Think! Inc.'s own Brian Dietmeyer will be interviewed on BlogTalkRadio tonight, Thursday, November 29, 2012, at 8pm ET about his new book, Poet and Warrior - Balancing your spirit and professional destiny. Brian will share the meaning and philosophy of the entrepreneurial journey. Your invited to listen!

As we report often, detailed and objective analysis of each side’s alternative to reaching agreement (what we call CNA or Consequences of No Agreement) is the central point of business negotiation planning. Regardless of our feelings about whether management or labor did the right thing here, we can learn a lot from their respective negotiation strategies. 

There are essentially only two kinds of impasses in business negotiations.  The first, the emotional impasse, occurs when a deal is on the table that's better than both sides' Consequences of No Agreement (CNA), but they still don't come to an agreement.  Situations like this are usually the result of one or both sides misdiagnosing their CNA.  The best way to deal with this is to go back and evaluate the CNAs again, validate them again, diplomatically educate the other side about them, and re-present the offer.

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.

Some very exciting news to share with you!  Think! has been named to the 2012 Inc. 500|5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the United States. Brian Dietmeyer, President/CEO of Think! states,

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: