| Dr. Gordon
conducts workshops and training about negotiation.
He is available for consultation on how to negotiate, as
well as being available to negotiate on your behalf.
Negotiation is the most
important part of our lives. We always need to negotiate
sales, relationships, and even our consultation fees.
By using the services of
Dr. Gordon, you will learn:
- How to achieve what you
want in the negotiation.
- How to increase your
profit margin.
- How to create a better
relationship with the people with whom you negotiate,
like employees, partners, competitors, vendors, and
service providers.
- How to change mind sets
to create breakthroughs
Preparations
for Negotiation
- Before you start
negotiating, you have to get into a positive
state of mind and to start your negotiation with
the belief that you will achieve what you want.
- It is important to
accept the situation that you are in, because
only from acceptance can you get to the next
step of creating what you want to achieve in the
negotiation.
- It is very
important to listen to the other party with whom
you are negotiating. (Remember, you have
two ears and one mouth.)
- Do not try to
guess what the other party wants.
- Always accept and
acknowledge the feelings of the other party.
- When you
negotiate, you have to remember that you are not
the negotiation, but are simply yourself who is
involved in the negotiation process. If
you avoid identifying personally with the
negotiation process, you will be able to achieve
what you want more effectively.
- Whatever the
outcome of the negotiation, do not take it
personally, and this will prepare you to be more
positive for the next negotiation.
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When you negotiate, do not
begin with the attitude that you need to win or assert
your point of view. You have to understand that there are
many different points of view. If you start with the
idea that you will have to give in, for example,
monetarily, in order to come to a solution, you have
already lost. You will always want to give as little as
possible and the other party will always want the maximum,
and no one will be satisfied. Don’t assume that
the other party’s primary concern is the same as yours.
You have to look at the whole picture and see if there are
other things that your party to the conflict is interested
in, and then you will come to an agreement by giving the
other party what they need also.
Be open to the fact that
there are other things that might be important to the
other side. If you negotiate salaries and there is a
conflict between the CEO and the employees, do not assume
that the only important thing is the salary. If this
is what you emphasize, you will never be able to match
salaries to everyone’s satisfaction. You have to
look at the whole picture of what the employees would be
happy with, for example, flex schedules, more benefits,
more freedom for self-expression, more responsibility and
being able to make more of their own decisions,
empowerment, etc. So if you find out what is the
most important thing from the point of view of the
employees, then salary might become only secondary.
In monetary negotiations, sometimes the manner of delivery
of product will be more important than the price.
Strategies
for Negotiations
- 1. Always be ready to
walk away from the situation. As long as
you’re not ready to walk away from the situation,
the other party is in a better position.
- 2. Say, “I have to
check with the president (or vice-president, or the
committee), but I think that you will have to make a
better offer, otherwise they won’t want to look at
it.”
- 3. If the other party
says they have to check with a committee or somebody
else, compliment them and say, “I’m sure that
with your recommendation, the committee will agree
to what we offer.”
- 4. When you come back
from the committee, you can always say that the
committee wants a better offer, and if the question
will be how much better, answer, “The maximum that
you can give because we are too far apart.”
- 5. When you feel that
the other party is putting too much pressure on you
for the price or the terms of the negotiation, state
that you feel that at this stage you have to take
the information to your superior, board of
directors, or committee, etc. Come back later
with an offer that is even farther away from what
you negotiated before, saying that this is the best
that the committee agreed to do. The other
party will probably demand to go back to the
original terms that you negotiated before going to
your superior. A good statement would be,
“If I convince them to take what we talked about
before, will you take this offer?” Usually
this will stop the haggling.
- 6. Keep all your
concessions to the last minute even if they are not
important to you, and use them as negotiating tools.
- 7. Always come with an
offer that is not a final offer in order to make the
other party feel good for achieving a better
outcome, and always congratulate them and compliment
them for the good work that they have done. Be
amazed at what good negotiators they are.
- 8. Always trade off.
Even if you give something that you don’t need,
always ask something in return.
- 9. When you negotiate,
always use smaller denominations. If you talk
about the price of a square foot, divide the price
to a monthly or daily cost, and not a yearly cost.
If you are on the other side of the negotiation,
show your party how expensive it is for you to use
the whole term of the contract.
- 10. Do not ask for
everything that you want up front. When you
come to an agreement, in the last minute when you
are shaking hands, or the last day of negotiation
and everything is already clear, throw in another
small demand. Another possibility is when you
come to an agreement and you are ready to sign, come
back and say that you could not convince your
superior this was a good deal, and you have get a
small concession from your partner to the
negotiation in order to convince your superior to
sign the agreement.
- 11. Always play the
reluctant buyer or seller. Always have another
possibility in mind, even if it is not a viable one.
However, having a viable possibility will always put
you in the superior position of negotiating because
when you have another possibility you seem less
eager and you negotiate better. Do not even
think that you need this particular thing.
- 12. As a buyer, always
start negotiating with the lowest price, and as a
seller, start your negotiation by asking what is the
highest price the other party will pay.
- 13. As a buyer or
seller, never offer to split the difference. Let the
other party ask to split the difference. You
can ask to split the difference only when you add
another demand.
- 14. Apologize for your
board of directors’ unwillingness to negotiate,
and stress the amount of time that you both spent to
get to this point. Say at this point that it
is worth it to come to some agreement
February
18, 2000
To Whom
It May Concern:
This
letter of recommendation is for Dr. Roby Gordon, P.F.P.;
it is based on several office-lease negotiating
experiences in which he represented an engineering company
and I exclusively represented a mid-rise office building
in Oakland, CA.
During
his search for offices in the Oakland area, Dr. Gordon
contacted me. He was focused in his search and knew
exactly knew what he wanted. He has a creative
negotiating approach. When the Oakland office became a
success and outgrew the sublease arrangement, Dr. Gordon
opened negotiations on a larger office suite and succeeded
in acquiring some of the best office space in the building
at a great price. His attitude and creative approach
to negotiation was eye opening.
I
understand that Dr. Gordon also provides financial
expertise and stress management. Based on my
experiences with him, I can unequivocally recommend him as
a great resource. I look forward to working with Dr.
Gordon again in the future; I can attest to his strong
character, business acumen and common-sense approach to
the various types of negotiations which occur throughout
life.
Sincerely,
Peter
L. Glenister
Principal
Golden Future Real Estate
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