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.

Japanese Sales Negotiation Training Workshop Secrets

All too often Americans (like me) think that we know everything. The reality is that our society has only been around for a bit over 200 years and we're just getting started. That's why it can be valuable for a sales negotiator to take a look at how societies that have been around for thousands of years negotiate. Like, say, Japan.

The U.S. really started to take a look at how we dealt with Japan in the 1980's when trade between our countries exploded. What people quickly realized is that both sides of the negotiations table were fundamentally different. There for the first decade or so, U.S. negotiators were getting taken to the bank more often than not because the Japanese sales negotiators were doing a better job negotiating.

Over time HOW these negotiations were being conducted was closely studied. Three negotiations techniques quickly became apparent:

Considered Response / Respectful Silence: when Japanese sales negotiators are on the other side of the table, be prepared to sit quietly. Western sales negotiators don't know what to do when nobody is talking - and the Japanese know this. They can sit, work out math problems, draw in long breaths, etc. and say nothing for minutes at a time. This is all designed to get you to become flustered and give in on a negotiation point or say something that you shouldn't say.

KAN - "Seeking Heavenly Approval": Western sales negotiators like to focus on the here and now. Japanese sales negotiators realize that this deal is just part of a much bigger relationship. After the details of the agreement have been worked out and it appears as though you are close to closing the deal, members of the Japanese team will pause. They will consider if they really want to do this deal with you - is it going to be worth it in the long run, or are you just going to be too much of a hassle to deal with? This moment is called KAN - reaching "heavenly approval".

Time & Money: the Japanese view the sales negotiation process differently than their Western partners do. We in the west see it as something to race through and quickly get done with. The Japanese view it as something to be nurtured. They set aside enough time to do negotiations properly. They resist attempts to wrap it up quickly. They will revisit points over and over again in order to test your resolve. This is how Japanese sales negotiators turn time into money.

It is entirely possible to enter into sales negotiations with Japanese partners on the other side of the table and come out with an agreement that you feel good about. However, you need to fully understand how they see the world and adjust your sales negotiating style to this situation.