All posts with the ‘ Negotiation ’ Tag

Sometimes you don’t want to understand why things happen or how you can become a better person through active listening.  Sometimes you just want someone to help you figure out how to fix a problem.

I can do that.… Read More

Regardless of where you come down on this whole debt ceiling business, if you want to hone your negotiation skills, it is the thing to pay attention to.  Because watching people screw things up beyond all recognition is a fantastic way of learning.

Here are the major lessons I hope you take away from this debacle.… Read More

R2-D2 and C-3PO are best friends.  They grew up together, went to the same college and for the past few weeks, they’ve been working on a story together.  A friend of a friend of C-3PO’s is an editor and, based on R2 and 3PO’s happy hour accentuated pitch, has agreed to take a look at it.  Unfortunately, the story isn’t done; it’s still in pre-first … Read More

You have a client named…Splinter.

Splinter has a new job for you about once every two or three months.  The work tends to be interesting, but not overly taxing, and Splinter generally agrees to a higher hourly rate than many of your other clients.

Splinter is also consistently late.  He’s late to conference calls, passing on specs and worst of all, he’s generally 10-15 days … Read More

Preconceptions suck. They’re usually wrong, for starters, and in the context of a negotiation, they can mean that you waste a lot of time combatting what the other person thinks they know about you rather than dealing with the actual issue. Common preconceptions in negotiating include: women don’t negotiate; artists are bad at business; freelancers make a pile of money because they don’t have overhead expenses; large businesses have a pile of money to spend because they’re large businesses; and the other side is probably hiding something sinister from you. But not matter how unhelpful preconceptions are, they persist. And when you find yourself the victim of one in a negotiation, it can stall or even ruin the deal. Rather than give up and roll over, try these things the next time you think the other side has ass.u.me.ed they know all about you.

Let’s say you’re a single person looking to adopt a French Bulldog. In a bizarre Because This Is A Hypothetical turn of events, there are only two dogs for you to choose from.… Read More

In negotiation, people confuse “having power” with “being a jerk” fairly regularly.

Go to a third-rate negotiation training and they’ll offer the unhelpful advice of “don’t share information,” “always be aggressive” and “don’t call back if it’s after 4:00 in the afternoon; wait 24 hours and then send an email.”

This advice is bad.  It is The Rules for business relationships.  You can contort yourself … Read More

A brand shiny new year, people!  Full of god-knows-what and well-I’ll-be-damned!

THIS!  This could be the year you do that thing!  Or give up the watchacallit!

If you haven’t settled on a resolution yet, I’ve got one for you.  It will improve the quality of your business relationships, reduce your stress levels, and maybe even make you more money.

I don’t want to go so … Read More