Dealing With Aggressive Negotiators
The longer you work in a high volume negotiation role the more you get to see in terms of styles or roles within the spectrum of negotiation ability and skill sets. There are many negotiators out there who truly look for win-win scenarios and are actively engaging to ensure that they come to a deal that makes sense for both parties. And there are others who want to take everything... Read more
What Makes Them Tick?
When I was a kid, I would try to take my toys apart to see how they worked. I was impatient as a child (and in many ways, I still am). That impatience got the best of me many times and I recall a time once where I got so frustrated with not being able to take a toy (a toy robot my parents had saved to buy for me)... Read more
Applying Process to Negotiation
I'm definitely going to lose some readers over this one. But screw it, here we go. I've had very robust "discussions" with many business professionals, former colleagues, and "expert" consultants about this topic. But the short answer is, "Yes" - I believe you can apply process to negotiation. Alright, now that we've gotten rid of the people who think in absolutes, let's begin our discussion. The truth is that you've... Read more
They Hate It When I Say This
"You've wasted your money if you think I'm here to give you the negotiation silver bullet." "I have no 'easy tricks' you can start doing to see your results 10X." "If you thought that you were going to be able to come to a seminar and somehow absorb the knowledge without a significant amount of practice and effort, then I have bad news for you,....this isn't that kind of training."... Read more
Framing In Negotiations
"How you say something is more important than what you say." Ever heard that before? Think it's true? Well, it turns out that it actually is true. Once you learn about framing, it will change the way you look at how things are said, and hopefully the way you say things to have people buy into your deals more often. Think of it exactly as it sounds. You perceive the... Read more
What I Learned From An FBI Hostage Negotiator
The man, the myth, the legend, Chris Voss was on the Negotiations Ninja Podcast recently. Yes, the same Chris Voss that was once the lead international hostage negotiator for the FBI and the author of the amazing book, Never Split the Difference. There's probably no one else you'd rather have negotiating to get you out of hostage situation than Chis Voss (except maybe Herb Cohen). I'm a Chris Voss... Read more
When a Team Member Goes Rogue
When someone on your negotiation team goes rogue in a negotiation and says or does things that they're not meant to, it makes many experienced negotiators lose their minds! The immediate thought that enters the heads of the other members of the team is usually, "WTF is he doing!?!", "He's blowing it!", "Did he actually say that!?!". Many of us have been in situations where someone (usually the technical... Read more
Time Pressure In Negotiations
Time is money. What does that even mean!?! Well in negotiation, it can be take a few different ways. The most common way that time is used in negotiation is to extract large amounts of concessions out of the other party. REQUEST: Please don't use this tool I am about to teach you, unethically. Just because I'm teaching it to you, doesn't mean you should impose this tool on all... Read more
Style Versus Substance
Last week I delivered a presentation to a group of very successful business owners and tried to impart on them some negotiation skills that they could use in their businesses. Whenever I deliver presentations to business owners, most owners intuitively 'get it'. That's because many of them have hustled to get to the spot where they are. Unfortunately, what sometimes ends up happening is that someone in a group says... Read more
Getting Comfortable With Rejection
Let's not sugar coat it. Rejection sucks! No one likes going into a negotiation and getting shut down. We're all afraid of getting rejected, laughed at, or asked to leave. We're more afraid of what might happen than what's likely to happen. There's a great quote that's been attributed to Mark Twain where he says: I AM AN OLD MAN AND HAVE KNOWN A GREAT MANY TROUBLES, MOST OF WHICH... Read more