The journey to the handshake

Each of us is always selling something to someone. It takes seven touches to make a sale which is when the prospect knows, likes and trusts you enough. A highly intellectual pitch too soon into the relationship js likely to end in premium tears for the vendor. I posit that any sale is a successful negotiation. Like many I hate "No" for an answer. They say "No" means "not now, maybe later". They say move on to the next customer and make that pitch again.

Roger Fisher and William Ury authored the classic book on negotiation called "Getting to Yes" which teaches us some valuable lessons about the journey to closing the deal or getting your prospect to say Yes to your proposition. Getting to Yes describes four principles in successful negotiation.

Principle 1: Separate people from the problem that you are trying to solve for the buyer/client. Who are these people? They are the gatekeepers and decision makers. The ones who say we don't have a budget or we are doing just fine with what we have right now. So stick to discussing the problem, what it costs to not have it fixed in the short as well aslong term and the feeling that having the solution working will evoke.

Principle 2: Focus on Interests, Not Positions: By understanding the motivations behind each party's position, negotiators can generate creative options that cater to these interests and lead to more mutually beneficial agreements. All buyers are interested in gaining something as they move away from their present pain, In your pitch address those gains and the feelings that come with them.

Principle 3: Generate Options for Mutual Gain: The authors stress that by creating multiple options, negotiators can increase the likelihood of finding a solution that satisfies everyone's needs and achieves mutual gain. Communicate the fact that you are out to honestly improve the life of your prospect and yes you will gain satisfaction and a bit of money while you are at it.

Principle 4: Insist on Using Objective Criteria: Rather than relying solely on subjective judgments or power plays, this principle advocates for the use of objective criteria to evaluate potential agreements. By basing decisions on measurable standards or benchmarks, negotiators can establish a fair and transparent basis for reaching conclusions.List the benefits of the solution that you are selling and why you are possibly the best person to sell it based on your thorough understanding of the buyers needs.

Go into a sales pitch like a negotiator. Expect some push-back but plan your response even before the pitch. In the meantime, make sure you are talking to the decision makers.

What folks have asked me

by Dr Melvin D’lima on Aug 26 2023

1. I have been asked why the electricity went off across the whole country from 2130 Hrs Friday Aug 25 2023 and why everybody in my neighborhood flooded Java at the Sarit Centre, Nairobi to charge their devices and communicate with the world. I am a conspiracy theorist but the official spin on this catastrophe is that losing 270MW generation from Lake Turkana Wind Power Plant (LTWP) caused the outage. Uganda could not spare us the short fall so the Seven Forks Dam in Thika had to kick in. As I write this some folk have no electricty, food in fridges has gone bad and we have all suffered some discomfort. Meanwhile the MD of the Kenya Airports Authority has lost his job but the boses at Kengen and KPLC still have theirs. You figure. If you can afford it get solar panels and an inverter. Otherwise the worst might be yet to come. I am reminded of the electricity situation in Nigeria where the cacophony of noisy generators is the order of the day. Which begs the question when are African countries going to be food and energy secure? Let us all conserve energy and demand sound management of our environment, our energy production, distribution and cost.

2. I have asked myself why students attending a Dental Practice Management class are reluctant to ask questions if at some point they plan to be self-employed in their private clinics. Maybe I am asking the wrong question. Do modern day graduates realize that Adult education is by nature interactive?

3.I have been asked why folks who cannot write their own autobiographies are reluctant to pay properly for a ghost writer to gloss over the more salubrious parts of their lives and overdo the good they have done.

They will do well to recall the words of Mark Antony in Julius Caesar when referring to Marcus Brutus who assassinated Caesar - "The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interrèd with their bones. In our context the good needs to be told before we are interred.

My forthcoming events

by Dr Melvin D’lima on Aug 26 2023

1.My Wealth and Career .Mastery Course for professionals and small business owners runs every Tuesday from 8 - 9 pm, online. This is a testimonial about the last class on?Process improvement?. For details on how to?join the class inbox me. We shall be discussing Adaptability and decision making.