Don't come to the table with your mind made up
On March 10, 2005, John Gafford was dismissed from Trump's Apprentice television show. The reason that he was dismissed was that he had negotiated contracts with his mind already made up concerning the result he was seeking.
If you are familiar with Stephen R. Covey's book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People or Sean Covey's book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, you may already understand the reason that John Gafford's negotiation technique was a failure. Mr. Gafford violated habits 5 and 6
When you come to a negotiation table, you should not be focused on the methodology by which your goals will be accomplished but rather on the objectives which you need to fulfill. John Gafford needed to arrange for prizes from celebrity musicians which would result in the highest bids possible. But he came to the table with the idea already engraved in his mind that getting the performers to agree to a gig at the winning bidder's house was the result which he needed. This fixed idea caused him to lose sight of his real need. His real need was to get an agreement for a prize which would be highly prized by the bidding audience. Because his mind was settled on a specific result he failed to brainstorm with the celebrities to discover and even better prize to offer.
When you come to the negotiation table, have prepared in your mind what generic objectives you need to have at the end of the negotiations. Next, let the other part tell you what they need (Habit 5) from these negotiations. A really good article was posted by Michael McLaughlin on March 15, 2005 on the topic of negotiations between consultants and clients. In this article Mr. McLaughlin showed a two column chart showing the difference between what consultants want and what clients want from a negotiation meeting. The solution is to find out how you can arrange for the other party to meet their objectives while you also meet your objectives. (Habit 4) During the meeting, work together with the other party to discover together (Habit 6) the solution that will create a result that may be even better than you might have expected before the meeting.
However, if you come to a meeting with your mind already made up as to the final result, you will seek to cause the other person to fail to achieve their objectives and therefore the result will be DISSATISFACTION.
It should be the goal of every consultant or salesperson or business owner to create Customer Satisfaction. This may sound too obvious, but, you can not end with a satisfied customer if you begin with the customer feeling that he was stiffed in the negotiation meeting.
One of the most difficult things for a business owner to develop within himself (or herself) is the courage to say, "I'm truly sorry, I would like your business, but I can not provide the service you need under the terms that you request." Some owners will destroy their own business by shortchanging themselves just to get each and every client. Other owners will rack up a backlog of unhappy clients and a ruined reputation by failing to meet their customer's needs.
The successful businessperson will try to listen to what the client needs and try to brainstorm with the client a way to satisfy those needs while at the same time getting the results that his (or her) business needs as well.
If you are familiar with Stephen R. Covey's book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People or Sean Covey's book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, you may already understand the reason that John Gafford's negotiation technique was a failure. Mr. Gafford violated habits 5 and 6
When you come to a negotiation table, you should not be focused on the methodology by which your goals will be accomplished but rather on the objectives which you need to fulfill. John Gafford needed to arrange for prizes from celebrity musicians which would result in the highest bids possible. But he came to the table with the idea already engraved in his mind that getting the performers to agree to a gig at the winning bidder's house was the result which he needed. This fixed idea caused him to lose sight of his real need. His real need was to get an agreement for a prize which would be highly prized by the bidding audience. Because his mind was settled on a specific result he failed to brainstorm with the celebrities to discover and even better prize to offer.
When you come to the negotiation table, have prepared in your mind what generic objectives you need to have at the end of the negotiations. Next, let the other part tell you what they need (Habit 5) from these negotiations. A really good article was posted by Michael McLaughlin on March 15, 2005 on the topic of negotiations between consultants and clients. In this article Mr. McLaughlin showed a two column chart showing the difference between what consultants want and what clients want from a negotiation meeting. The solution is to find out how you can arrange for the other party to meet their objectives while you also meet your objectives. (Habit 4) During the meeting, work together with the other party to discover together (Habit 6) the solution that will create a result that may be even better than you might have expected before the meeting.
However, if you come to a meeting with your mind already made up as to the final result, you will seek to cause the other person to fail to achieve their objectives and therefore the result will be DISSATISFACTION.
It should be the goal of every consultant or salesperson or business owner to create Customer Satisfaction. This may sound too obvious, but, you can not end with a satisfied customer if you begin with the customer feeling that he was stiffed in the negotiation meeting.
One of the most difficult things for a business owner to develop within himself (or herself) is the courage to say, "I'm truly sorry, I would like your business, but I can not provide the service you need under the terms that you request." Some owners will destroy their own business by shortchanging themselves just to get each and every client. Other owners will rack up a backlog of unhappy clients and a ruined reputation by failing to meet their customer's needs.
The successful businessperson will try to listen to what the client needs and try to brainstorm with the client a way to satisfy those needs while at the same time getting the results that his (or her) business needs as well.
posted by Shewmaker at 3:10 PM
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