“Khm, why are you looking at me like I am scheming something, look at this pure face of mine.”
With a look full of bliss, John said that to our hero who was calmly studying his opponent.
John Smiley, a genius businessman, his friend and a foe and maybe a future business partner, albeit that is still hanging in the air, as he is yet to succeed today.
Just because they are friends that doesn’t mean this will be easy, no, this is going to be the biggest obstacle so far for Kira. Also, it doesn’t help that John has all the cards in his hand, he is rich, much richer than Kira, and he has connections.
Still, it's not like Kira doesn’t have a “hand” that can help him get the deal done, but it remains to be seen if he is going to use his cards right.
As for when the negotiations are going to start? It already began, from the moment Kira entered the office.
They have been studying each other the entire time, waiting for the right moment to pounce at one another. John was acting easy-going and carefree, as that is his style, while Kira was serious, not letting his guard down, and not allowing his rival to get the upper hand.
After seeing that Kira didn’t even flinch at his words, John put a leg on his other leg and continued with his monologue.
“Hmm, that was kind of rude, and here I am willing to help my dear friend out, after all, you're here for that, aren’t you?”
“You know, that attitude of yours always kind of pissed me off but I give you that, you really are something else, to forget that you are the one that sent me an invitation, so, tell me…”
Kira returned the words to his rival and with a calm look, a face that you couldn’t notice any emotion on, he continued.
“Who is the one that really needs help here?”
“Heh, and what would I need from you, not to sound mean but there isn’t anything that you can offer that I don’t have.”
From the first look, this seems like John is insulting our hero and looking down on him, but my dear readers do you think he is an idiot? No good businessman would look down on his negotiation partner, because the moment you think you are better than the person in front of you…you would lose everything.
So, why did he say that? It is simple, he gave a bait to Kira, so that if Kira said what he could offer, the cards he had would lose their shine and John would be able to work around that, to get more than he was supposed to.
Kira mustn’t offer him his terms first, or at least not immediately.
“And what you can offer me? Maybe you have money, but when it comes to the anime industry, you are quite lacking.”
He didn’t fall for that, as that was a kind of obvious bait but those with a temper would easily explode and reveal their intentions. Still, for this answer, Toma Yuu would give his boss a 7. He didn’t fail for the bait but he still acknowledged that the man in front of him is richer than him, even if that is the fact, he still didn’t need to say that, to give his opponent an opportunity, and John is someone that would never miss this kind of chance.
“As you said, I am rich and money opens a lot of doors, money that you don’t have, so anything you can offer, I could just buy.”
Arrogant words, from an arrogant man, but can those words be considered arrogant if they are true?
Kira realised that he made a slight mistake with his wording but he is not a rookie anymore.
“If it could open every single door, OnlyAnime would already be on the top of the world but it isn’t, the anime industry is special, now, can we start with the main topic, I think this is enough of fooling around.”
10 out of 10 move, not only did he block the attempts to bait him into spilling everything, he was even able to gain momentum.
Every single negotiation is like having a chess match, every single one of your moves can influence the ending, every single move carries importance and every single word of yours will be scrutinized.
Despite losing momentum, John Smiley was still smiling, enjoying this more than anything. A friendly spar with his dearest friend, there is nothing in the world he would rather do.
“I guess this really is enough of this directionless conversation, Kira I can guess what you want, an exclusive agreement with OnlyAnime, right?”
Right on the money, though again, Kira didn’t flinch. To explain, Kira wants to sign an exclusive agreement with Only Anime, in other words, anime made by Nexus Animation would only be shown by OnlyAnime in the West, that company would be their only distributor for several years, depending on what would they negotiate.
“That is correct, well that wasn’t hard to guess, so John, will you enter that agreement with me?”
After saying that, Kira relaxed in his seat but his eyes didn’t leave the green jewel-like eyes of his possible partner, who also kept staring at him.
“Khm.”
Coughing a little, not because he was sick, it was more to keep his concentration and then John calmly replied.
“I don’t have anything against cooperating with you but, not for free, I think it is time for you to open your cards, if not we can stop our negotiation right now.”
An inpatient move for someone known for his patience but Johnatan Smiley was adamant about not allowing Kira to dictate this negotiation, who was keeping his cards hidden, trying to use them when he saw fit.
“Haha, I agree, if we are going to be partners I need to show a bit of sincerity, something I learned when I started my job as a CEO, so my cards, Japanese market, what do you say?”
Just two words, but those two words were powerful and in John’s eyes for a second one could see stars. No matter how rich Jonathan Smiley is and how prepared he was when he created OnlyAnime, he still isn’t all-powerful and his connections mostly are in the Western countries, so Kira offers him a chance to breach into the Japanese market, something that will make OnlyAnime bigger in the anime industry and that would also be a good chance for Ultimate Corporation to gain more connections and possible business deals in some other industries.
Still, he didn’t bite immediately.
“That does sound quite good but tell me, how can such a young foreigner CEO, of a still small company help me breach into the Japanese market, or is there something more to this?”
Kira knew that he was close, as this would basically be a deal where no one losses, though he still wanted to get more benefits.
“I maybe don’t have these kinds of connections but my business partner does, I know you are familiar with Joshua Renji, a seasoned businessman, who is ready to help you with that, I already talked with him.”
He was indeed telling the truth. Kira wasn’t pulling any punches and for this chance, he was ready to use all of his connections and ability. Though Joshua didn’t just say yes.
“That Joshua Renji probably also wants something from this deal and I can guess what that is…”
The genius guessed everything; John kept his cool, other than his smile he didn’t show any other expression on his face.
“He is going to help me enter the Japanese market and in return I will help him enter the Western one, correct?”
“Yes, you are correct, so what do you say, JOHNATAN Smiley, do you accept.”
Kira was ready to celebrate and pull out his pen to sign the contract but nothing in this world comes easily.
“I can agree to that but I don’t think this is enough, I would sign with you an exclusive agreement and help your business partner enter the Western market, still, I somehow don’t think I am getting enough from this deal.”
He said that and warmly smiled at Kira, who started to sweat, probably thinking what is this fox scheming.
“I know well enough this is huge for you, not just because of OnlyAnime, what do you want John?”
Instead of answering this question, John Smiley changed the topic.
“How many years did you plan for this exclusive agreement?”
“10 years.”
“That is kind of too long, hmm.”
At this point, it was obvious he wanted something and Kira didn’t know if he could deliver that something.
“HAHAHA, stop looking at me like that, it won't be anything bad for you, actually it will help you, let's do this, 5 years and your studio will need to animate two anime that my team from OnlyAnime chooses, no matter from where it will be adapted, though I expect it will be only good stories, so what do you think.”
So, that was his plan. This isn’t anything unusual and rarely seen. OnlyAnime is going to buy the rights for some IP, probably Japanese and then they will commission Nexus Animation to make it.
Kira closed his eyes and started to think. Like John said, this isn’t a bad deal for him, well, it isn’t if the next question of his gets a positive answer.
“You should know that our budget is still tight and we maybe won't have enough to create a masterpiece you probably want, so will you share that burden?”
“I can do that, BUT, how about we then change this to five years and four anime, and I am going to pay for 50% of the needed finances, including post-production, well?”
Again, not a bad deal, though Kira thought he could make it even better.
“Okay we are getting somewhere, but how about this, eight years, three anime?”
At those words, Johnatan Smiley rose from his sofa, and with a warm smile reached out his hand and said – “Looking forward to working with you, partner.”
Kira then after being serious for this whole time burst into laughter and took the hand of his friend, rival and now a business partner. The two young men like that, in a good mood, had a firm handshake.
Handshake that is going to bring a storm to the entire anime community.
As for the last lesson in business negotiation - The wise man once wisely said – “In the end, the best deal is the one where everyone wins”.
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