Negotiation strategies that make money

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Why selling and negotiating are two different things.

Selling and negotiating are two very different skills that require a different skill sets and need to be applied at different stages throughout the negotiation process. People often confuse selling with negotiating. The fundamental difference is that when you sell you create demand and when you negotiate you make money! Selling is all about convincing the customer that they need the product or service by talking about the features and benefits of the product or service. Selling is about convincing, persuading, justifying and explaining why the product or service is the one the customer needs. Negotiation on the other hand is about agreeing to the terms of the deal. Once the need has been established and the sale has been concluded the negotiation can begin. A skilled negotiator asks effective questions to gain valuable information and listens carefully to what the other party has to say as the insights can then be used in the negotiation. If you fall back into se

Negotiate with compassion in times of COVID 19.We are all in this together.

We live in strange times and our lives have been turned upside down. We need to adjust to new social norms, social distancing. We feel that our freedom has been taken away. We can’t travel, can’t meet with friends and family we can’t even just go to the supermarket and buy staples like flour, toilet paper or canned tomatoes. The way we work has changed; the way we interact with each other has changed. The way we negotiate should also change in these strange and challenging times. While we negotiate to get the best deal possible and don’t want to leave money on the table; this does not necessarily apply in these circumstances where we are all affected in some way or another. What is important now is that we work together, find solutions together and help each other out. I have seen many acts of kindness lately. It’s these times that bring us together. The same goes when you negotiate. These are extraordinary circumstances, and people still need to make deals but it is not

Common mistakes negotiators make when sharing information

Sharing information builds trust which is the basis for any long term relationship and good outcomes. The art is to understand what information is appropriate to share, what should be kept for a later time and what information can’t be shared. Sharing information also calls for reciprocity meaning that the other party feels obliged to give something in return, in this case also share information. Social psychologists call it The Law of Reciprocity, meaning that when you get something you have the urge to reciprocate and give something in return which in many cases can be far more generous. While information sharing builds trust it is important that before going into a negotiation one must calculate the risks and benefits of sharing information with their counterpart. A common mistake people make is that they share too much information. Sharing too much information can damage your position of power because information is power and the more the other party knows about you and your p

5 strategies that can get you a better deal

I recently had to get an arborist to do some tree pruning at our house. An arborist is not someone that I would call on very often hence I wondered how do I know that I got the best offer? Yes, you can get a comparison quote, which I did get, but then again was this the best offer I could get? Here are 5 steps that help to get a better deal. 1) Build rapport People like to deal with people they like, so why burn your bridges and play hard ball. People like to be of help so assume good intentions build rapport and trust. 2) Reject the offer politely Tell the other party that their price is too high. While you would like to consider them for the job you would like them to review their offer. 3) Think about their motivations Put yourself in their shoes. What motivates them to get this work? Is it money, is it the prospect of more work or do they need the job because business is slow at the moment? People have different motivations and it is impo

6 tips to help you nail your message via e-mail

We live in highly uncertain times; social distancing and working from home is now the new normal. This also means more e-mails and more phone calls. In this post I want to share some tips on how you can nail your communication via email. Albert Mehrabian’s rule of 55-38-7 means that 55% of our communication is through our body language and facial expression, 38% comes from our tone of voice; how we say something; and only 7% comes from our words. This shows that it is even more important to carefully plan and write an email, making sure we get across what we want and how we want it. 1) Be precise and concise and keep it short Have you ever received and email that has 3 paragraphs or more? Most people don’t read long emails to the end. In order to not lose their attention, bring your point across in a short and concise message. 2) Make it easy to follow You want the receiver to read your email and remember the key points. Structure your email in a way so t

What people drives to panic buying

We now live in uncertain and crazy times which has shown that it is difficult for some to cope and know what to do. People fall into panic buying and supermarket shelves are emptied out. There is psychological reasoning that helps us understand why people become irrational and stock up on food stuffs and toilet paper unnecessarily. David Rock, the Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of the NeuroLeadership Institute, developed a model which provides an understanding of the true drivers of human social behaviour. The SCARF model consists of five domains: Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness. Status is about my own importance in relation to others. If my status it threatened; for example, due to a job loss I am trying to do anything to change that. Certainty is about knowing what comes next and being able to predict the future. We now live in highly uncertain times. We might be in lock down tomorrow; we don’t know when we will be able to travel aga