Negotiation Skills Training Courses
With
over twenty-five years of proven industry experience, the
Negotiations
Training Institute of America is the recognized leader in negotiations
training, consulting and performance coaching. Through public open
enrollment courses and private on-session training sessions, we
have helped leading corporations, non-profit organizations and governmental
agencies improve their ability to
negotiate
better outcomes for their constituencies.
First-time
negotiators as well as those with the greatest
competitive
drive and amount of first-hand experience and
negotiations
wisdom can benefit from our time-tested courses. Whether focusing
on
negotiating
a contract with a vendor or jumping in to the often-stressful
car buying process to
deal
with a dealership, our courses provide useful skills, proven techniques
and various classroom role plays to help you
become
more aware of negotiations that you must face on a daily basis.
For more information on our negotiation skills training courses please
contact us.
Negotiation
Training:
Lets Make A Deal
Yes, it really
is true, “the devil is in the details.” The critical
juncture, where your ability to close a
profitable
sale meets your customer’s desire to get what he considers
to be a good deal, occurs at the negotiating table. He may like
you and love the product or service you are selling, but what will
it take for both of you to walk away from that table with a smile
on your faces? It will take some wise, skillful negotiating. In
our powerful training course –
Negotiating
Contracts and Agreements – we can equip you with everything
you will need to nail down that smile, and also cement a long-term
working relationship with that customer to keep you both smiling
for years to come.
Lets Make A Deal
How we negotiate
reflects our respect for the customer and how deeply we care about
the life of that relationship. Too often salespeople and entrepreneurs
listen to bad advice about hard-core negotiating tactics. In reality,
those who are peak performers at negotiating show a lot of style
and grace under pressure--something their co-negotiators remember
and appreciate.
Here's some
negotiating advice from me and some legends in the art.
1. Be prepared.
Always go into a negotiation well-rested. Long, drawn-out meetings--or,
worse, negotiating over the long haul for several months--are exhausting.
Make it a rule that you're not allowed to get exhausted. If you
do, take a powder for a while.
The person
with energy has the will to continue. Do everything in your power
not to weaken your position by losing energy. Notre Dame football
coach Lou Holtz puts it brilliantly: "Nobody quits unless they
think they are not going to be successful. When someone is running
in a marathon, as long as he thinks he is going to finish, he will
continue. It is only when he starts thinking he is not going to
make it that he will quit before he completely exhausts himself."
I know for
a fact I am one weak sister when I am tired. Fatigue stops the positive
thoughts necessary for good negotiations. That's why, the day before
every negotiation, I make sure to eat well, watch my alcohol intake
and get eight hours' sleep. This ensures I'm in top mental and physical
condition, and that my head is clear to negotiate successfully.
Things go better for me when I walk into the deal just plain feeling
good.
2. Remember,
it's only a game. Herb Cohen, America's great negotiator and
author of You Can Negotiate Anything (Audio Renaissance), says,
"Negotiation is just a game. You care about the outcome, but
not that much." That's one reason I rarely negotiate for my
own public speaking fees with a client. I'm too emotionally attached
and sensitive when it comes to representing myself. It's easy to
take an unbiased position when representing somebody else's money,
time, family, product, service or even career, but when it hits
close to home, it is no longer a game.
The more emotionally
attached we become to an outcome, the harder we try to get our way.
Pretty soon we begin to lose our perspective. It's important to
stay neutral.
3. Don't
take a hard-and-fast position. When you start negotiating, remind
yourself that you want this agreement to work satisfactorily for
everyone involved. If you take a position that says, "Either
this goes my way or it's not going," you could end up very
sorry. I have seen salespeople do their customers a terrible injustice
by using this ploy.
How do you
deal with people who try to force you to take a position? Refuse
to negotiate with them. Remain calm and mature no matter how they
try to beat you down. Once a prospect said to me, "Either you
throw in 10 sets of workbooks with this video system or I won't
do business with you."
As soon as
I hear "Either you do this or else," I step in and stop
the game. "I would love to work with you, but it doesn't sound
like it could work right now." Notice I haven't said anything
offensive. Because this type of individual may be looking for trouble,
you must weigh your words carefully and get them out of your way
fast.
4. Be prepared
to walk away. I repeat: Negotiating is a game, and if you don't
care about the outcome that much, you can detach yourself from the
situation and walk away. The purest negotiations occur when you
have plenty of other prospects in the pipeline and plenty of money
in the bank.
If an inflexible
customer is the only customer you have going for you, it can be
difficult to negotiate objectively. "Control of the negotiation
lies with the party who is perceived to need the deal the least,"
says expert negotiator and sales consultant Barry Elms.
The older I
get, the more I realize how important it is not to want something
too badly. The more alternatives I can come up with, the better
off I am. When you care the least at the negotiating table, you
have the most strength.
Most people
feel they have either failed or walked away from an opportunity
when they turn something down, says Joanna Tamer, president of Los
Angeles-based S.O.S. Inc., a consulting firm for new media developers,
publishers, distributors and retailers. But in reality, says Tamer,
"there is no shortage of opportunity. If you say yes to something,
whether it turns out to be good or bad, you still have to say no
to the next thing that comes along because you have already filled
that space."
Tamer's detachment
in the face of negotiation is the key to her success with clients,
which include big names like Blockbuster, Harper-Collins and Time-Life
Inc. "When I negotiate for myself or my clients," says
Tamer, "I tell them and myself: `Remember, there is no shortage
of business out there. If this deal doesn't fly, it isn't going
to end my career or kill your future business.' "
Keeping this
positive attitude is important. And when you say no, Tamer advises,
be alert because something will show up soon to fill the place of
the deal that didn't work out. "You may feel awful when something
doesn't work out--but later, you'll be amazed how happy you are
that it didn't," she promises. "If it had worked out,
the new opportunity that is in front of you now never would have
presented itself."
5. Practice
compassion, and negotiate in good faith. Show compassion by
listening for the real reason behind your customer's objection or
hesitation. Let customers air their feelings, make comments, present
objections and feel comfortable telling you whatever is on their
minds. Then and only then will all parties come to the negotiating
table in good faith.
By Danielle
Kennedy
For Negotiation
Skills Seminar information please
contact
us.
Related:
Negotiation Course
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