AS YOU WILL APPRECIATE, Negotiating is a learned skill – it’s not something you’re simply born with. However, it doesn’t matter how good you become, you always need to enter EVERY negotiation – using a Checklist, which has stood the test of time.
To help you … here’s the Checklist I personally use for each encounter. [Read more…]
IN ANY NEGOTIATION there will always be times when you need to think on your feet. To help you, here are a few tips you might care to add to your Toolbox.
MOST INVESTORS believe keeping an eye on the daily media will provide you with the best opportunities.
Others will mainly focus upon distressed sales like “Mortgagees’ Auctions”.
However, by doing that, you are effectively pitting yourself against considerable competition.
And while the property itself may be First-class … you are unlikely to end up with a “top deal”. [Read more…]
PRICES may be rather attractive at the moment, but the days of quick-and-easy financing are over.
Furthermore, the tight credit market is making it tough for some investors to secure loans.
Nonetheless, with a little creativity and preparation, you can often bring otherwise-doubtful funding options within your reach. [Read more…]
OVER THE past couple of weeks, you’ve quietly worked your way through the first 14 questions … as part of your prep-work for each Negotiation.
And today, you’ll be covering the final 6 key questions — to help ensure your success.
So, here’s what you also need to be asking: ARE YOU …
You simply can’t afford to lose your temper … and still retain respect, from the other party.
People can be insulting, and it is all too easy to respond aggressively. But sometimes they’re just doing that to test you, or your patience. So you may simply need to suggest adjourning the negotiations … to give them a chance to regain their composure.
If it is a genuine outburst on their part, they can cool down. And if it’s merely a ploy … then, they’re going to look rather stupid.
You need to try and understand the benefits and consequences for each party in the Negotiation.
Only then, can you properly decide when (and how) to make any concessions; also when (and how) to stand firm, with your own needs and requests.
Work on becoming comfortable with silence. Because, most negotiators feel the need to jump in with some comment, whenever there is an awkward pause in proceedings.
But, whenever the answer to your question will actually commit the other party … say absolutely nothing more. Otherwise, all you’ll get is further conversation.
Never commit on a major point, unless you are quite sure of your answer and you’re on solid ground.
No matter what the pressure … all you need simply say is: “I may need to sleep on that, I’ll get back to you tomorrow”.
By choice, negotiations should commence face-to-face.
However as things progress, you’ll sometimes find more progress can be made by phone — because it takes out all the emotion, and allows you to simply focus on the rational items, rather than any personal issues.
Sadly, too many people leave the negotiating table with only a handshake. A short summary (by way of “heads of agreement”, a confirming letter or an email) is all you need to tie down the deal.
You need to have some form of documentation at the end, if this is a serious negotiation.
What you might say is: “Let’s make a few notes on the points we have agreed; for each of our files and just initial it.”
This is vital. Because, it provides a basis for the contract to be prepared. And when the contract arrives, you can confidently say: “That’s not what was agreed.”
If you both have the same set of notes, it’s easy to verify that the contract has been drawn incorrectly.
Otherwise, you’ll quickly discover how recollections can often change — between reaching agreement and the formal contract emerging. As a result, you are forced to restart the negotiation again.
Bottom Line: Hopefully, this has helped you to gain a complete “helicopter view” of how each component of a Negotiation ties in with all the others.
And with the framework at your fingertips, you are now better equipped to tackle your next negotiation.
LAST WEEK, we made a good start by scoping the first 8 questions you need to keep asking yourself … as part of your prep work for each Negotiation.
So let’s pick up from where we left off — here your next 6 questions. And you’ll recall that before (and during) your negotiations, you need to be asking: ARE YOU … [Read more…]
EVERY NEGOTIATION can be very easily broken down into its component parts … once you understand what is really going on.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posing 20 questions — which (when taken together) are intended to help you fully grasp everything involved. [Read more…]
WHENEVER you find yourself with Power during a negotiation, you are then in a position to have far more control over the ultimate outcome.
However, as you can appreciate, Power can take on several forms. And just to give some examples, you could have the … [Read more…]
THE OTHER DAY, I covered 5 Mistakes that you need to avoid. Below, you’ll now find 7 Winning Tactics you should look to employ.
[Read more…]
THIS IS how The Age (on 9 July) described this recent purchase, which I successfully negotiated for one of my interstate clients.
Managing to reduce a $7.2 million reserve price down to a final figure of $6.4 million … resulted in a saving of almost $1 million.
[Read more…]
