Negotiating a New Salary
I got a great question from a reader and old friend the other day that I thought would be kinda cool to write about today because I think everyone has faced this and when they do they likely think, "Well shit. How do I not shoot myself in the foot here?" But first, a quick shout out to my buddy for sending me this question (I'll remove his name, just in case... Read more
Price Resistance Starts With The Seller
This week I was reminded about the perception of value. A friend of mine runs a new and thriving consulting practice and he reached out to me asking what I think he should price a new service at. Before I could answer he told me what he thought he should price it at. I was blown away. Not by how much he was pricing it at, but at how little.... Read more
Master Your Body Language
Depending on the study you read, anywhere from approximately sixty percent to ninety percent of communication is nonverbal. Let that soak in for a second. Now ask yourself this question, "Is my body language congruent with the words that I say?" If you answered "yes" to that question, how do you know? Unless you consciously practice your nonverbal communication and train your body to communicate what you want it to, you're probably giving off different information... Read more
The Development of Patience
Jack Cambria is the embodiment patience and understanding. In a conversation I had with Jack (episode 50 of the Negotiations Ninja podcast), he said: "We have to have staying power and develop a rapport. And if we can develop that, it will lead to trust, in time. And there is a process. And that process is allowing people the time to work through their emotions and that takes time."Jack's background as... Read more
Breakdowns are Potential Breakthroughs
"Don't take temporary set backs so seriously. Things are not over when we think they're over. I used to believe that when you have a breakdown in a negotiation, then that's it. What I learned after a while is that things are never over. It's over if the parties involved both drop dead, then MAYBE, it's over. Breakdowns are potential breakthroughs. Every exit is an entrance some place else." -... Read more
Perception Is Reality
One of my negotiation idols is Herb Cohen. In a conversation I had with Herb (episode 33 of the Negotiations Ninja podcast), the biggest golden nugget for me was the re-affirmation that perception is everything in negotiation. He said: "Perception is reality. Power is based upon perception. If you think you got it, but don't have it, you got it. If you think you don't got it, but have it, you don't... Read more
Don’t Shirk the Fundamentals
There is one thing that all experts (in every single interview I've done) preach repetitively and without loss of enthusiasm. And that one thing is to FOCUS ON THE FUNDAMENTALS. They consistently preach two things as the fundamental building blocks to success in negotiations: 1. Ask good questions 2. Actively listen Strangely, many of us cast off this advice as too basic. My belief is that they could have said anything else as fundamentals, and... Read more
Your Words Have Power
"Sticks and stones can break your bones but words can never harm you." What a load of B.S. I caught myself telling my children this the other day and immediately regretted it. Because it's completely untrue. Words have the power to build and the power to destroy. They also have the power to change how someone thinks of you and how you think of yourself. Ancient wisdom has understood this for... Read more
The Insanity of ‘Good Enough’
"Negotiations Ninja exists to develop and deliver the most engaging negotiation training and content in the world. If I didn't believe that this business could develop and deliver the most engaging negotiation training in the world, I wouldn't be doing it." People get uncomfortable when they hear me say this. Then I say, "This is not a goal statement and please don't mistake this for arrogance. This is a... Read more
Can You Repair a Damaged Relationship?
I was going to do a post on how to repair a damaged relationship, but then I got to thinking, "To say that would be to presuppose that a damaged relationship can be repaired." And can a damaged relationship actually be repaired? I suppose we need to make a distinction between personal and business relationships before we get into this, so let's start off by saying that we're only talking... Read more