Vision - July/August 2008 - (Page 33)

Motivational ideas for the Ce industry ] • [ by dan Cole eye on business My staff is very motivated, but lets their emotions run away with them when negotiating at the bargaining table. How can I improve their negotiating skills without letting the value of our product get diluted? To negotiate successfully, you need to know your client. Preparation is key, just as it is when you’re trying to sell to the client the very first time. Help your staff to prepare and feel secure in knowing the client, your company’s value and their own value to your company. Start by gathering as much information about the client as you can. Figure out their emotional trigger points and their main objectives in working with you. Before you open negotiations, decide on your opening position and your breakpoint—your worst-case scenario. Open with fairly extreme terms so that you have room to negotiate, and plan out steps ahead of time as to how you will keep the value of your product/partnership while compromising to meet the objectives of the client. Plan your arguments as well, and give the client your arguments one at a time, not all in a rapid rush. Plus, hold back a closer argument to help cement the deal. At the outset, get the client to say “yes” to basics which both of you can agree to easily. Give them a chance to tell you what they want. They may have an even better proposal for you. If someone is unreasonable, don’t negotiate. Tell them to keep you in mind if they change their demands. Negotiating with unreasonable demands put you in a weak position. State your proposal firmly. Keep things friendly, and use positive words and body language. Say what you can do for them, not what you can’t do. Don’t talk too much. Silence is a great way to get your client to open up and give you information which you can use to move the deal forward. For execution, be prepared. Have all the documents ready to sign. Make it easy for the client to do as little as possible. All they have to do is say “yes”. To send questions for future “Eye on Business” columns, e-mail dcole@CE.org. • July/August 2008 $ $ W Get Them Jumping Out of Bed try. However it’s hard to keep my lower-level managers and personnel motivated since there is little room to move up. How can I keep them engaged? Each employee has personal traits that motivate them. To keep them jumping out of bed each morning over the long run, you need to find out what makes them tick on an individual basis. Help them feel secure in their environment. People are motivated to perform when they feel secure— not just in keeping their job, but knowing that you care about them and the work they do. Be ready to listen to their concerns and help them find the right solutions— Dan Cole whether it might be an HR challenge, a financial matter, or doubting their own skills. Especially if they are long-time employees, shirk off the top-down approach. Get them involved in developing and implementing a strategic plan so that they buy into it. Share the company’s goals with them, and have them come up with solutions as to how the whole team can accomplish the goals. The more they buy into the plan, the more committed they will be to stay with you to make it work. arren Buffet, the legendary billionaire and investment guru, once said: “I have two duties. The first is allocating capital; the second is to help 15 to 20 senior managers keep a group of people enthused about what they do even if they have no financial need whatsoever to do it. At least three-quarters of my managers are rich beyond any financial need. And therefore my job is to keep them interested enough to want to jump put of bed at 6 a.m. and work with all the enthusiasm they did when they were poor and starting out.” While most likely not all your staff are rich beyond their financial needs, you still need to know how to motivate them beyond simple financial incentives. In this issue, we tackle two questions on getting your staff prepared and keeping them motivated. My staff sees very little turn-over, which seems rare in this induswww.ce.org Baoba Images/Getty Images 33 http://www.ce.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Vision - July/August 2008

Vision - July/August 2008 Contents Shapiro's Spectrum In This Issue The Economist C4 Trends Visionary Embracing Disrupting Technology Vaulting Ahead with Your Brand International Risk Stop Boomerang Products CEA Newsline Tech Speak Tech Policy Going Global Eye on Business Market Insider Just the Stats

Vision - July/August 2008

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