So what’s the best way to negotiate?
Face to face of course. I’ve seen too many people trade comments for comments over weeks and weeks, and getting nowhere fast. The key is to first go through the agreement and note any comments or issues in a clear and systematic table format. Then organise a time when you can go through the list and discuss each point prior to sending the list through, even send it through so that both parties have it in front of them for reference.
Purely sending a list of issues through to the other party without discussion is open to interpretation by the other party, and it’s difficult to convey the reasons why an issue exists, and what your preferred outcome might be. Plus the negotiation of a single clause may involve three or four passes prior to being agreed. On the phone or face to face you can do this very quickly, whereas in writing it can literally take weeks going back and forth.
I know it is really very tempting to just get the issues down and be done with it, but it’s really the coward’s way out. In the interest of getting a better mutually beneficial result, and faster, talk it through.