Advanced Negotiation Skills: How to Counter Procurement’s Perfect Storm
Successful negotiations are more crucial than ever in today's dynamic business landscape. This is especially true as the procurement process continues to evolve. Today, procurement is becoming more intricate and sophisticated, making negotiations increasingly challenging for sellers. To thrive in this competitive environment, mastering advanced negotiation skills is paramount; this can be accomplished through study, analysis, procurement negotiation training courses, etc. In this article, we will explore the key elements... Read more
The Implications of Technological Advancement in Procurement
Dr. Charlotte de Brabandt has been in procurement for almost 14 years and worked in five different industries, everything from automotive to tech. After nine years in automotive in the marketing procurement department for Porsche, she spent five years at Johnson & Johnson, specializing in MRO and energy procurement. She now works at Amazon in digital procurement for Amazon. She also recently completed a Ph.D. in Innovation Technology. As a... Read more
3 Essential Workplace Practices You Will Learn in a Conflict Resolution Course
Conflict in the workplace is inescapable; we all have to deal with it to some degree or another. For this reason, conflict resolution training is essential to the streamlined performance of everyone within a business, company, or organization. In fact, more than 95% of people who undergo workplace training as part of their professional development report that the training was beneficial in numerous ways. Consequently, these programs are invaluable in... Read more
How to Avoid the “Death Pause” in Sales & Negotiation
Jason Cutter is a mindset and scalability expert who helps sales teams be more effective. And one of the biggest mistakes that Jason sees is the death pause. What is it? How can you avoid it? What is the death pause? When you come upon an objection like “It’s too expensive,” most salespeople try to answer the objection, ramble on, and stop abruptly. Then, there’s the death pause. The salesperson is... Read more
Navigating the Mediation Process
Amy Mariani practiced law for 20 years on behalf of individuals and corporations in employment, personal injury, and business-related contexts. In 2016, she became a full-time neutral party and transitioned into mediation. Now she helps businesses and individuals move out of conflict and into the future. Navigating the mediation process—with willing participants—can be tricky. What should you expect? Where do you start? Amy shares where she starts and what the... Read more
How to Avoid Offending Germans, Swiss, and Austrians in Negotiations
Germans, Swiss, and Austrians are all people who speak German. Yet international negotiation expert Mihai Isman points out that despite the shared language, each culture negotiates quite differently. For example, the Swiss prefer to avoid conflict in negotiations and are oriented toward harmony. The Swiss excel at extracting the best deals from their opponents without appearing demanding or aggressive. They are confident in their products and services—but they are expensive.... Read more
How to Combat Indecision
According to Matt Dixon’s research, 56% of customers are indecisive about changing the status quo for three reasons: They don’t know what to buy. They’re worried that they might choose poorly and make an irreversible decision. They don’t have enough information and want to do more homework. The customer doesn’t feel like they are assured success. Some customers struggle with multiple pieces of indecision. “I don’t know what to pick”... Read more
Use Your Emotions to Your Advantage
There’s one constant in every negotiation. You. You need to have a deep awareness of how you react to things. How do you stay calm? What do you do if someone screams at you? Part of that is being aware of and noticing when you’re starting to react. As soon as we want something from someone, emotion is engaged. Christine McKay believes that we need to talk about our emotions instead... Read more
Managing Moments Leads to Successful Negotiations
Moshe Cohen has been teaching negotiation and mediation for 27 years. After 11 years working as an engineer, he realized he was more interested in the people side of things. So he went to business school, took a negotiation class, and fell in love. He became a mediator and quickly transitioned into teaching mediation, negotiation, and leadership classes. Throughout the last 27 years, Moshe studied human emotion and how it... Read more
When Overconfidence in Negotiation Goes Terribly Wrong
Is overconfidence detrimental to a negotiation? It’s a psychological bias that’s an important factor—but it’s also confusing. Many executives believe that confident people can achieve more than those who lack confidence. But George Siedel believes that they are confusing decision-making with decision implementation. Decision-making versus decision implementation When you make a decision, it’s important to obtain the views of your peers or subordinates. If you let your overconfidence win and... Read more