guests” is certainly a plausible reason to postpone a contract discussion by an hour (or a day) to allow you time to prepare, research, rehearse, and succeed.

18. 4) BE A PROBLEM SOLVER NOT A PRIMA DONNA! • Keep ego, past history, irritation and anger out of the negotiation. Focus on the goal, do your homework, listen carefully to what is being requested, and respond accordingly. Provide a range of solutions rather than blanket rejections or ultimatums. Again, how can the negotiation turn into a win-win situation?

19. 5) THERE’S A REASON ACTORS HAVE AGENTS! • It’s best not to negotiate for yourself as an individual and to have someone at least a step removed from the CEO negotiating for the institution. This allows healthy psychological distance on both sides and it separates the key leaders from the actual discussion (including potential angst, emotional outbursts, and personal attacks that could be deal-breaking confrontations). For example, due to their small size, organizational structure, or personnel composition, some nonprofit arts groups use their theatre’s artistic director, symphony conductor, museum director, or lead choreographer to negotiate artist contracts. • Difficult negotiations during the day followed by creative, artistic collaboration in evening rehearsals is a risky proposition. Perhaps, more importantly, this also provides backup and a place for the negotiation to move on to if the original negotiation bogs down.

20. 6) YOU START…NO, YOU START…NO YOU FIRST! • If you sense that an offer may be near or substantially higher than your expectations, it’s oftentimes a smart idea to simply listen and take notes when someone is approaching you with the offer. This allows you to benefit from the information the negotiator is providing and build it into your response and subsequent request. However, this can backfire.

21. If you sense that the initial offer is going to be substantially lower than your expectations, it may pay to outline your expectations first and start much closer to your expectations. It may be more difficult to negotiate a “steep uphill climb” from a lowball offer than to clarify your range of expectations up front. Classic pitfalls of “being the person who speaks first” is that the potential is there to undercut your position, show your hand too soon, or inadvertently put up a barrier to the negotiation and final contract with demands that the negotiator isn’t prepared to meet.

22. 7) SOMETIMES, SILENCE IS MANDATORY! • Once you have prepared and presented your offer, wait for a response before weakening your position with modifications, excuses, or additional information. It literally pays to be patient. “Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute,” explains Josh Billings.

23. 8) ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE! • Understand that “company rules,” “mandatory salary levels,” “basic benefits,” and “consistent employment packages” were all created by men and women who have the power to change, rearrange, reinterpret, or move around the rules if so inspired. Don’t let these roadblocks inhibit your negotiating progress. Strategize clear scenarios for moving beyond the objections to the world of yes.

24. 9) QUESTION STRATEGICALLY! • During negotiations, questions may be used to stall, to redirect arguments, to lighten up a difficult discussion, or to secure actual information. Know when an appropriate question may help in the negotiation process.

25. 10) KEEP THE DOOR OPEN AND YOUR FINGERS TO YOURSELF! • Stay focused on the final result and avoid such deal-breaking phrases as “that’s impossible,” “this is non-negotiable,” “take it or leave it,” “this is my final offer,” “I can’t do that,” or “over my dead body!” Don’t make it personal.

26. 11) IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO BE TOUGH! • A humanistic, friendly approach to a negotiation has the potential to be much more effective than a tyrannical, dictatorial set of directives and demands. The arts certainly employ their share of ego-maniacal leaders—don’t allow them to shape or conduct your negotiations.

27.  12) A SWEET BEGINNING! • Prepare the way for a happy resolution to a contract negotiation by focusing first on issues that may be easily set in stone. This provides a starting point and a feeling of progress before heading into more difficult areas.

28. 13) SHOW ACCEPTANCE! • In psychology classes, we all learned the importance of acknowledging other people’s feelings. In a negotiation, paying attention and restating someone’s position is a technique that buys you time while allowing you to shape their feelings into a mutually agreeable solution. • For example: “I hear you saying that you are having trouble making ends meet but we’re locked into specific salaries due to prior salary parity agreements. If we could assist you with your housing expenses by negotiating a better interest rate or rental payment, would this make it possible to complete this contract?”

29. 14) NEGOTIATE WITH A “WHO CARES” BAG OF PERKS • Arts marketing and fundraising professionals do this everyday. “If you subscribe (or make a donation), here are all the benefits you will enjoy!” And most of the purported benefits (10% gift shop discounts, $2 off parking, the first opportunity to give us your credit card number again next year, etc.) are either free to the institution or actual money-makers for the institution. Whether you are negotiating personnel contracts or airline flights, this strategy can also work for you. Find contract elements and perks that may be important to the person with whom you are negotiating and substitute items that aren’t costly to the company but may be very meaningful to your partner in negotiation • A better position title, a designated parking space, more substantial responsibilities, and professional development opportunities are just a few of myriad perks that may endear and excite an employee. In a negotiation with Delta Airlines, I found that offering access to mailing lists, ad space in play programs, and lobby space for dazzling travel displays served a dual purpose. The association with Delta Airlines enhanced the image of the arts institution while saving tens of thousands of dollars in cold cash for artist transportation.

30. 15) SEAL THE DEAL: FOLLOWUP QUICKLY IN WRITING! • Immediately following an oral negotiation and agreement, put the details into an email or letter and send to the party with whom you are negotiating to insure that you have agreed to the same key points. Too often, negotiators believe they have reached agreement, only to encounter shocking differences in hearing or perception when reviewing the final contract.

31. “If you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”Abraham Lincoln