Today I had the privilege of working with some fantastic year 10 pupils from Mayfield School in Portsmouth as part of a pre-work experience conference organised by Portsmouth Eductation Business Partnership (EBP) . I was part of a speed networking event where various local employers and entrepreneurs spent 10 minutes each with several year groups,being…

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In this post I’d like to address the most common failure of inexperienced negotiators – a lack of preparation. To be more successful in negotiations you really do need to do your homework. When I say this, a groan goes around the class and a whole raft of excuses come flooding out such as “I…

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Yes it’s true PowerPoint was first released in 1987 and was originally designed for the Apple Mac. 20 years later it’s still going strong yet it still gets most of the blame for the millions of boring business presentations that occur around the world every year. When I was a child I was taught that…

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Selling doesn’t need to be complicated, indeed the simpler you make it the more successful you’ll be. Often people ask me how to handle objections and how to close the sale. Now there are thousands of books out there with 10001 sales closing and objection handling techniques but my favourite is really simple. Use the…

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Today I was reading an article about human rights abuses and it reminded me that these things also apply much closer to home too. When a person behaves assertively they are affirming that they have rights and so do those they are dealing with. Contrast this with the two alternative behavioural styles. When people behave…

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Rapport is the master skill of all communicators, and when you apply it to any type of negotiation the results can be magical. I define rapport as the art of cooperative communication, the mutual feeling of trust, respect and comfort that underpins all successful negotiations. As an NLP practitioner and experienced negotiator, I know first…

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