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
Perception in Negotiation: A How To Guide
How To Change Perception in Negotiation PERCEPTION IN NEGOTIATION IS EVERYTHING! And, changing the "perceived" value of something or someone can dramatically affect the results of the negotiation. What is Perception in Negotiation (or to be more precise: Perceived Value)? What do I mean by perception in negotiation and perceived value? How you value your service or product and how a buyer values your service or product may be... Read more
Improvisation In Negotiation
Planning, preparation, strategy, and tactics are things we often talk about as important when going into a negotiation. They are important but equally important is the ability to think on your feet, to adapt, to read a room and act accordingly. Improvisation is a critical skill that many negotiators overlook. On one of my earlier episodes on Negotiations Ninja, I spoke with Michael Wheeler, Harvard Business School professor and author... Read more