Does your business or at least some areas of it suffer from moaning, bitching & complaining?   If it does, these are all symptoms of low level conflict and they could be costing your business dearly.

Think about it for a moment.   What are the consequences of such behaviour – Poor customer service, low productivity, poor quality, and low staff morale to name but a few. So what is the cause of such conflict and what can you do about it?

The underlying [...]

Conflict and how to manage it is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

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 don’t have time” or “I’m too busy” or “I work best when I’m spontaneous”.

These are convenient rationalisations to explain why we don’t do something we know [...]

Boost Your Negotiating Power By Doing Your Homework is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

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 hand how powerful some simple rapport building techniques can be so here are my top three tips for creating rapport fast! Mirror/match a few non-verbal characteristics of the [...]

Use Rapport Skills To Win Better Deals is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

A couple of posts ago I introduced the concept of “Win-Win” outcomes or “Happy-Happy” negotiations as I prefer to think of them. One of the biggest challenges with this idea is that it often seems like an impossible dream when the two parties negotiating appear to have fixed positions which are mutually exclusive.

Great negotiators recognise that negotiating over fixed positions is a guarantee of failure in many situations. They know how to change the level that that game is being [...]

Negotiation Tip – Chunk Up! is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

Last night, like millions of others around the UK, I was glued to the TV to watch the penultimate episode of the Apprentice. After a gruelling round of interviews, the five remaining candidates were to be whittled down to the final two. Lohit and Tre were dispatched in usual Alan Sugar style but the real bombshell was when Sir Alan told Katie she was through to the final.

The way he did this was masterful in [...]

Negotiation Tip – A Lesson From Sir Alan Sugar is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

When I first started learning about negotiation skills, everyone talked about win-win as being the most desired outcome. As a negotiating rookie, I had a lot of trouble with this concept. Surely negotiation is about getting what I want so how can I do that without the other person losing. Is win-win really possible?

As time went by I learned that this mutually beneficial outcome is often possible because both parties don’t necessarily want the same [...]

Negotiation Tip – Aim For A Happy-Happy Result is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

Negotiation is the art of getting the best deal for you and the other party.Most people think of it in a limited number of restricted contexts like selling and buying houses or buying goods at a market OR in big corporate deals. People have self imposed rules on when and where it is OK to Negotiate.

In truth, negotiation is possible in almost every situation where two or more people have some something that the other wants. Here are some examples [...]

Negotiation Tip – Think of Everything as Negotiable is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

If it’s Thursday then this blog must be about how to negotiate more effectively and so it is.Now negotiation is one of those skill sets that everybody can benefit from. Indeed negotiation is part and parcel of everyday life whether we are negotiating a good deal on a hotel room, the best price in a shop or a mutually satisfactory solution to a customer service problem.

The starting point for any negotiation has to be clarity on the type of [...]

Negotiation Secrets Revealed is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing

Earlier today I made one of the classic mistakes in any negotiation. I should have known better, but I was rushed and I hadn’t prepared properly and I fell for it!

I had been trying to get hold of a prospective new client for a few days without success and had all but given up when, unexpectedly they phoned me back. The discussion started well and I was able to do lots of fact finding to understand the problem that they [...]

Negotiation Tips – Don’t be first to name a price is a post from: Inter-Activ Presenting and Influencing