When it comes to business negotiation, the only genuine negotiation power resides in 'the gap.'  What's the gap?  It's what you have that the competition doesn't.  And if you think what you have to offer looks exactly the same as the competition, you desperately need a fresh perspective!

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!

Do you know what makes a "good" deal for your company? Have you asked Legal, Sales Management, Marketing, Operations, Finance and IT? Representatives from each of these stakeholders group may bring to light areas you hadn't even considered.

Ever wonder why some training initiatives are totally embraced and seem to become "embedded into the DNA of the organization?" We did, too.

Because business negotiation is such a dynamic process, taking an organizational approach to negotiation greatly increases the likelihood of sellers being able to establish and maintain successful, long-term relationships with their customers while achieving their goals.

In whatever fashion you choose to celebrate the holidays, know that we at Think! Inc. wish each of you peace, love and joy!

About 30 years ago, the perception of a great salesperson evolved from a back-slapping pitch agent to a highly analytical professional who can expertly wield repeatable sales processes to uncover client needs and leverage their value proposition to meet them.  Negotiation hasn't made that leap if you consider that:

Before you can understand the process, you're going to have to start thinking differently about what negotiation really means.  The traditional view of negotiation is promising, cajoling, threatening or using any of a wide variety of tactics to get what you want from another party.  Negotiation, however, begins long before you sit down with someone to work out the terms of a deal.  It starts as soon as you select an account and start selling and / or managing the account relationship.  This is all negotiation, and redefining it as a process is what leads to world-class dealmaking.

American corporations spend $7.2 billion* every year on sales processes, account management sills, negotiation and opportunity management training.  That's an average of $347,000 per company, according to SellingPower.  But there is 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.