Interpersonal Skills

Being able to persuade and influence becomes a test of skill - skill in interpersonal communications. Going hat in hand, begging or throwing yourself at a colleague's mercy with a request is not a powerful or very effective option. On the other hand, making demands and bullying your way can be costly as well.

Teamwork is the key to accomplishing goals and individuals must use a variety of skills to manage and resolve the differences that routinely occur in the workplace.

This workshop is designed to allow participants to practice achieving win/win outcomes in "real time" situations by using the skills of: receiving and giving feedback, effective interpersonal communication, value propositions, influencing without authority, persuading and influencing (selling) and using the theory of exchange in negotiation.

At the conclusion of this persuading, influencing and negotiating workshop participants will be able to:
Use a five step convincing process.
Be politically savvy in building coalitions and support for ideas.
Use refocusing techniques to "think on your feet" in argumentative situations.
Use Socratic type questions to offer alternatives and determine motivational triggers.
Recognize when the resistance is a "shark" attack and how to neutralize the attack.
Acquire information on the exchange "currency" of other people based on: needs, goals, objectives and aspirations.
Apply one of three exchange processes to gain support and commitment.
Know when to persuade based on needs and when to negotiate via exchange.
Maintain a good relationship.
Application

Working with a limited number of customers, i.e. automotive OEM.
Advising or consulting with franchisees.
Where long term relationships are important.
Interdepartmental agreements.
Matrix organization project commitments.

Sales Negotiation Tools

At the conclusion of this sales negotiating skills workshop personnel will be able to:

Know how and when to use three exchange theory concepts.
Utilize behavioral style analysis tools strategically and tactically during a negotiation.
Identify and deal with 18 traditional negotiation tactics and tricks.
Use plus-minus refocusing techniques to "think on your feet" and disarm argumentative positions.
Use Socratic questions and listening skills skills to acquire information on the needs, wants, positions and interests of the customer.
Respond where it is a "blame" game or irrational conflict.
Understand and identify power positions and how to increase power.
Craft a strategy to enhance the relationship after the exchange.
Structure the sales negotiation process to know what tradeoffs are reasonable and when to walk-away from a deal.
Describe how they practiced these negotiating tools during a customized role-play exercise.

Maintain and grow marketshare is today's mantra. And sales negotiation with various buying types: purchasing specialists, buyers, commodity managers, technical managers, design engineers, release engineers etc. is difficult. They are savvy, educated and know the tactics and gambits of negotiation. Their concept of negotiation is to commoditize the product or service. The supplier sales negotiating challenge is to differentiate and show the value-added benefits. Effective sales negotiating skills requires preparation, customer insight, creativity, ability to "think on your feet", courage, persistence and emotional control. Our sales negotiation process is designed for the business to business negotiation environment where long term relationships are important. The negotiation process uses value propositions and refocusing techniques to alter the buyer's perceptions. The process uses exchange theory concepts to maintain the relationship, minimize concessions and protect margins.