Course Overview
Negotiation is one of those under-rated management skills that has become increasingly essential in business and organizations of all kinds. At once, it can be a great reputation enhancer (when the negotiator appears to achieve the “impossible”) but it can also bring the direct opposite if deals fail – or results do not reach the organisation’s expectations.
This training course provides an essential insight into deal-making strategies that can help bridge the gap between “barely acceptable” and a “winning result”. In a “no risk” environment, participants will learn from an acknowledged leader in the field, returning to work with a clear personal action plan for their continuing development.
Course Duration
5 Days
Who Should Attend
- Business professionals involved in negotiations
- Managers and team leaders
- Sales and purchasing professionals
- Project managers
- Legal professionals
- Entrepreneurs and business owners
- Anyone looking to improve their negotiation skills
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, participants will:
- Understand the fundamentals of negotiation and the key principles that drive successful outcomes.
- Identify different negotiation styles and approaches, and determine the most effective style for various situations.
- Develop strategies for preparing and planning for negotiations, including setting objectives and understanding the interests of all parties involved.
- Enhance communication skills to effectively articulate needs, listen actively, and build rapport with counterparts.
- Apply techniques for managing and resolving conflicts during negotiations to maintain positive relationships.
- Utilize tactics for closing deals and ensuring mutually beneficial agreements.
- Gain confidence in handling complex negotiations and overcoming common challenges.
Course Outline:
Module 1 - The Why and How of Negotiation
- Personal impact factors contributing to the ability to persuade and convince others
- Nine widely used techniques to build personal influence
- Alternatives to negotiation – saving time and money
- Common reasons for poor negotiation agreements
- Profile of the skilled negotiator – and how to achieve this status
- Cultural and international aspects – and how negotiations may be affected
- Vital phases for a successful negotiation activity – how to achieve excellence
- Planning objectives – thinking about movement, the case and the other party’s limitations and motives
- Practical negotiating “one-to-one”
- Personal assessment through the power of observation – giving and receiving feedback
Module 2 - How to “Bridge the Gap” and Handle Obstacles
- Building flexibility into Proposals
- Opening gambits – starting a negotiation and creating an appropriate atmosphere
- Methods of creating (and destroying) trust
- Needs analysis – the way of underpinning or diluting power
- Eight tactics to help progress the agreement
- Using concessions – without expressing weakness
- Establishing the bargaining atmosphere
- Analyzing power in bargaining – dependency and relationships
- How to break an impasse?
- Factors that affect perception in negotiation
- Practical negotiating in pairs – hazards and advantages
- The power of observation – giving and receiving feedback
- A personal inventory of interactive and persuasion skills
Module 3 - Negotiating Through Conflict Situations
- Push/pull styles of communication and persuasion – which do we use?
- Coping with stereo-typical behavior – how salespeople and buyers are trained in avoiding “deal-busters”
- Non-verbal communication – reading, analyzing and causal behavior
- Facilitating the use of problem-solving approaches
- Positional v. principle approaches to negotiation
- Patterns of conflict and counter-measures
- What to do when conflict is threatening – 5 approaches to handling it together with guidance on behavior for: our side, the opposition and methods of organization
- Setting new objectives in a changing environment
- Task v. People Centered negotiators – focus for activity
- Practical exercises of greater complexity
Module 4 - Team Negotiation Strategies in the “Real” World
- Roles in a team – selection and organization
- Individuals and their needs
- Best practice – team size and control factors
- Effective goal-setting and team strategy
- Team negotiation – advantages and constraints
- Methods of creating commitment and team cohesion
- Opportunities for competitive behavior
- The psychological “game” – using/avoiding deeper influencing skills and discomfiting tactics in longer term relationships
- Forming and changing the team – effects on strategy and results
- Practical exercises of greater complexity
Module 5 – Skilled Negotiators Learn from Experience
- Achieving personal and organizational success
- Techniques for ensuring transfer of learning to the “real” world
- Self-improvement factors – e.g. concentration, attention, listening, focus
- Scaling results – through the personal diary
- Personal tactics – from “shopping list agenda’s to broad front negotiation
- How to learn from opponents and organizations
- Continuing development through personal action plans and personal checklists
