Know How To Negotiate & Be Easy To Do Business With
January 30, 2007 by Ryan Merlin · 2 Comments
You know, if there’s one thing that everybody could improve on, no matter how good you are, it’s, negotiating! Everything in life is a negotiation, dealing with family, coworkers, bosses, customers, stores, etc. I think I heard that we end up negotiating a couple hundred times a day. But this isn’t taught in school, where do people learn to negotiate? Most likely modeling parents or others.
What have you done to develop your negotiating skills? Personally I’m a huge fan of Herb Cohen. I’ve listened to his recordings and read his book Negotiate This! By Caring, But Not That Much. It’s easy and really works, I highly recommend it. Some of the tactics are even hilarious, like playing an incompetent buyer and putting the salesperson on a pedestal to manipulate them. I still laugh every time I do it and it works.
Negotiating became really fun and interesting project for me again over the last few weeks as I was in the market for a used Subaru. Hey…At least now I can definitely say I’m a true Boulderite.
It’s pretty easy to get a good read on the car itself from the person selling it, their communication style and ways of negotiating. I saw everything from, “as far as I know, everything’s great”, to disclosing something upfront, then another and another. Like owner, like car, I suppose.
My favorite this time was a lady who was selling a car that was way overpriced and was completely inflexible, even standoffish on the price and terms. I don’t know what was causing it, but she doesn’t get that negotiation is a necessary piece of the puzzle. Who knows why she didn’t just price it a couple hundred higher in order to make some wiggle room. It communicates a willingness to do business with, welcoming and open to win-win. So I didn’t even bother with her.
Negotiation is a process, as much as many people hate it at the car dealership. It’s a dance. Feeling the other side out, communicating, gaining trust, etc. In fact the biggest mistake that most people make in negotiating is not listening. Understanding this process and knowing how to play the game is absolutely key to getting what you want. Hence, the runaround at the dealerships. Everyone is guilty of negotiating without a plan, develop your plan and learn some specific techniques to use.
The most important thing to always know is that there are no rules. Even though car dealerships have their typical process to get you to commit, you definitely do not have to play their game. Try defining the rules the way you want to play.
Another book that I highly recommend reading is Getting To Yes – Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, by Fisher and Ury of the Harvard Negotiation Project (great site!). This is the stuff that everyone should know, yet nobody does, and a good idea to learn because you’ll use it everyday for your entire life.
Other Good Links:
Forbes ABCs of Negotiating
How To Cut A Deal
Negotiating Tip Of The Week
The Alpha Project
January 19, 2007 by Ryan Merlin · 2 Comments
What is The Alpha Project?
There is a place in the human psyche, a small place that everyone has. It is the place that dreams are real, potential is unlimited, achievement is only secondary to passion. It is the place where ideas & creativity flow and vision is born.
It is the place you can feel in every part of your being, that knows you have a purpose, to contribute and change the world. It’s where seeds can be planted, cultivated, grown, to produce unbelievable results. It is the fruit of human spirit that does not buy into the limiting beliefs that surround us. It will never settle for less.
Most people, ignore it, deny it, escape it. Some realize it and breakthrough to become innovators, leaders, and champions. And every so often, someone will use it to change the world.
The Alpha Project, is my quest, my mission, to find the best of the best, when it comes to realizing and developing that ability in the people that dare to dream, including myself. Those who know what’s possible, what might be possible and are willing to go for it.
“Alpha” has some very powerful meanings attached to it including:
Definitions of “Alpha” from Google
the brain wave frequency range from 8 – 14 Hz. in which there is focus and the beginnings of a state of balance. Alpha is the frequency range of light level meditation.
www.synchronicity.org/Glossaryp.html
Slow brainwave activity state of hypnosis (resting but awake). Also known as hypnoidal. Alpha is slower (deeper) than Beta, the awake state, and faster than Theta, a deep hypnotic state.
www.hypnosis.edu/glossary/a.asp
An alpha male or alpha female is the individual in the community to whom the others follow and defer. Humans and their nearest species-relatives, the chimpanzees, show deference to the alpha of the community by ritualized gestures such as bowing, allowing the alpha to walk first in a procession, or standing aside when the alpha challenges. Canines also show deference to the alpha male in their pack, by allowing him to be the first to eat and the first to mate. …
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_(biology)
A measure of performance on a risk adjusted basis.
www.investinginoptions.com/glossary_A.html
A measure of selection risk (also known as residual risk) of a mutual fund in relation to the market. A positive alpha is the extra return awarded to the investor for taking a risk, instead of accepting the market return. For example, an alpha of 0.4 means the fund outperformed the market-based return estimate by 0.4 %. -0.6 means a fund’s monthly return was 0.6 % less than would have been predicted from the change in the market alone.
www.vss2000.com/glossary/a.asp
The first testing stage of a new program. The alpha stage occurs before a program becomes a beta version.
www.7designavenue.com/glossary.htm
A measure of the difference between a portfolio’s actual returns and its expected performance, given its level of risk as measured by beta. A positive alpha figure indicates the portfolio has performed better than its beta would predict. In contrast, a negative alpha indicates the fund’s under performance, given the expectations established by the fund’s beta.
www.brandywine-online.com/Glossary.asp
What about your dreams? Where did they go?
Keys To Total Performance
December 13, 2006 by Ryan Merlin · Leave a Comment
I came across this today and it’s always worth a good reminder for success in all areas of life; business, relationships, health, sports…:
Take responsibility for everything you do/are
Focus on the solution not the problem
Be flexible to change
Focus on continuous improvement not the result
Act ethically and with integrity
Follow through on your commitments
Build respect for others and their personal reality
Add value to the lives of others and be a team player
Give what you want to receive
Follow your heart
Paul Graham – "Mind The Gap" Quote
December 10, 2006 by Ryan Merlin · Leave a Comment
After that last post. I remembered a quote from the article “Mind The Gap” by Paul Graham that I talked about in my Topic on Money.
Perhaps [they] should take a lesson from the example of computer security, and instead of just assuming that their system can’t be hacked, measure the degree to which it is.
Do yourself a favor and look at one area of your life, company, brand, performance, results, anything, and instead of only seeing it as where it’s at, hack it! That’s right. Challenge it, make it dynamic by pro-actively working with it from all sides.