Training on Negotiation Skills: Mastering the Art of Deal Making Strategies

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