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1. 90% of successful negotiation is down to preparation. Effective negotiators go to great lengths to plan the questions they will ask and the assumptions they will pressure test in order to get a totally clear picture of the current situation.

2. Set your ‘walk away’ point then forget about it. This is the breakpoint beyond which you will lose money and should never ever be exceeded. Once this ‘stop point’ is set you need to forget about it and solely concentrate on hitting their breakpoint. In other words, if you are buying from them getting them to accept the least they would accept (without walking away) or, if you are selling to them, getting them to pay the highest possible price they would pay without walking away.

3. Observe their language and behaviour. You will never truly know their breakpoint- unless you have a truly open book relationship- but the way they react and what they say (and how they say it) will give you clues as to how close to their breakpoint you are.

4. Be creative. Negotiation is a fluid process and the more flexible and creative you can be with what you offer or demand the more successful you will be, the more room you will have to manoeuvre and the more likely you are to avoid deadlock.

5. Trade your concessions and give absolutely nothing away without getting something back in return. Don’t think you have to give something away for free just to ‘get the ball rolling’…this won’t soften the other party up it will just make them tougher!

6. Never ever accept the first deal no matter how good it is! Negotiation is about giving and receiving satisfaction and the more someone has had to fight for something the more satisfied they will be once they get it.

7. Negotiation takes place in their head. Through your use of specific and concise questions you need to understand their pressures, priorities, alternatives and areas of interest. Without having a thorough appreciation of their situation you will not be able to pinpoint their breakpoint let alone drive them towards it.

8. Maintain high aspirations. Negotiation can be uncomfortable and frustrating and it is easy for your head to drop. Accomplished negotiators don’t get bogged down in areas of disagreement they build on positive forward momentum in order to keep the negotiation fluid and dynamic.

9. Keep track of where the money is. Negotiation is not about ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ but growing profitable business. Therefore it is crucial to keep track of the cash value being traded at all times and effective negotiators have a system in place to do this.

10. The more you say the more you give away. Negotiation is not selling. You don’t need to enthuse, justify or present when negotiating. In order to be successful you need to keep your emotions in check, evaluate everything and state your proposals clearly and concisely.

© Gary Gorman 2008

In my line of work I do whole lot of presentations and speeches. I speak frequently at press conferences, and sales presentations. Back when I started I used to just fly by the seat of my pants. Generally, I was organised by would most often just figure it out as I went along. This worked out fairly well for me at the start, especially when I was talking to audiences of less than 50 people. But it started being less effective when I was talking to groups of people of four or 500 people at a time.

The pressure of talking to large groups of people makes a little harder to think on your feet. If such an important thing to do is to be done, then it should be done well and to the best of your ability. Often when you’re a presenting too much larger groups of people, it’s important to remember that there is often a lot more riding on the result of a presentation too.

it’s a recommendation of mind that you rehearse your presentation. But I feel quite nervous when I rehearsed my presentation in a room by myself in front of the mirror. So I didn’t do it. But then one day I had a very important presentation to do, and most decided that this is the time and the place amid a start rehearsing my skills before I present them in real life. Something strange happened that day. I started to discover holes in my presentation, where there had been done before. Well, in fact, there were holes in my presentation before, I just didn’t see them.

I went through my presentation. At least 10 times before, I felt comfortable with it. I fixed up the bits that needed fixing and put together a killer presentation that if executed would move my career forward in ways that I had only imagined. I went on to perform at presentation in front of approximately 1000 people, and it was amazing experience. I was contacted after the presentation by some of my peers and asked to speak within their companies and organisations. I realise that if I want to become the best at what I do I need to practise what I do often. I now apply this technique toward anything that I intend to become good at. I believe that if you rehearse anything you become good at it dramatically. Get a few friends together, let them know what your intention is, and have them point out areas where you can improve. Before you know it they will be consuming toward your success, and you will be contributing toward theirs.