From January to April 2026, I spent my internship implementing websites, ERP systems, and collaborating with employees and interns alike—experiences that made me reflect on how I approach work and interpersonal communication.
Last week, I was informed that a new lead wants to visit the office on Friday and inquire about Kapwa’s services. They are an apparel company that distributes hybrid pajamas, i.e., pajamas that can be used both inside and outside the house. Their goal is to establish a social media presence within the Philippines and attract Filipinos to buy their products. The channels they plan to target are TikTok, Shopee, and Lazada.
There’s just one problem: Kapwa neither provides those services. My company is more focused on Google and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) Ads. Our CEO, John, nevertheless gave the go signal to try to negotiate with them. The negotiating team included my managers, Daisy and Shirna, and me. I was handpicked for my proficiency in English. What did we do before the meeting? We consolidated our email communications with them and wrote the questions we plan to ask. We also anticipated a few questions from them, such as pricing, since Kapwa charges a hefty one-time payment. A presentation was also prepared, including Kapwa’s work culture and other service offerings in web development and SEO.
When the new lead arrived at the office, we ushered them to our conference room. The discussion, led first by me, started around the nature of their business. Daisy and Shirna then made inquiries about the services they wanted to procure. We eventually settled on an agreement to send our proposal to their email. That took 40 minutes to get there.It was because we had gone back and forth with what the new lead wants and what services we offer. I attempted to understand them by reiterating what they had said, clearly to Daisy and Shirna. I guess the mistake was pushing too much to accept Kapwa’s offer, even though it doesn’t align with the problems they wanted to solve.
After the meeting, it was clear that we were not going to work with them. In a way, that’s a good thing because we don’t service the channels they plan to target at all. We may have put pressure on ourselves if they had accepted Kapwa to be their digital marketing partner. John agrees too and said that he doesn’t want to overstretch the company’s resources.
The experience improved my attentiveness to negotiating because I understood their problem first before offering our services. Indeed, it can bring anxiety to some. It’s the fear of having to talk with another person and expecting either acceptance or rejection. Personally, I lean more toward convincing the client to work with me. You just need to understand the purpose of your conversation. Understand your intentions and always listen to what the other person says.