A pervasive belief about negotiation is that you can’t plan for it and can’t control it because nothing is predictable; negotiation is all reaction and no amount of proactive preparation will matter. The essence of this problem was poignantly captured in an offhand comment made by the editor of

The most likely sources of information in your organization are those who have handled a specific customer before, those who have worked for the customer, and those who have worked for your most likely competitor in this deal.  Virtually every organization I've ever been in employs people who have worked for either its customers or its competitors.  I have found, though, that the hardest thing to do is to find out exactly who those people are.  In addition, the larger the selling organization, the harder it is to find them.  At the same time, however, the larger the selling organization, the more likely it is that people are there who will be able to help you.

We know that buyers will attempt to commoditize a supplier’s offering in hopes of lowering prices and shifting risk in contract terms and conditions back to the supplier. We also know, however, that establishing value results in price premiums and risk-sharing commensurate with the return the seller expects to receive from the opportunity. For that reason, when we start working with a client we ask the company’s leadership three questions:

I was working with the procurement department at a major insurance company that was sourcing asset management software.  At the start of the meeting, they said, "We want a 7% price reduction on our current $12 million spend; that's our goal and strategy."

Just got back from Amman Jordan and Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. While there I recalled a speech I heard over 15 years ago from a Swiss professor on International business. What she said was that we should focus on the similarities around the world vs. the differences. At the time, this sure seemed like counter intuitive thinking as I had always been told that doing global business was about the differences. Over the years, and this past week it occurs to me that she was right on target. Talking about selling and negotiating in any other country is slightly different versions of the same discussion in the US.

When I think of a street fighter, two words come to mind:  lean and mean. I envision two lean opponents, stripped of all the trappings - the ring, the gloves, the fans and the corporate sponsors - testing their wits, wills and stamina anytime, anywhere.

Where is the future of selling, negotiating and the processes that support it going? We have spent a great deal of time and research answering that question. Selling has evolved from personal relationship skills to salesperson as a consultative or solution seller. Given the changes in the marketplace and the amount of readily available data on your products and services as well as the emergence of an even stronger, more prepared professional buyer, we believe the role of the next generation salesperson focuses on two key skills:

What salespeople really need is not more processes but more data, that is, more information concerning their customers’ needs and how they can meet those needs better than the customers’ alternatives. When salespeople have this additional data, they will be able to recognize that deals are not that different from each other. While it is true that customers all have different needs, and that both the solutions a supplier provides and its alternatives have wide ranges, when needs, solutions, and alternatives are viewed from a high enough level, it becomes obvious that the issues that must be dealt with fall into very specific areas, or follow patterns.  And while these areas may change with different customer verticals or solution types, they continue to be similar. These areas include:  

In fact, after completing negotiation training, negotiators "highly effective" rating jumps to a whopping 6.8%!!! (makes you want to run right out and sign up for one of those courses advertised in the airline magazines, doesn't it?).