IF YOU CAN SAY NO, THEN YOU CAN DO BUSINESS.

One of my Priority Coaching clients told me his only challenge is HOW TO NEGOTIATE. He said ‘Coach, I always leave a transaction feeling cheated or underpricing my services’. He lamented. His further frustration is that he has done business for many years but his personality always interferes with his capacity to negotiate fair and square.

YOUR PERSONALITY, UPBRINGING AND LIFE’S EXPERIENCES (like TRAUMA, FEARS, COMPLEX, etc.) CAN LIMIT YOUR POTENTIALS IN BUSINESS.

It reminds me of a project SOBCA was offered by an international organization for us to go deeper into the NORTHEAST for some BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE work. I declined outrightly. The Country Director said ‘But you don’t have to go by yourself. Just send other people’. My reply was ‘if I cannot risk going by myself, I will not risk sending someone’s child’. Guess what? He said they will hold the project down until I am comfortable traveling for it. When I asked why, he said ‘if you can turn down a big bucks project (his choice of words), then I can trust you with big bucks’. WoW!!! Even I didn’t see it that way.

You see, when you can keep your head stable in transactions to SEPARATE YOUR EMOTIONS FROM LOGIC, then you can do good decisions in that transaction. You must remember that SAYING NO TO ANY UNFAVOURABLE DEAL INCREASES THE CHANCES THAT YOU CAN EARN MORE FROM SEVERAL OTHER DEALS.

So if you have issues negotiating in business, do the following:

1. Define your LOWEST THRESHOLD. That’s the baseline you will not compromise.
2. Define another threshold just above the lowest. Call it AVERAGE BASELINE. Meaning: I will play around this baseline. I could come lower but I’d prefer to stay here, if I can wing it.
3. Define a BEST CASE THRESHOLD. That’s your star bargain. Ideal place to stay and insist. TRAIN YOUR MIND TO KNOW THAT THE OTHER FELLOW ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TABLE IS ALSO AIMING AT A BEST SHOT. It is a game of wits. Assume this is your lowest and fight for it.
4. Keep a SMILE. Never negotiate out of sync. The moment your emotions get involved, you will lose it. NEVER EVER LOSE YOURSELF OR YOUR TEMPER AT A BARGAIN. YOU HAVE LOST ALREADY. Hold power by keeping a smile and showering compliments on your opponent(s). I have done this 100%. It works. Disarm your opponent by being sweet and amiable in the face of intense negotiations.
5. Aim at a win-win. It is okay to make compromises in some areas (like adding some services for free or extending a timeline or doing service maintenance for free, etc.). Don’t be a rigid negotiator but focus on getting paid very handsomely. Let them feel they got something from it too.

If you need me to help with this, hit me up via coachsam@sobcaonline.com

I hope this helps. Please leave a comment. Thank you.

m a k t u b!!!

SO