« Older Entries

How To Obtain/Use Influence To Win More Negotiations

Do you consider the role influence has in your negotiations? Do you know how to use influence in your negotiations once you have obtained it? If you wish to improve your negotiation skills and outcomes, you’ll find the following insight about obtaining and using influence in your negotiations to be very insightful.

Influence Relating to Negotiations:

In a negotiation, the negotiator that casts the most influence will usually come out ahead in the negotiation. That’s due to the fact that influence allows a person to persuade another individual to follow and/or adopt his perspective and point of view. That leads the person possessing less influence to move in the direction of the influencer. The one variable in this scenario is the degree that the person with the lesser amount of influence is willing to be led by the influencer. Thus, when seeking to influence someone, consider to what degree they’re open to following your request, based on the insight and reasoning you give them to do so. If the lesser of the two is not willing to be led, your efforts to cast your influence will be unsuccessful.

Acquiring and Using Influence:

So now that you have a better perspective of the role influence has and plays in a negotiation, how can you acquire it? There are multiple ways to do so. I’ll discuss two of those ways.

One, cast the clout you’re perceived as having. This is done based on those that you’re around (e.g. if you’re in the company of high-profile people, one will assume you’re a high-profile person). If that’s important to the other negotiator and he wishes to obtain such status, you’ll have the trappings of influence needed to inspire him to follow your directions.

Two, you can gain influence by controlling the way the other negotiator thinks; this is not brainwashing. The way to do this is to force the other negotiator to question his current state of beliefs and have him confront them as to their validity. Then suggest how he can improve his plight by adopting a new belief, one that you lead him to. Once he relinquishes his current beliefs and adopts yours, you will have gained influence with him.

Enhancing Your Influence:

To enhance your usage of influence in a negotiation, enhance your ability to accurately interpret the opposing negotiator’s body language. To be specific, observe his verbal and nonverbal reactions to your attempts to influence him (i.e. him leaning towards or away from you indicating acceptance or non-acceptance of a thought or offer/counter offer, position of his hands up or down when he responds to such offers, etc.). By observing such nonverbal signals, you’ll gain insight into the degree your attempts to influence him is taking hold.

As you can see, influence can be obtained and used for the purpose you establish for the negotiation. By having and using influence, you’ll have an intrinsic advantage from which to make your offerings, which will enhance your efforts of coming out ahead in the negotiation… and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

Tags:

8 Top Tips For Powerful Presentation

Most of the Americans are afraid of public speaking. They are usually stressful when they are required to speak in front of people. However, they can’t avoid themselves from doing presentations. They need to present their ideas and selling points effectively in order to achieve great success. They also need to communicate with both internal and external clients. In order to present in an excellent way, here are 8 useful tips you should follow:

• When you are on stage, the most important thing is you need to behave naturally. This is to show that you have full confidence. If you are not sure, you are recommended to study yourself in a mirror before the presentation to see what impression you make.

• You must keep in mind that your body language reflects what you are saying. You need to ensure that you keep your hands out of your pockets during the presentations.

• Besides, facial expressions are important too. You should learn to relax your facial muscles and smile always. However, you need to keep in mind that you should smile only when you feel natural to do so. A “forced” smile always looks false and unconvincing.

• Being a professional presenter, you should not wear anything that may distract the audiences. You should also ensure that your hair doesn’t fall across your face when you talk. At the same time, it will be good for you to wear comfortable shoes when presenting.

• If you are using audio-visual aids for your presentations, you are reminded to rehearse your presentations using the tools so that you can present your speeches in a smooth manner.

• In order to enhance your presentations, you are reminded to be creative. You should find different ways for expressing the same idea. At the same time, you should use the most natural tone.

• You are recommended to vary the pace of your speech. Practice speaking and you can decide which pace is the most effective.

• You must involve your audiences in the presentation as much as possible so that they can always stay focused. You should involve your audiences by asking questions at a regular interval so that the audiences know that you are aware of their feelings.

Every great presentation contains something special that makes it excellent. If you could apply the above mentioned unique tips in your presentations, you will be able to make yourself a great presenter.

Tags:

Pillars of Success – Embrace The Present

As we progress through the journeys of our lives, careers and businesses, we often stop to reflect on where we are at a given point in time. Like mapping any trip, we have certain expectations of our progress along the way. Similarly, setting timelines for our goals make them more tangible and urgent. What happens, however, when we find ourselves at a place other than where we expected? A typical reaction is to explain, excuse or perhaps even criticize. The mere fact that we see ourselves as not being “as far along as we should be” passes negative judgment and sets the stage for the world of scarcity thinking. The situations where this kind of scarcity thinking can creep into our psyche are numerous. Here are some examples that may be familiar:

A person begins something that is new and uncertain and finds themselves in a group situation such as a class or educational program. Immediately, they start compare themselves to other and begin to think that “everyone else is so much more qualified or further along” and wonder how they will ever catch or keep up.
A corporate professional thinks their career is passing them by. They see themselves passed over time and time again for recognition, leadership opportunities or promotions. They wonder how it is that they are so stuck where they are and others are moving ahead of them
A new entrepreneur who is sure that they have done all the right things still hasn’t achieved what they thought they would by this stage of their business. Like the professional, they see their peers moving effortlessly toward greater success. They may try new and different things, grasping at this idea or that but become more frustrated or despondent that they are still stuck.
In each of these examples and in others like them, the constraints of scarcity thinking become apparent. What is focused on with laser intensity is “WHAT IS NOT”: what skills are deficient, what career progress or entrepreneurial success is not attained. The Present reinforces our sense of failure as seen through the lens of our own expectations or our assumptions about someone else’s journey.

Step back for a moment and imagine that whatever your circumstances, whatever your present situation, you are exactly where you are supposed to be. Where we are at any point in time is the cumulative effect of each of the decisions, actions, external events and our responses to them. Thus, while we may not be where we expected to be, we are where we are supposed to be. By embracing the present, we allow ourselves to discover the unique opportunities that are available to us right here and right now. Instead of beating ourselves up for not being somewhere else, we can identify the options that may have been overlooked otherwise. Perhaps instead of being “stuck”, we are where we are because there is knowledge or information that we need to gather before taking our next steps. Finally, consider the possibility that we are where we are because we need the chance to step back, catch our breath and enjoy things that may have been pushed to the side in the pursuit of our goals.

Our goals and objectives are like stops or progress points on a trip. We set a target for where we would like to be at a certain point on our journey. What would you do if you find yourself in Flagstaff at the end of your day’s travels instead of Albuquerque? Do you “fire” yourself? Do you cancel your trip or give up and go home? Do you keep driving relentlessly to make Albuquerque before you stop? Probably not. Instead, you likely consider the circumstances that brought you as far as you are, reassess your journey and plans and then go out to discover the surprises of a place that don’t know very well. The same approach works for our life and professional goals as well. It’s your journey, and each stop along the way is an important part of the map that will guide you where you want to go. Enjoy where you are. You are supposed to be here.

Tags: