Last week we started our “Hot Topic” on Negotiations! I have had so much positive feedback on how you all have enjoyed this topic of conversation. Again, I believe in this month of September we will have favorable negotiations. Make sure to check out my YouTube video below! (Don’t forget to subscribe to my Channel) This video will IMPACT how you negotiate.
I also want to share a testimonial from one of our followers! GREAT JOB JEFF!
” In a meeting today, I took your advice to negotiate in my discussions on a specific topic and was victories!” (Jeff)
It’s time to challenge yourselves and not be afraid to ask for what you want! Enjoy Part 2 of this weeks blog:
3. It’s Never About Money
Though we seldom reflect on our relationship with money, if asked we’d have to admit that money itself—in its tangible form—can neither sustain life nor enhance it. Cash, checks, credit, money orders, and wire transfers cannot themselves be consumed. Grant deeds and lease agreements cannot be inhabited. Stock certificates cannot create warmth in winter nor illuminate the dark of night.
That being the case, there is no relationship and every relationship between any given sum of money and what it can buy. With $20 in my wallet, I can purchase dinner for five at McDonalds or a bottle of cheap Bordeaux at a local restaurant. I can pick up a pair of sandals at Payless; subscribe to Time magazine for six months; rent a surfboard at the beach; fill half my tank with gas; hire a day laborer to do odd jobs on a Saturday afternoon; or, according to my Sunday magazine, save a child in a developing country from starvation. Sentimental pop songs to the contrary, enough 20s can even buy me love.
Before negotiating any deal, take a look at the way in which you “value” money. Is it status you’re seeking? Security in your elder years? Education for your children? A meaningful break from work that takes you to a foreign country or high-end spa? Then ask your negotiation partner what she values, prefers, needs, fears, prioritizes, or desires. You’re apt to find yourself on the same page of value once you stop treating money as an objective measure of worth and start seeing it for what it is—a subjective experience that can make $1,000 act in the world as if it were $10,000.
4. Your Bargaining Strength is All in Your Head
The person who is perceived to have the least to lose is the person with the greatest bargaining advantage. If you’re negotiating—that is, having a conversation leading to agreement, there is always something at stake for both parties.
A good example: Many say the Los Angeles or San Francisco or New York City real estate markets are over-heated and that everything is over-priced. It’s a seller’s market. It seems as if there are an unlimited number of people willing to pay “over asking” and many of them “all cash” for every home or condo or co-op for sale. Doesn’t that mean that all buyers are in a weak negotiating position and all sellers in a great one?
Not necessarily. Every seller is selling for a different reason. A considerable number of homeowners are retiring. Their kids are gone and they don’t need so much space anymore. Some of them have already signed up for a place in a retirement village or a condo in Palm Springs. They are pressured by time. They could pay for both residences for a month or two, but if it takes them six months to get the price they want, they will have spent the extra purchase price on rent or mortgage payments or homeowner fees in their new home.
The more knowledge you have of the hidden interests and constraints under which your bargaining partner is operating, the more negotiation power you have, even in a “seller’s” market.
But there’s even better news than that! If you act as if you are prepared to walk away from a deal unless you achieve your desired goal, your bargaining partner will be far more incentivized to meet your requirements or make serious problem solving efforts to create enough value so that both of you get what you most want.
Stay Tuned next week for Part 3 as we lean more about negotiating! You don’t want to miss it!
Live Life On The Promise Of Impact! Carenda Deonne – Your #1 Change Agent