The Art of Negotiation

Stamina is about having grit when the chips are down and the doors are staying closed. It’s about refocusing your energies and working smarter and harder to produce the results.

A world-class negotiator keeps an open mind and is always eager to learn from others, to hear a new perspective and take on a new challenge.

This is where training comes into play, and being able to control our emotions. Break down the problems into small chunks and apply blue-sky thinking to them.

My philosophy is to focus on the win-win and, as I state throughout this book, the sweetest deals are the ones where you both profit in some way.

Remember this: there’s no harm in asking and don’t make it bigger than it needs to be. There will be more deals, this is just one of them. Learn from it, have fun with it and don’t sweat it. ‘Either I win or I learn.’ So what if they get angry or don’t like your terms? Keep your cool.

In closing, you can afford to be direct because you value the relationship that is being built and, therefore, you don’t want any future misunderstandings in the business relationship to occur. If the other side questions you on why you are pushing for answers, commitments and hard facts and figures, you can explain this to them.

When closing verbally, repeat back what has been said so that you both can be sure that you have understood the terms correctly.

My number one tip for closing is, always follow up what was verbally agreed in writing and ask for an email confirmation back that the party agrees.

speaking more rapidly, skipping over important details and increasing the intensity of the conversation. This acts as a mechanism for forcing a decision because the other side is bombarded and feels obliged to accept the deal to end this cycle, without knowing what they have fully agreed to.

The key here is to move the negotiation into deal territory. We are talking about hard facts and figures here. In closing, I find that hand gestures and eye contact increase.