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Blog page: 22

Negotiation, Poker, and Philosophy

There are countless books, studies, and essays written about negotiation techniques and strategies. The topic has had significant time and effort donated by experts across all industries. Negotiation often goes hand-in-hand with other hobbies and activities, poker being one of the most prominent examples. High-level poker players are often incredible negotiators, as they are masters of probability and human behavior. Mike Caro, my recent guest on Negotiations Ninja, is the... Read more

Developing Trust in Negotiations

I often talk and hear about trust in negotiation as a key element to ensuring you achieve the outcome you desire. In a past episode of Negotiations Ninja podcast, I spoke with Keld Jensen, internationally recognized expert and advisor on negotiation and behavioral economics, about the importance of trust in negotiation. I believe we take trust for granted in negotiation. Business often comes down to numbers. Trust is a belief,... Read more

Negotiation matrix

Can You Push a Negotiation Too Far?

Can You Push a Negotiation Too Far? You can push a negotiation too far and its dangerous to do so. If you push a negotiation too far and you push the other side too hard and too fast, you risk not only losing the deal, but also isolating and distancing potential future business. Relationships are critical in the world of negotiating and knowing when to stop grinding is critical to... Read more

How to Use Time Pressure In Negotiations

How to Use Time Pressure In Negotiations Folks, it sounds obvious to say that time is money. We all hear this saying all the time. But in negotiations, we can use time pressure in negotiations to extract large amounts of concessions out of the other party.   Don't Use This Time Pressure Tactic For Evil Please don't use this tool I am about to teach you, for evil. Just because I'm... Read more

Turning On The Like Switch

Mastering behavioral science is the key to mastering negotiation. Nearly everything humans do is based on insecurities and ego: namely the opinion of self and how others view us. Identifying and manipulating insecurities is the most efficient method to reach a favorable resolution in a negotiation. Friendship and rapport can be built and used to collect information that the other side would likely guard in a normal situation. My past... Read more

What To Ask For When Asking For A Raise

What To Ask For When Asking For A Raise Want more money in your job? Ask for more money when asking for a raise. "But Mark, it's not that easy,.....you don't understand,......you've never worked in my industry,.....i really want this job,....blah blah blah." Nonsense!!! Granted, people get intimidated by the idea of negotiating salaries when they get a new job, but it's so critically important!!! Remember that last post on... Read more

Negotiating Performance Based Contracts

When hiring a contractor, we often put all the responsibility on them for completing what they are being hired to do, without any harm to our businesses. This is a fair notion, but there are some circumstances where we have to assume some responsibility to allow the contractor to do what we need them to do. This is the concept behind performance-based contracting. In a past episode of Negotiations Ninja,... Read more

Always Ask For More In Negotiations

Always Ask For More In Negotiations As the famous Roger Dawson said: This is the golden rule of negotiating! “Always ask for more than you expect to get.” should be tattooed on the inside of your hands so you never forget. These types of simple golden rules are so basic that sometimes we forget about them and take them for granted and often we don’t even think about why it... Read more

How To Make Your Meeting with Procurement More Effective

How To Make Your Meeting with Procurement More Effective So what happens once you’ve gotten past the lunch meeting and actually secured your first sales meeting with procurement? Well, if you’ve gotten the opportunity to present your product/service/company to me (the procurement person), try to line it up for the next time they’re at the production facility/business users location and get them to invite some of the business users who... Read more

Overcoming Adversity And Kicking Ass

Persistence is key in getting where we want to be in life and negotiations. In anything we strive for, we have to persist. In a recent episode of Negotiations Ninja podcast, I had the privilege of speaking with Molly Bloom. You might know Molly from the Academy Award-nominated movie that depicted her life, Molly’s Game. Molly lived her life striving to be the best at something, from the Olympics to... Read more