NEGOTIATING - THE MOST HIGHLY PAID WORK YOU'LL EVER DO!

By Wayne Berry (CSP)

A few years ago I presented seminars across Australia's with USA Sales Trainer Tom Hopkins. About 10,000 people attended these seminars, and one of the most important points I made to the audience at the outset was that...

1. Negotiating really is the most highly paid work you will ever do, both in your personal and your professional life.

Why? Because when you are negotiating, dollars and favours will very often fly back and forth across the "negotiating table", and whose side they land
upon will largely be determined by who is the more skilful negotiator.

Sometimes this process lasts for hours, days, weeks, months and even years. Other times, the process might take only minutes.

eg. A sales person is asked for a $100 discount.

They skilfully handle this negotiating gambit (sometimes called a "price objection") and in just 5 minutes the client signs the order at full price, and feels good about it. Now this is a skilful sales person. They have just made an extra $100 in 5 minutes for either themselves or their company. Now you might say, "big deal"! However it is a BIG DEAL, because while they were negotiating for that 5 minutes to make that extra $100, (to keep it in the deal) they were actually making money at a rate of $1,200 per hour!

A few year ago a lady who had purchased my first book on negotiating (Negotiating In The Age of Integrity) telephoned me when she was negotiating the sale of her house. She was having trouble getting the price she wanted. We chatted for about 20 minutes and I gave her a few tips and suggested that she re-read certain section of the book again and go back and negotiate some more. She called me about a week later. During that week she had spent about 2 hours in negotiations with possible purchasers and her real estate agent. She managed to get an additional $12,000 for the property and was very pleased with this result. While she was negotiating she was earning at the rate of $6,000 per hour. Negotiating really is the highest paid work you’ll ever do.

So the second major point I made to that group was...

2. If you want to be successful in business, sales, management, and life, become a good negotiator and do it quickly!

Have you noticed how today's buyers are becoming better negotiators?

Why?

Many of your clients have worked out that the quickest way to a better bottom line today, is to take it from YOUR bottom line! So what do you do when they ask for a discount or some special concession on payment terms, delivery, installation, training, extras etc?

You start negotiating!

The problem is, most people know next to nothing about negotiating.

Here are some of the symptoms of inadequate negotiating skills.

a. Agreeing to do things that you really didn’t want to do.
b. Paying more than you really wanted to when buying.
c. Losing business and / or giving discounts during the final stages of selling
c. Having trouble collecting payment
d. Cancellation of orders

3. You have more power than you think in every negotiation.

Power is a perception in a negotiation.

If you think you've got the upper hand, then you probably have. If you think the other party is in the stronger position, they will be. However, while power is largely a perception, the sources of power are very real indeed. Put simply, if you understand what power you have, then you will indeed feel empowered in your negotiation, and therefore get a better result. I've identified more than 20 sources of power which are common most negotiations. Sometimes one party is empowered by each source, sometimes both parties, however if you are not even aware of these sources of power, then they might as well not even exist for you. I’d suggest you find out what these sources of power are.

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Wayne Berry CSP*

Australia's TOP GUN® Sales Coach and most in-demand speaker on Sales, Sales Management and Negotiating. Author of the best selling book “How To Negotiate And Get The Best Deal Every Time” (Also available on CD). Wayne Berry also presents seminars and workshops and speaks at conferences on negotiating.

For further information go to his site or email Wayne Berry on the address below:

Web Site: www.wayneberry.com.au
email: wayneberry@topgunba.com.au