The past 30 years have been an exciting time in the field of business negotiation.  We moved past the era of "win-lose" negotiations training and beyond the simplicity of "win-win" messages.  Leading thinkers in negotiation now realize that it is critical to think simultaneously about creating value and claining your share.

What does your company really sell?  Technically speaking, Ferrari sells cars.  But the Ferrari brand is all about ego, luxury, money, status, cachet, etc.  If the B2B street fighter is marked by any one skill, value or trait, it is courage.  Courage colors every moment of a street fighter's waking life.  It's not just how she acts under pressure; it's how she acts all day, every day, whether she's under the microscope or, more importantly, when no one is looking.

Why do you need a negotiation strategy?  This question relates to the motivation for developing a strategy in the first place, that is, the reason for wanting to make a change.  Often the term "strategy" spawns nebulous phrases or written statements that get tucked away in a boardroom somewhere, never to be heard from again.  Your goal is just the opposite:  keep it simple, actionable and clear that the cure is not worse than the disease. 

At the negotiating table, the pressure we feel from commoditization is both common and pervasive.  It can often be crippling because it limits our options.  You think less clearly and have a harder time focusing on your goals.  As a result, you make bad decisions - based on temporary conditions - that last, in some cases, forever.

The just released summary of B2B Street Fighting is now available from getAbstract.  In this Abstract, you will learn:

Senior executives know that, beyond mergers and acquisitions, a company's growth is driven one deal at a time by the way direct and indirect sales people sell and negotiate.  That's why American corporations spend $7.2 billion every year on sales processes, account managment skills, negotiation, and opportunity management training.  That's an average of $347, 000 per company, according to SellingPower.  But beyond proprietary (and perhaps biased) consulting reports and high-level academic papers on change, there's little information available on whether or not those investing the money are achieving a return on their investment that's at least equal to -- if not better than -- their cost of capital.

There's a notion that you never know what's going to happen in a negotiation.  In fact, by answering two questions before you get to the face-to-face part of negotiation, the less likely you will be surprised by anything that comes at you.  Listen to Brian Dietmeyer talk about these two questions in this short video.

Chances are, your company clearly has value (or you'd be out of business by now), but your external value (in the market) can quickly become diluted when your own company's internal estimation of that value is unclear, unfocused or even unwritten.

Beginning again in January, 2012, ESR’s Dave Stein will be moderating four new, unscripted, unedited panel discussions on today’s hot button sales issues. Join online to listen, ask questions, and get valuable insights from 16 sales training industry leaders. Archives of the previous Sales Thought-Leader Series is here.

The beginning of a new year is a great time to rethink where you're headed.  We've also found that bringing all stakeholders together to hash this out can be complex and at some times, just downright difficult.  But getting everyone to focus on two or three main areas for the year will bring results.