The Biggest Decision You Will Make…
….in a leadership negotiation is simply this: Whether you will negotiate or not. If you want to negotiate, then you had better be 1) prepared 2) equipped with more than just a few negotiation ploys, and 3) have your BATNA prepared.
Right now, our company is engaged in a negotiation to purchase a commercial property. Here are some things we’ve applied so far from our own Negotiating to Win™ programme:
First, we’ve scouted the marketplace and caveats of past sales and valuations of similar properties and that the purchase meets our goals.
Second, in negotiating, we found the buyer has already rejected a prior offer from a 3rd party. Rather than upping the offer, we’ve decided to tease out from them a price that they want, and then base our offer on what we think is a price we want based on their ‘offer’ price. By doing so, we avoid a classic mistake – being the first to make a major concession. The negotiations haven’t concluded, but we are living by the principle that you shouldn’t want something too badly. Many small and large corporate transactions have seen losses because they paid too much for something because they simply ‘had to have it’. Call in corporate “sunk cost; factor perhaps. A well -known case is the takeover of Cadbury by Kraft. Nearly 70% of the Wall Street Journal readers think Kraft paid too much. So did Warren Buffett.
Third, we have a BATNA – or Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement – and that is to simply take our money elsewhere to invest or expand; bearing in mind both costs of acquisition and yields.
The trick lies in wanting what you bid for, but not that much
David Lim
Chief Motivation Officer
PS: Interested to read past features on negotiating? Check out these articles from Life Without Limits and my Asian Negotiator blog or take part in our LinkedIn global survey on what constitutes the Most Common Negotiating Mistakes Made.
Register for the Negotiating to Win™ workshop, Aug 1, 2011
In 2010 I managed to quadruple my sales target and this was definitely helped by using the techniques I learnt in David’s workshop. I have been in sales for ten years and was quite confident about my style before attending David’s workshop. I learnt very quickly in his course however that I was using only a few techniques and there were many more available especially in terms of negotiating tactics.
Grant Rawlinson
Sales Manager, Subsea
KONGSBERG MARITIME PTE LTD
Most buy/sell side professionals are failing to get what they deserve simply because of a poor understanding of how to negotiate fees and terms effectively. Applying just ONE of the skills you will learn here successfully in your next negotiation could pay for your investment in this seminar, and more!
Learn how to
* Negotiate more effectively immediately
* Improve negotiation skills in probing and listening
* Improve your negotiating style through a validated psychometric tool
* Avoid common negotiation mistakes
* Use up to 15 strategies and tactics
* Ask for, and give concessions effectively
* Negotiate with real case studies and exercises
Register before the closing date July 25th. Details here
“I attended David’s workshop “Negotiating To Win” and found it very insightful. The techniques that he taught are very useful in “real business world”.Check out the programme. You will not regret it.”
Richard Gavriel
Director
Releve Singapore