Sunday, August 1, 2010

10 More Tips for Negotiations

This is part 2 in my series on negotiations.  These 10 tips will be helpful in any deal-making situation.

1. Always tell the truth.  If the other side ever catches you in a lie or finds that some "fact" you used to support your position is not accurate, it will sabotage your position completely.  If I find that someone misleads me, lies to me, or uses inaccurate information, I'll be a broken record on that point as often as possible to get a better deal.  My feelings will literally be hurt (as far as the other side knows) and I'll use it to my advantage.  Always be accurate.  Always tell the truth.

2. Dress like a person who is successful.  When you appear successful to your adversary, they will (often unknowingly) give you more respect.  Men - wear a dark suit, light colored shirt and a tie with red in it.  Women - wear a dark colored suit or dress.  Get a haircut.  Wear appropriate makeup.  Shave.  Use nice cuff links.  Shine your shoes.  Be the best dressed person in every meeting.  Dress like the deal is unimportant and be prepared to lose.  Dress for success and have success.

3. Put your information in writing.  People generally believe things that are in-writing.  Use charts and catchy headlines.  If you're product saves businesses thousands of dollars per month, show the other side the average dollars saved monthly.  Put it in writing.  If your customers are overwhelmingly and enthusiastically satisfied with your services, put their satisfaction scores in writing.  This will be far more powerful than just verbally saying so.

4. Cite your experts.  Tell people who else uses your services and who else recommends you.  This can be anyone in positions of authority.  Mayor, council person, doctor, lawyer, CEO, pastor, etc, etc, etc.  Anytime you can cite the strong opinions of a (even perceived) expert, you will be in a position of strength.

5. Get people to commit to things verbally and publicly.  Generally, when a person says something out loud, especially to a group of people or to someone they respect, they will be inclined to back that up with their actions.  For example, if you can get a potential client to tell a group something good about your product, he/she will be more likely to back that statement up with a purchase.

6. Make yourself well liked.  Try to use charisma.  When people like you, they are far more likely to do what you want and expect.  If you want someone to buy from you, you have a lot better chance if they like you than if they don't.

7. Never get angry.  Negative emotions are deal-killers.  He who gets angry, loses.

8. Put your strongest arguments either at the beginning or at the end.  These are the most memorable points of any presentation.  Putting them at the beginning can set the potential client up for agreeing with everything else you have to say.  Putting them at the end leaves the potential client with a strong feeling that will be hard to forget.  The very best thing to do is put your strongest point in the beginning and then reiterate it at the end.

9. The Power of Golf. The reason so many business deals are done on a golf course is because golf can be such a pleasant distraction.  When the buyer / client is in a positive frame of mind, a deal will be more likely.  It doesn't have to be golf.  It DOES have to be whatever the client finds to be a positive experience.

10. Always tell people what you want or expect.  If you want them to buy something, you have to say so.  If you want a better price, you have to say so.  Tell people what you want.  This is the very best way to get it.

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