Three information gathering tools for negotiation and sales. August 28, 2006
As any negotiator or sales executive will tell you, information is key to good negotiating. The group with the most information is in a better position. The ultimate example of this is when you know the negotiation position of the other group.
A friend of mine invited me along to assist with one of his negotiations. It was for a fairly large contract, and included many different parts. The pair of us walk into the board room of the client, and there are three people sitting with their backs to the window that looks over the city. We go through introductions, exchange business cards, and do some friendly banter.
Once comfortable, their lead negotiator opens his leather folder. On top of the note pad, is a single typed sheet with the 5 points they want to cover during this meeting. Along with those 5 points was a short line of what they would like and their minimum requirements. And while reading upside down is not difficult, only a few people seem to know how. Spend 30 minutes and you will be able to read upside down well enough. Luckily I learned to do it in primary school when someone dared me that I couldn’t. (This behaviour of proving people wrong has benefited me more than cost, although I do have many scars when things didn’t go according to plan). I quickly noted down a few things that I read off their list before it was turned over.
Suddenly we are in a better negotiating position, knowing where their bottom line was.
Through the course of the meeting, as the conversation continued, the other team would write notes back and forth. Another skill I learnt early on was how to read what someone was writing by watching the end of their pen. As they write a word, the opposite end writes the reverse in the air. Each letter is often exaggerated thanks to the pivot point being much closer to the paper. This enables, with a little practice, the ability for someone to read what you write, without ever seeing the page.
So as the other team wrote ‘private’ notes back and forth, I would translate and pass this information on.
Needless to say, the negotiation went well.
A third skill along these lines, lip reading, is much more difficult to learn. I’ve spent some time learning, practising and talking with those that can, but with little personal success. Part of this is the ambiguity in lip movements when making a sound. Stand in front of a mirror and read your lips as you say “Olive Juice” to understand what I mean.
Technorati Tags: Business, Communication, Learning, Negotiation, Persuasion, Psychology, Sales
Change the question about your performance. August 24, 2006
From:
“Am I good?”
to:
“What am I good at?”
Or in other words, focus on your strengths.
Technorati Tags: Change, Leadership, Learning, Productivity, Psychology, Training
The secret to overcoming any excuse… August 21, 2006
… from anyone, anytime. Including your own excuses that cripple your motivation.
Everyone seems to want more motivation. Often I hear from people that some days they just can’t seem to get out of bed, go to the gym, or eat healthy food. Yet those same people don’t connect the excuses they use to their lack of motivation.
There is a very easy method that you can used to immediately drain the power from any excuse you have (or, for everyone in sales, any excuse you are given by someone else).
This will work with _every_ excuse. Though be aware that once you reduce the excuse, that does not necessarily mean you are motivated. You have only taken the hand brake off, you still need to press the accelerator.
Before I explain how to nullify an excuse, I have to explain a little about the structure of an excuse and how it hamstrings motivation. Every excuse can be described in the form of:
Not action because of excuse
This can be said in many different ways, but can all be boiled down to that structure. Some examples are:
“I can’t go to the gym because I’m tired.”
“I would like to go to the gym but I’m too tired.”
“I’m too tired to go to the gym.”
Now the secret here is to change the relationship between action and the excuse. With the examples above there is a direct relationship between the action and the excuse and the excuse stops the action.
I’ll give you another example:
“I can’t go to the gym because I’m sitting on the couch.”
Now if you are like most people, you might start to wonder about the validity of the excuse. I should go to the gym because I’m sitting on the couch. This example starts to show how the excuse – any excuse – is in no way required to be related to the behaviour being avoided.
So knowing this, how do we change this? Once you know how, it’s very easy and you will no longer have an excuse to have an excuse.
The simple method is to use the word ‘and’. So you would change the structure of the excuse to:
Not action and excuse
So changing the above examples you would have:
“I can’t go to the gym and I’m tired.”
“I would like to go to the gym and I’m too tired.”
“I’m too tired and [would like] to go to the gym.”
Say these changed excuses to yourself and take notice how you feel about the action. Next time you hear yourself give an excuse, change it and take notice of your feelings. I’m sure you’ll be surprised to find yourself being much more motivated.
And as I hinted at earlier, you can use the same technique on others and here’s how. When someone gives you an excuse reply with the exact words they used for the action and excuse, replacing the linkage words (because, but, or others) with ‘and’. Often they will nod, as if you have agreed with them. Try it, and let me know your results.
Technorati Tags: Brain, Change, Communication, Marketing, Motivation, Persuasion, Presenting, Proactiveness, Productivity, Psychology, Sales, Stress
What most people don’t know about Powerpoint presentations August 1, 2006
Microsoft’s Powerpoint is a very simple product. It does the job for what it is designed quite well. Unfortunately most people don’t know how to use it.
And the failure is not because people don’t read the Powerpoint manual. The issue is not about Powerpoint at all, but about the presenter. As part of the work I do in training presenters I have noticed a relationship between the comfort a speaker has on stage and the quality of the Powerpoint presentation.
You’ll notice the best presenters only sometimes use powerpoint, and when they do it is a single line of text, or a picture. They use it very specifically and very simply. The worst presenters have their entire speech in 8 point so everyone ‘can’ read it. The best presenters know Powerpoint is there to assist the presentation and audience’s understanding, the worst presenters sometimes think that a flashy powerpoint will distract the audience’s attention from their quivering voice.
When creating a Powerpoint presentation there are several things to keep in mind:
- The slides go with your words. Produce your slides when you know what you are going to say.
- A picture is worth a thousand words.
- The slides are not there to be understandable without your speech but there to represent the idea you’re talking about.
- You are the reason the audience is listening.
- Use huge fonts. Readable from the moon. At least 30 point.
- The slides are there for your audience, not for you.
- Keep it simple – each slide should be understandable within 5 seconds.
For some more information, Guy Kawasaki talks about this specifically and has some examples. There is the always very useful www.presentationzen.com. And you can download some other examples from Tom Peters.
Technorati Tags: Business, Communication, Presenting, Powerpoint, Storytelling, Training