As we come to the start of a new year, most of us review where we've been and where we're going.  If you'd like to confidently stride into all of your upcoming business negotiations, you'll want to read these four tips!

Tip #1:  The Four Key Premises of Value
Value is not a trophy or mission statement you come up with once, put up on a shelf and take down occasionally to dust.  Value is a living, breathing thing; an ecosystem, if you will, that really does need to be properly fed and watered.  It is not a list of static statements!

If your value proposition has been sitting on a shelf for awhile, find out more about The Four Key Premises of Value:

• Value is incremental
• Value drives price premiums
• Who's in charge of cross-functional and company-wide value?
• Value can't stand still

Given this moment in the economy, it is time to take "value" out of the sky and bring it down to the street level to have immediate impact on deals.

Tip #2:  The Power of Two Elements
Are you making negotiations harder than they have to be?  What keeps any deal afloat or makes it sink isn't pulling one perfect response out of an arsenal of a dozen, two-dozen or 200 negotiation tactics.  Whether you're haggling over the price of a flea market watch or trying to close a global, multimillion dollar deal, every negotiation hinges on only two elements:

• Consequences of not reaching agreement
• Trades

Most negotiation approaches focus on giving people long lists of tactics and countermeasures.  Think of "the new school of negotiation" as focusing on two pieces of data -- much more deeply.

Tip #3: Avoid Commoditization
Twenty years ago, keeping customers at any cost may have been acceptable negotiation practice.  However today, deals are:

• becoming bigger
• becoming more strategic
• becoming more important for both sides

This marketplace transformation makes strategic, process-oriented negotiation more critical than ever.  Too many sales professionals work in a state of negotiation delusion, though the marketplace is trying to shake them awake with ever-increasing commoditization.  Are you one of them?


Tip #4:  Are Your Negotiation Techniques Sabotaging Your Business Relationships?
When a negotiation ends, a postive, lasting relationship with the customer begins.  But what if one side gained at the expense of the other?  Is someone walking away feeling defeated?  This kind of adversarial energy won't create the momentum necessary to get a great releationship rolling.

But it doesn't have to be this way.  Find out:

• how to make the negotiation significantly more collaborative
• what are Multiple Equal Offers
• how can I use MEOs today?

If you believe in everyone leaving the negotiation table happier than when they arrive, you're well on your way to the start of a long and prosperous business relationship.

We hope the brief descriptions of these four tips will entice you to read the four articles addressing these tips.  Click here to request the article links to be sent immediately to your email address.

May you enjoy prosperity and success in the upcoming year.