Achieve more in life.
Business Productivity
How To Encourage Learning By Making "Smart Mistakes"
May 16th
Avoiding mistakes is impossible. But what if we accept that risk is inevitable and focus on making "smart mistakes" instead?
10 Reasons Why Top Sales People are Successful: Boost Your Sales Career
May 16th
The top 20 percent of sales people earn 80 percent of the money. Your goal is to become one of the highest-paid people in your profession and accelerate your sales career using the vital keys to success in sales. Fortunately, this is easier than you might think.
Key to Success #1: Top Sales People Do What They Love to Do
All truly successful, highly paid sales people, love their sales career. You must learn to love your work and then commit yourself to becoming excellent in your field. Invest whatever amount of time is necessary to improve your sales career; pay any price; go and distance, make any sacrifice to become the very best at what you do. Join the top 10 percent.
Key To Success #2: They Decide Exactly What They Want
Don’t be wishy-washy. Decide exactly what it is you want in life. Set it as a goal for your sales career and then determine what price you are going to have to pay to get it.
According to the research, only about 3 percent of adults have written goals. And these are the most successful and highest-paid people in every field. They are the mover and shakers, the creators and innovators, the top sales people and entrepreneurs.
Key to Success #3: They Back Their Sales Career Goals With Perseverance
A key to success in sales is to back your goal with perseverance and indomitable willpower. Decide to throw your whole heart and soul into your success and into achieving your sales career goal. Make a complete commitment to improve your sales career and become one of the most highly-paid sales people. Resolve that nothing will stop you or discourage you.
Key to Success #4: They Commit to Lifelong Learning
Your mind is your most precious asset, and the quality of your thinking determines the quality of your sales career. Commit yourself to lifelong learning. I cannot emphasize this too often.
Read, listen to audio programs, attend seminars, and never forget that the most valuable asset you will ever have is your mind. As you continue to learn, you will eventually become the one of the most valuable sales people in your company. The more knowledge you acquire that can be applied to practical purposes, the greater will be your rewards and the more you will be paid.
Key to Success #5: Top Sales People Use Their Time Well
Your time is all you have to sell. It is your primary asset. How you use your time determines your standard of living. Resolve therefore to use your time well.
Begin every day with a list. The best time to make up your work list is the night before, prior to wrapping up for the day. Write down everything that you have to do the next day, starting with your fixed appointments and then moving on to everything you can think of.
Key to Success #6: They Follow the Leaders
Do what successful people do. Follow the leaders, not the followers. Do what the top sales people in your company do. Imitate the ones who are going somewhere with their lives.
Identify the very best sales people in your field and pattern yourself after them. If you want to become one of the best sales people in your company, go to the top earners and ask them for advice. Ask them what you should do to improve your sales career. Inquire about their attitudes, philosophies, and approaches to their work and their customers.
Key to Success #7: They Know That Character is Everything
Guard your integrity as a sacred thing. Nothing is more important to the quality of your life in our society. In business and sales success, you must have credibility. You can only be successful if people trust you and believe in you.
In study after study, the element of trust has been identified as the most important distinguishing factor between one salesperson and another, and one company and another.
Key to Success #8: They Use Their Inborn Creativity
Think of yourself as a highly intelligent person, even a genius. Recognize that you have the great reserves of creativity that you have never used. Say aloud, over and over, “I’m a genius! I’m a genius! I’m a genius!”
This may sound like an exaggeration, but it isn’t. The fact is that every person has the ability to perform at genius levels in one of more areas. You have within you, right now, the ability to do more and be more than you ever have before.
Key to Success #9: They Practice the Golden Rule
Practice the Golden Rule in all your interactions with others. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Think about yourself as a customer.
How would you like to be treated? Obviously you would want sales people to be straightforward with you. You would want her to take the time to thoroughly understand your problem or need and then show you, step by step, how her solution could help you improve your life or work in a cost-effective way. If this is what you would want from a salesperson selling to you, then be sure to give this to every customer you talk to.
Key to Success #10: They Pay the Price of Success
Finally, and perhaps more important than anything else, resolve to work hard. This is a great key to success in life. The key to success in selling is for you to start a little earlier, work a little harder, and stay a little later. Do the little thing that average people always try to avoid doing. When you begin your workday, resolve to “work all the time you work.” Don’t waste time. Get going. Move fast.
I hope you enjoyed this article on how to improve your sales career to become one of the highest-earning sales people in your company. If you have a key to success that has worked for you, please share and comment below!
Topics included in this article include
Key to Success
Sales People
Sales Career
The Truth About Piles and Your Productivity
May 16th
I was in a client’s office recently as they were getting ready for a meeting.
They were looking for a document. (Actually, they were frantically looking for a piece of paper.)
I asked if could help.
As they moved piles around their desk, they replied, “No… I put it right here. I know where it is.”
Apparently not.
Five minutes later, they gave up looking for the document and headed off to a meeting (late!) without their reference materials.
Piles Are Not Organization
People tell me all the time that their messy desk is organized.
“I know where everything is!”
“It works this way.”
“This is my system.”
The truth is… people pile things up because they don’t have a way to organize their work.
“Piles are not organization.
They are a procrastinator’s excuse to avoid organizing.”
Piles don’t let you find your work.
They aren’t an efficient way to store your important things.
In fact, piles are slow.
Ditch the Piles
The next time you are looking for something that is buried in your piles, think twice about adding to the problem.
Here are just a few tips to help you avoid the piles:
- Put It Away Now! - The next time you are “piling” things up, ask yourself how much longer it would take to put things away right. It may take a couple extra minutes now, but will save you even more time and effort in the future.
- Have a System – Many people create piles because they do not have a system for organizing their stuff. Whether it is papers at work or supplies at home, invest in the filing or organization tools you need to put things in order. A filing cabinet or shelving system can make all the difference.
- Clean Your Desk Regularly – One way to keep the piles in check, is to have a regular clean-up session. I clean up my desk and surrounding workspace every Friday before I depart the office. Not only does it keep things in check, but it sets me up for a clean start to the next week.
- Throw It Out – I am a big believer in disposing of things that you will not need again. “If in doubt, throw it out!” More likely than not, you will not need that paper again. Or that random item. Trash it, donate it, or give it to someone who can use it.
- Go Paperless – Paper is always one of the main things than people pile. However, it is easier than ever to go paperless. Eliminate paper bills and opt for e-bills. Scan or take pictures of documents. File your e-documents via Evernote or Dropbox.
Piles Are Slow
Piles are not organization.
They are not part of an organizing solution.
Take a few minutes today to address the piles in your life.
Question: Are piles part of your organization system? What are your best tips to avoid piling things up?
The Difference Between "Money Work" and "Busy Work"
May 14th
Are you doing everything you can to generate new income? The more effective you are with "money work," the more time you'll have for "creative work."
How to Persuade and Influence People to Achieve Personal Power
May 14th
Your ability to persuade and influence people to help you get the things you want in life is one of the most important skills you can develop. By learning how to persuade and influence people, you can achieve greater personal power and get more of the things you want faster than anything else you do. It can mean the difference between success and failure. It can guarantee your progress and enable you to use all of your other skills and abilities at the very highest level. Learning how to persuade people will earn you the support and respect of your customers, bosses, co-workers, colleagues and friends. The ability to influence others to do what you want them to do can make you one of the most important people in your community.
Your job is to become absolutely excellent at influencing and motivating others to support and assist you in the achievement of your goals and the solving of your problems. All truly effective people have mastered the art of getting lots of other people to work with and for them in the accomplishment of their objectives. You can learn this skill set to achieve personal power and master the art of influencing others.
How Human Interaction Affects Your Ability to Influence People
The opposite of being influential is having little or no influence at all on the behaviors of other people. It is the difference between being powerful and being powerless. You can either persuade others to help you or be persuaded to help them. It is one or the other. Most people are not aware that every human interaction involves a complex process of persuasion and influence. And being unaware, they are usually the ones being persuaded to help others rather than the ones who are influencing people to help them.
All successful people with personal power are persuasion experts. They give a lot of thought to how they can get other people to help them. They plan and strategize before they act. They define their goals clearly and then they choose the people whose cooperation they will need to achieve those goals. They then think about what they will have to do in return to get the other people to help them. They achieve their goals of persuasion and influence indirectly.
The key to persuasion is motivation. Every human action is motivated by something. In order to learn how to persuade others, you must find out what motivates other people and then to provide that motivation. People have two major motivations: the desire for gain, and the fear of loss. The desire for gain motivates people to want more of the things they value in life. They want more money, more success, more health, more influence, more respect, more love and more happiness.
Human wants are limited only by individual imagination. No matter how much a person has, he or she still wants more and more. When you can show a person how he or she can get more of the things he or she wants by helping you achieve your goals, you can motivate them to act in your behalf and achieve greater personal power.
How to Persuade Others Through Leverage
You can learn how to persuade others by using leverage. Leverage means that you learn how to multiply yourself and get far more out of the hours you put in rather than doing everything yourself.
You leverage yourself through other people’s efforts by getting other people to work with you and for you in the accomplishment of your objectives. Sometimes you can ask them to help you voluntarily, although people won’t work for very long without some personal reward. At other times you can hire them to help you, thereby freeing you up to do higher value work.
The definition of management is “Getting things done through others.” To be a manager you must improve your personal power and know how to persuade and influence people to work in a common direction. This is why all excellent managers are also excellent low-pressure salespeople. They do not order people to do things, instead, they influence people to accept certain responsibilities, with specific deadlines, and agreed upon standards of performance. When a person has been persuaded that he has a vested interest in doing a job well, he accepts ownership of the job and the result. Once a person accepts ownership and responsibility, the manager can step aside confidently, knowing the job will be done on schedule.
Achieve Personal Power by Becoming an Expert
You can learn how to persuade others and can develop your personal power by always remembering that there are only two ways to get the things you want in life, you can do it all yourself, or you can get most of it done by others. Your ability to communicate, persuade, negotiate, influence, delegate and interact effectively with other people will enable you to develop leverage using other people’s efforts, other people’s knowledge and other people’s money. The development of your personal power will enable you to become one of the most powerful and influential people in your organization. By learning how to persuade and influence people, it will open up doors for you in every area of your life.
I hope you enjoyed this post on how to achieve personal power by learning how to persuade and influence people. Do you think that the ability to influence people is useful in your line of work? Please comment with your answer below!
Topics included in this article include
How to Persuade
Influence People
Personal Power
How to Start Your Week With Your Batteries Fully Charged
May 14th
Most people hate starting their week.
(And thus, Monday gets a bad rap.)
Many come back to work dragging worse than when they left Friday afternoon.
Are you one of those individuals that dreads restarting the work week?
What would it take to start the week fully charged?
Starting on Empty
Do you come back from your weekend needing another weekend to recover?
“How to start the week” is one of the most popular questions that I am asked.
Ironically, much of the “starting the week” stress is self-inflicted.
It is either due to not being prepared or irresponsible behavior over the weekend.
“If you start your week with nothing in your tank…
then it is bound to be a rough start.”
Ever start your day and realize that you forgot to plug-in your phone the night before?
Unfortunately, many people do this with their body.
And then they wonder why Mondays are so tough.
Start Fully Charged
If you want to start your week right, you need to take steps to take care of yourself and your obligations.
Here are 10 Ways to Start the Week with Your Batteries Fully Charged:
- Get Enough Rest - Many people claim they need a weekend to recover from the work week. However, when they get there, they end up getting less sleep than during the week. Have the discipline to get the rest you need. If your tank is empty when you walk in the door Monday, it’s going to be a rough week.
- Know Where You Are Going – Starting your week without reviewing your calendar is like driving your car with a blindfold, you are going to hit something. Know where you are going before the week starts. Review your calendar in advance.
- Know What You Have to Do – Your todo list is just as important. If you are unaware of what you have to do and when it is due, you are setting yourself up for a fall. Look at your list before you leave the house. You just might remind yourself of something you need to be ready for.
- A Good Finish, Allows a Good Start – Ever come back to a project that you left in disarray? It’s a mess. Trying to figure out where you were and where everything goes. Make sure you finish the previous week right. Clean up before you leave the office and tie up loose ends. That way, you won’t walk into a mess upon your return.
- Do Your Homework – Many people take the weekend “off” as literal. Meaning they don’t do anything to prepare for the next week. However, you have to do your homework. If you have a big presentation, prepare for it. If you have an assignment that is due, finish it. Just because you aren’t in school doesn’t mean you don’t have homework.
- Workout – Want to start you week full of energy? Start it with a workout. Some fear that this will wear them out before they get to work. Quite the contrary. It will pump you up. And fill you with confidence.
- Start Early – It’s true, the early bird gets the worm. Opportunity favors the early. If you have to pick one day a week to get an early start, Monday would be the day. Arriving at the office before the rush will let you get a head start.
- Motivate Yourself – Need some inspiration to start your week? Read something motivational. I keep several of my motivational books, quotes, and even video clips nearby, in case I need that extra push to go out and attack the world.
- Start the Work – A great way to start your week fully amped up is to finish something early. Do an important task before the week even wakes up Monday morning. (See #7)
- Positive Attitude – Bring your best attitude to the new week. Being positive can overcome many of the week’s obstacles. Your attitude defines your reality more than you think.
Charge Your Batteries
Don’t start your week on empty.
Get the rest. Do the homework. And get motivated.
Start your week fully charged.
Question: Do you start your week fully charged?
The Illustrated 99% Conference 2012: An Epic Episode in Words & Pictures!
May 13th
Wendy MacNaughton captures the nuances of this year's 99% Conference - from hairstyles to hand gestures - in an awesome illustration series.
Ask the Entrepreneurs: 21 Systems to Boost Business Productivity for Good
May 11th
Ask The Entrepreneurs is a regular series where members of those involved in the Young Entrepreneur Council are asked a single question that aims to help Lifehack readers level up their own lives, whether in a area of management, communication, business or life in general.
Here’s the question posed in this edition of Ask The Entrepreneurs:
What productivity system can you not live without as an entrepreneur?
1. Manage Projects With Asana
Although Asana is a project management tool it doubles as a productivity system by making our team and clients more efficient every day. By tracking, assigning and follow up on individual tasks, Asana allows us to eliminate the noise and focus on what action has to be taken today.
-Kelly Azevedo, She’s Got Systems
2. Share Files Through Dropbox
This must-have app is installed on all our laptops, tablets, and phones. Since we’re often traveling or working remotely, Dropbox is absolutely essential in helping the whole team stay literally in sync. In addition, it makes updating and distributing decks that need to stay extremely up-to-date, like our Media Kit, very simple and efficient.
3. Check It Off on Ta-da List
Ta-da List is the simplest way that I’ve found to create and share a checklist of action items for our team. Team members claim the items that they are working on by checking them off. We have staff ranging from Palo Alto to Senegal (an eight-hour time difference), and Ta-da List keeps us on the same page.
4. Producteev Keeps Up Productivity
Producteev is a cross-platform productivity application. It works online, on Desktop and across mobile applications to help streamline your personal or corporate activities. Producteev is ideal for small teams and we use it extensively in my businesses.
5. Keep Track of Tasks on Any.DO
I organize my life around “to-dos” and without a doubt the best app to organize these tasks is Any.DO. It’s simple and beautiful, which makes it a pleasure to use on a daily basis.
6. Track the Noteworthy on Evernote
Without a doubt, Evernote. I keep all meeting notes, client info and personal ideas in one place, and am able to access anything and everything from any of my devices on the go. I’ve used it religiously for the past couple years, and can’t help but wonder, “What the heck did I do before Evernote?”
-Matt Cheuvront, Proof Branding
7. Get It Back With RescueTime
RescueTime is a great app that runs in the background on your computer. It graphs your activity and breaks it down onto a scale from “very distracting” to “very productive.” It helps me to find the leaks in my productivity so that I can address them and get the most out of my time.
8. Stop Guessing With Wunderlist
Wunderlist has become a wonder for me. Not only is it very easy to input all of your projects, your clients and their associated priorities, but the accessibility of it constantly syncing to all of your portable devices, such as your smartphone, tablet and computer. It is unrivaled and has made my life that much easier, whether in the office or on-the-go.
9. Root Back to BasecampHQ
I’ve used a ton of others and even tried to have my own built, but I always come back to BasecampHQ for project management.
-Roger Bryan, RCBryan & Associates
10. Keep an Eye Out With Trello
Trello allows me to easily keep track of our major tasks and the stage of development on each. It’s a simple and intuitive interface is perfect for web development teams. Best of all, it’s free.
-Patrick Curtis, WallStreetOasis.com
11. Money Matters on Freshbooks
Client perception is important when you’re small. They need to see you have your act together, especially on the basics. If you can’t get that right, how can you handle their business? Invoicing and expensing with Freshbooks makes it easy for me to look good and work efficiently.
12. Day-to-Day on Google Calendar
Without Google Calendar I’d never get anything done. Since the calendar is web-based, I always have access to it whether it’s on my laptop, iPad, or smartphone. I also use the calendar to block off times when I want to focus on a task for several hours straight.
13. Capture Leads on Instant Customer
This CRM system allows me to capture leads when public speaking or networking. From the audience, people can SMS to opt-in to my email list and special offer. Or they can give me a business card, and minutes after I scan it in, it sends them a series of pre-programmed emails with follow-up resources, and a promo offer.
-Michael Margolis, Get Storied
14. Top the To-Do on Google Tasks
I’m a very process-oriented person and I need to have a list of things to accomplish every day. Google Tasks, which is part of your Gmail, is a free task-list service. I update my tasks constantly and it keeps me focused each day.
15. Mix Business With Pleasure on Yammer
Yammer keeps my whole team organized, on track, and in-the-know on all important communication for a particular project. It’s where we share files, discuss goals, and most importantly, where my virtual team has an opportunity to build real relationships with their peers.
-Natalie MacNeil, She Takes on the World
16. Stay Up-to-Date Through Glasscubes
My team and I use Glasscubes on a daily basis for managing documents, keeping track of tasks and organizing information. It’s great because it’s really cut down on the amount of emails we were sending back and forth — and helps keep track of content and its status.
-Heather Huhman, Come Recommended
17. Keep It Clear
I’m finding a nice balance with Clear, a new iPhone app that’s gotten tons of attention because of the way the designers rethought the touch screen user interface. Underneath, it’s a very basic to-do system, but I’ve never been big on bells and whistles when it comes to productivity. The truly incredible UI is the kicker, and seems to fit well with how I prioritize in my head, so it’s stuck!
18. Just Do It With Do.com
I use Do.com to manage all of my various business projects. It helps me track who is doing what and what is left to be done on any given project. Track time, billable hours, share files, etc. — This site can do it all for free. When I discovered it, I knew I would never go back to emails or Excel for managing projects.
19. Hire a Remote Assistant
As a startup social entrepreneur, there is absolutely no way that I could afford a traditional executive assistant. Through YourRemoteAssistant.com, I have a full-time assistant for just $1,099 per month. This serve has enabled me to delegate in an entirely different way at a cost that my organization can afford.
-Garrett Neiman, CollegeSpring
20. Pomodoro Technique for Top Productivity
Apps and project management tools can help you manage and prioritize tasks effectively, but when it comes to getting stuff done, use the Pomodoro Technique. Dedicate laser focus to one and only one task for 25 minutes — make sure to use a timer! Once the timer goes off, take a 5-minute break. I find that when I use this technique, I tend to not get distracted by small urgent things.
21. Teux Deux
Teux Deux is perfect for simple to-do lists and I love the accompanying iPhone app!
(Photo credit: Steve Jurvetson via Flickr – CC BY 2.0)
The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment and underemployment and provides entrepreneurs with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of their business’s development and growth.
Why Managing Your Time Makes You More Creative
May 11th
You might think that time management and creativity are bit like chalk and cheese. If you’re a creative type (or if you want to be more creative), then all the usual advice about organizing yourself and avoiding procrastination might just not seem to apply. After all, isn’t a bit of disorganization and procrastination just part of the creative process?
Well, you might be perfectly happy doing your creative thing while everything around you is in a state of chaos. There’s a good chance, though, that some simple time management skills will hugely boost your chances of actually finishing that novel, or completing that painting.
Good Time Management Frees Up Extra Creative Hours
When I talk to writers, one big problem crops up over and over again: finding the time to write.
However much you love your creative work, you need time for it. That means being organized in the rest of your life: finishing your day job on time, getting the chores done efficiently, scheduling your creative sessions in your calendar, and so on.
Yes, time management might not seem nearly as exciting as creating your new composition, or sketching out some ideas … but it’s a critical support for your creativity.
Good Time Management Helps You Stay Focused
Does your creative time ever end up as a few hours of web surfing and smartphone fiddling?
Most of us struggle to focus, and creative types are no exception. Sure, you’ll have days when you’re completely in the zone … but to get to that point, you probably need to push past the initial few minutes when you’re tempted to procrastinate.
By learning to sit down and concentrate on one task at a time, you’ll be doing your creativity a huge favor.
Good Time Management Helps You Organize Big Projects
If your creative work involves big, complicated projects – like publishing a comic book, producing an album, putting on a live event, or writing a novel – then you’re going to be juggling a lot of moving pieces.
To avoid everything falling down around you, you’ll need strong organizational skills. This is a key part of time management and, even if you think you’re “just not very organized,” it’s something you can work on.
My rule of thumb is to put as much as I can onto paper, rather than keeping it in my head – even if it’s just little stuff, like “don’t forget to buy milk.” That way, I free up more mental RAM for important stuff, like mulling over the newest plot twist in my novel…
Good Time Management Lets You Know When to Be Creative
We all have peaks and troughs of creative energy during the day. You might be at your best at 9 – 11am, but you may have friends who thrive at 6 – 8pm.
It’s important to know when your personal peaks are, so that you can harness them for your creative work. Let’s say you need to do a few chores on Saturday and you also want to work on your latest poem: if your best creative hours are in the morning, you’ll want to leave those chores for the afternoon.
I know this might sound like it’s obvious – but it’s surprising how few of us are careful about scheduling things so that we can use our most energized times to the full.
If your life involves a lot of creative activity (or if you wish it did!) then drop a comment below. Let us know what works for you, or what you’re struggling with.
This guest post is by Ali Luke. Ali is currently on a virtual book tour for her novel Lycopolis, a fast-paced supernatural thriller centered on a group of online roleplayers who summon a demon into their game … and into the world. Described by readers as “a fast and furious, addictive piece of escapism” and “absolutely gripping”, Lycopolis is available in print and e-book form. Find out more at www.lycopolis.co.uk.
How to Negotiate: Using Business Communication and Interpersonal Skills to Get What You Want
May 10th
Life may be viewed as one long, extended negotiating session, from the cradle to the grave. Learning how to negotiate and improve on interpersonal skills is an important part of business communication.
Negotiation never stops. It is the way that individuals with differing values and interests find constructive ways to live and work together in harmony. The ability to negotiate successfully with exemplary interpersonal skills is essential to success in all your interactions with other people.
Since value judgments are always subjective, there is never a right and final price or set of terms that can be decided in advance. They always depend on the parties involved and their relative scale of needs at the time of the transaction. Subjective valuations are what create the desire to exchange goods, services, money and other things. “It is differences of opinion that make a horse race.”
Your ability to negotiate well on your own behalf is the key to both personal and business success. You can always get a better deal if you know how to improve your interpersonal skills. You never need to settle for less or feel dissatisfied with the result of any negotiation. The secret to knowing how to negotiate, is through understanding that there is almost always a way that you can get better terms or prices, whether you are buying or selling. Your job is to find that way.
Here are strategies on how to negotiate the best deal possible for business success:
Interpersonal Skills for Negotiation
The word “ask” is the most powerful word in business communication and negotiation. Most people are so paralyzed by the fear of rejection and disapproval that they are afraid to ask for anything out of the ordinary. They just accept what is offered to them and hope for the best. But this is not the case with top negotiators with excellent interpersonal skills.
The top negotiators will quite calmly and confidently ask for any kind of price or term that is remotely within reason. You will be quite astonished at the better deals you will get by simply asking for a lower price if you’re buying and asking for a higher price if you’re selling. Ask for what you want. Ask politely. Ask expectantly. Ask optimistically. Ask courteously. Ask repeatedly. Ask in different ways. But never be afraid to ask.
An important thing to remember when learning how to negotiate is that everything is negotiable. All prices and terms are set by someone, on some basis. Most prices and terms are merely “guesses” at what the other person will accept. They are never written in stone.
Using Effective Business Communication Skills
One of my seminar graduates is a real estate salesman who buys houses. He works within a specific price range that looks at every home in that price range and comes on the market. His strategy is simple and he uses effective business communication and interpersonal skills to get what he wants. Whatever the asking price, he offers 50 to 60 percent of that amount in cash, with no conditions. His offers all come with a short time limit. He gets turned down dozens of times. However, about one time in a hundred, he finds a motivated seller, a seller who is eager to sell immediately, and the seller will accept his offer. His secret is simple. He just asks people to sell their houses at far lower prices than anyone else would ever dare.
How to Negotiate with Surprise and Disappointment
Learning how to negotiate with your reaction is another great strategy to improve your business communication skills for a win-win situation. Whatever the suggested price, react with surprise and disappointment. Remember, most people have plucked the price out of the air. They are always asking for more than they expect to get or offering less than they expect to pay. In either case, you should flinch and react with mild shock, no matter what the price or the offer. Appear hurt, as if the person has just said something cruel or unkind that was totally uncalled for. Then ask, “Is that the best you can do?” And remain perfectly silent. Almost every price has a built in cushion of available discount, and very often the salesperson will drop to that price with one painful flinch on your part.
Better Somewhere Else
Always imply that you can do better somewhere else. There is nothing that causes a seller’s price to drop faster than saying that you can get the same item cheaper from another source. This shakes the self-confidence of the salesperson, who immediately feels that he or she is going to lose the deal and often cuts the price quickly.
The way that you learn to improve your business communication skills for excellent negotiation is by practicing it at every opportunity until it becomes second nature. Negotiating is a great interpersonal skill that you can master with practice. Take every opportunity you can find to negotiate on smaller items, especially in situations where you don’t really care about the outcome. Go to swap meets and garage sales and offer fractions of the asking price. You will be amazed how quickly you can learn how to negotiate and become skilled at getting better prices.
When you go into a restaurant, scan the restaurant and pick a table that you want to sit at. Then, when you are shown to a lesser table, negotiate for the better table.
Whenever you buy anything from a retail store always ask, “Do you ever have this item on sale?” if they say, “yes,” then you say that you missed the last sale but you would like to buy it at the sale price at this time.
The clerk will be astonished and will tell you that that is not possible. In that case, you ask to speak to the manager. You then offer to pay “cash” for the item at the previous sale price. You will be amazed at the excellent deals that you get by using better interpersonal skills. Remember that negotiating is a game. Your job is to get in there and to play, and to keep playing, until you learn how to win every single time.
Thank you for reading this article on improving your business communication skills for negotiating better deals. If you have any other tips on how to negotiate and use interpersonal skills for business success, please share them in the comment section below!
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