Tech Sales Hunter

In the negotiation training I’ve led recently, it’s clear that many people aren’t aware of how often they negotiate.  They may consider an interaction a negotiation only if it’s in a formal financial or legal or business setting, only if they’re sitting across the proverbial table from “an opponent,” or getting ready to work out a deal expected to end in a signed contract, or something similar.

How many of your waking hours do you spend in problem-solving that involves another person?  For instance:

• With colleagues, determining who’ll cover which project responsibilities? 
• With your boss, scheduling vacation or training or overtime? 
• With family members, divvying up household chores or deciding whether you’ll vacation at Grama’s or at Disney World? 
• With the convenience store clerk, trying to slide in the door to buy milk just before he turns off the lights ?

Those are negotiations, problem-solving opportunities.  Not thinking as a negotiator-problem solver often leads to unsatisfactory solutions.  You can improve your success by replacing your image of a “negotiating event” with the vision of “interactive problem-solving.”  

Our days and evenings are filled with problem-solving, most of it involving other people, so be ready for them.  Applying good negotiation techniques helps smooth out all our interactions & increases our likelihood of developing solutions that satisfy everyone.

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