The Art of Negotiating

Death, Taxes, and Negotiating

Most of us hate negotiating, and we despise its evil cousin, confrontation. How and why can we feel this way?

• Exposes our perceived weaknesses
• Performs plastic surgery on our poker faces
• Rattles our nerves
• We’re afraid to fail
• We assume the other guy is out to get us
• And, it might actually make us sick to our stomach just thinking about it.

You have Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself. You know your products. You know your processes. You know their value. So, what is there to fear about negotiating?

What makes a good negotiator?

• Competitiveness
• Persistence
• Personal Integrity
• Open-Mindedness
• Listening Ability
• Non-Verbal Communication Skills

And what Makes a Good Negotiation?

• TIP #1 – Plan, Plan, Plan
• The Discovery Process:
  What are the important things to know going into the negotiation?
• Think like a Reporter…
  Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How?
• Use a checklist: Opportunity Planner

Negotiating Tactics

• Auction: Set sellers or buyers against one another.
• Better offer: Indicate a better offer from the competition.
• Better than that: Just say “You'll have to do better than that...”
• Deadlines: Push them up against the wall of time.
• Funny money: Financial games, percentages, increments, etc.
• New issue: Introduce a new key issue during the negotiation.
• Nibbling: Constant adding of small requirements.
• Slicing: Break one deal down into multiple smaller deals

Contact us to learn more about the Art of Negotiation, including:
overcoming stalemates, closing, and defusing potential negotiating "bombs".