Episode 132: George Siedel

[01.15] George defines Negotiation – as a process that is designed to reach an agreement that will satisfy each sides wants and needs.

[01.25] George explains how negotiation is important for business – especially in sales, as the sales profession is in the heart of any company, with sales you build customer relations, build sales strategies and contribute to the profitability of the company. So negotiation generally and sales specifically is critical to the companies success.

[01.59] Why don’t some salespeople don’t like to negotiate and what can we do to change this – George feels that it is due to the F word …FEAR! George also feels that Sales People fall into two groups one where they dread negotiation, of someone saying ‘no’ to them and the other group where they love to negotiate. The fear can be overcome by thinking strategically to overcome emotions, think about the interests of both sides and how they can be combined to create new gains.

[03.37] How do you plan and execute a high stakes negotiation – follow this link http://negotiationplanner.com/planner.html to get hold of George’s free Negotiation Planner / Checklist which helped a CEO from Singapore save $4million and proves to be a useful tool.

[05.32] What are the attributes of a good sales negotiator – George discusses two attributes, one being preparation and how rigorous preparation is important when negotiating and second attribute being the ability to listen, great negotiators ask questions and listen carefully to the answers.

[06.40] Are there any negotiation tools, tactics or strategies to help negotiate – George shares that there are many tools available, mostly based on solid psychological research, such tools include anchoring, setting a high stretch goal, contrast principle and reciprocity. More of these resources can be found on George’s Negotiation Planner website http://negotiationplanner.com/index.html

[08.04] George shares his top three negotiation Do’s and Don’ts – Do’s – do understand your BATNA thoroughly (Your Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) – this will give you power, get to know the other side– spend some time before you jump into the business deal getting to know them as human beings and always look at the deal from the other side. George’s don’ts are – don’t focus on persuasion – focus instead on listening and gathering information, don’t assume you are fighting over a fixed pie – always try to search for interests to combine with the interests of the other side to build a larger pie that benefits both sides and last don’t spend too little time on preparation – preparation is critical to the success of negotiation.

[10.32] George shares his favourite negotiation story – of when he was an Associate Dean of The Business School at The University of Michigan, they knew of a new Business School opening in Paris and George wanted a half floor of the school to run their program. By spending 2-3 hours the night before the meeting getting to know the other side George was able to get the space without paying ground rent all because of his conversation the night before.

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More About George

What was the last book you read?
Graham Greene, The Comedians

Who / What inspires you?
I am writing a book on the 7 leading MBA professors in the world. They all inspire me. Historically, Ben Franklin and Henry David Thoreau

What aspect of your own Social Selling program are you most focused on improving at the moment?
Not sure what Social Selling is.

Hobbies, Interests?
Golf, Tennis, Travel

How can our listeners contact with you?
Go to negotiationplanner.com