Monthly Archives: October 2010

Great to watch the salesmen and women at work at the moment on a pitch at the end of Oxford Street, just by Tottenham Court Road tube. They are selling bottles of perfume and a willing crowd is always gathered round them (no doubt containing some of their own stooges).

The salesmen all wear headsets with mikes so you can hear them from some distance away. They use incentives and pressures brilliantly – the best kind of behaviour to use in the bargaining phase of any negotiation. Volume discounts are used to play to people’s natural sense of acquisitiveness. “I’m not offering you 2 for 1 ladies and gentlemen, I’m offering you 5 for 3”. And the threat that the offer will be taken away is ever-present, putting fear in the deal for the punter. “Now this offer only applies for the next 5 minutes ladies and gents, after that, I’ll have to withdraw it or I’ll put myself out of business”.

People can’t wait to hand their cash over. Of course it’s all very win/lose in terms of attitude, but you have to respect their effectiveness at getting customers to open their wallets. In these recessionary times, when it’s not easy to earn a pound note, they are an example to us all….

Excellent negotiating advice from Kirstie Allsop last weekend in the Property section of the Daily Telegraph. The host of “Location, location, Location” gave her top tips for buying and selling houses.

Rule 1 was “Don’t dawdle………if you like the first place see, buy it. It’s like dating; if you meet a man you like, you don’t say you’ll have a good look round first.” It’s the same with selling.”On Location, Location, Location the other day, a buyer’s offer was accepted, but the vendors then went back to another couple who wanted the place too to see if they could top my client’s offer. The minute we heard this we withdrew our offer…”
It’s just so important to know when to close a deal. Closure is a fluid moment and it’s important to bottle it, otherwise you risk losing everything.

How on earth did a deal get done for Wayne Rooney last week when he seemed on the brink of leaving the club? Deals only get done when the personal needs of each side are met, so what were the needs on each side and how were they accommodated?

There were of course 4 sides to this negotiating square. Sir Alex Ferguson, The club’s owners, Rooney, and his agent Paul Stretford.

Sir Alex has already achieved so much in the game that it can only be the possibility of further spectacular achievements that drives him on. Achievers like to be involved in unique ground-breaking or sensational deals. Turning Rooney’s head around when he seemed poised for the exit door must rank as one of Ferguson’s finest achievements as a deal-maker, so you can see how that would have met his needs. Sir Alex is also someone who likes and commands respect. Rooney’s public apology probably went a long way to meeting these needs after
his earlier outspoken criticism of the club.

For the Glazers this is a time when they need some reassurance that everything is going to be ok. Can they continue to run the club successfully against a mountain of debt? One thing for sure is that task is made much easier now Rooney stays than it would have been if one of the club’s major assets had left. So you can see why they were so keen to stump up some extra cash and promises to keep him.

Paul Stretford is someone with a “belonging” need – a need to belong to that club of “super-agents” who can make or break players and deals. His box would have been ticked whether Rooney signed […]

As the Apprentices showed in last week’s episode, it really is critical to take a break when you are under pressure.

Shibby found himself disagreeing with team-member Paloma in a meeting with a potential customer. She wanted to take on an extra order which he knew his team could not fulfil. What do you do in that situation? Take a break and sort out a common approach with your team in private. What you do not do is disagree in public in front of your opponent, which is what he did. That exhibits unprofessionalism and makes your team look really weak.

Similarly, poor old Melissa, who was leading the other group, got herself completely off-side when pitching to a hotel management team over an order of breakfast rolls and pastries. Stumped when asked by the other side to quote a price, she sat there in a state of total indecision, poring over her notebook. In the end one of the Hotel management team took pity on her and suggested that she and her team should take a 2 minute break.

Sadly it didn’t help, because she now felt so under pressure that she wasn’t able to take advantage of the opportunity of the recess. In the end the break took 15 minutes instead of 2, and she then came back with a preposterous price which showed that she had not understood her business at all. Had she taken a break before she got herself in such a tizz, maybe she and her team could have used the time more positively.

Breaks are really helpful, they give you and your team the chance to re-group, re-energise and re-unite. If you are feeling under pressure in a […]

Great to hear veteran US negotiator Stuart Diamond on Saturday Live on Radio 4. Diamond has helped resolve numerous intractable issues, including the Hollywood writers’ strike and the strike by Bolivian coffee farmers.

His approach is all about putting yourself in the other guy’s shoes and trying to understand his perceptions. Spot on. Deals just don’t get done unless the needs of each party are met. He also spoke about the need to create a personal rapport at an early stage of the negotiation – a thought echoed on air by former hostage John McCarthy. Yes, yes and yes, this kind of climate setting can be crucial, especially in the early stages of a negotiation.

Great to hear an expert getting the message across so clearly and so well, but, given his background and approach, I suppose that it shouldn’t really surprise us that he was able to build rapport and meet the needs of his listeners!