Blog: The Negotiation Edge

I will be blunt: This is a total sh*t show.  Here’s how to negotiate with your vendors, clients, counterparts, and colleagues so we all survive and put ourselves in a position to pick up the pieces after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are 3 steps to fixing your deals during this time: 

1. Deactivate the fears
2. Dynamic silence
3. Shape new thinking with a “How?”

Procurement is an entity that tends to strike fear into the hearts of most salespeople and many executives. Interestingly enough, that’s who the negotiation system in Never Split the Difference was originally designed to prevail against. 

Here are some fine points on how to cope with procurement and help move them toward outcomes you desire.

There’s a fundamental mindset problem with trying to gain negotiation leverage: You’re trying to take advantage of the other side or the situation at hand to the detriment of your counterparts.

The reality is that the other side can feel it when you’re trying to leverage your position. It’s very apparent. No matter how slick you think you are, it’s no secret. The other side will always pick up on the fact that you’re trying to use leverage on them, and they won’t like it.

Do you really think people are going to be happy working with you knowing that you’re trying to take advantage of where they’re sitting?

In an ideal world, closing deals would be easy. 

And with the right approach, it sometimes is.

Before sitting down at the table next time, take these five negotiation steps to increase the chances you get the outcomes you’re aiming for.

What’s wrong with “always be closing”? 

To start, it’s pushy. You can’t approach the situation with this mentality and develop a relationship. Always be closing is the same thing as “always be damaging” the relationship—which means you’re sacrificing tomorrow for today, and tomorrow is coming.

At the same time, always be closing has its upside, too. Here’s what’s right and wrong about it and how to integrate these ideas for success.

People often ask me if I have any tricks for negotiating over email.

Here’s my first tip: Stop doing it. 

Every email exchange should be an attempt to bring the other side to the table in person—or at least get them on the phone.

But in this time of global interactions, email negotiation is sometimes unavoidable. Even if you’d prefer to hash it out over the phone, you might have no choice but to negotiate over email—particularly when it’s the preferred method of your counterpart.

The way someone acts during a crisis is a telltale sign of whether they’re a good leader or a mediocre one.

In the world I came from—the world of hostage negotiations—frequently there was a crisis. I had people under my charge who were tasked with executing my game plan and in order to get the outcomes we were aiming for, I knew I needed to maintain my composure.

Here are five tenets that helped me do exactly that. 

Negotiation isn’t always about the words you say and the way you say them. Nonverbal cues often play a crucial role in how things go when you’re sitting at the table.

More specifically, body language is both an amplifier and an indicator. 

Here are the ways to maximize body language negotiation tactics—and get better outcomes because of it.

What does it take to be a successful leader?

It’s not an Ivy League education, it’s not good looks, and it’s not gobs of money, either.

Great leaders are well rounded. They possess a number of skills and, as a result, have mastered the following five leadership roles.

Great leaders inspire their teams to do their best work. And that begins by using philosophies that are born out of high-stakes hostage negotiations.

For many leaders, however, ego and authority often get in the way of great management. When that happens, failure is usually lurking right around the corner.

But there’s an easy fix, which is to consciously and continuously try to see things from your team’s perspective by utilizing an effective leadership framework.