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The Law of Reciprocity – Your Key to Negotiating Better Deals for Yourself
The Law of Reciprocity says: People have a deep subconscious need to reciprocate for anything that is done to or for them.
This Law of Reciprocity is very powerful because nobody likes to feel that he is obligated to someone else. This Law of Reciprocity is useful when negotiating concessions.
The first corollary of the law of reciprocity is: “The first party to make a concession is the party who wants the deal the most.” Avoid being the first one to make a concession, even a small concession. Instead, be friendly and interested, but remain silent.
The second corollary of the Law of Reciprocity says: “Every concession you make in a negotiation should be matched by an equal or greater concession by the other party.” If you don’t request a reciprocal concession, the concession that you give will be considered to have no value and will not help you as the negotiation proceeds.
The third corollary of the Law of Reciprocity says: “Small concessions on small issues enable you to ask for large concessions on large issues.” One of the very best negotiating strategies is to be willing to give in order to get.
What must you do when the other party asks for a concession? Learn the things you must do before any negotiation even starts if you expect to get the best deal, read the full article online.
- from "THE 100 ABSOLUTELY UNBREAKABLE LAWS OF BUSINESS SUCCESS" – Brian Tracy
How I Learned Sales Success Depends on Knowing the Players on the Field
I was recently waiting for the approval of a grant to finance a sales training when I received a call followed up with an emailed spreadsheet that dissected and scrutinized our proposal.
The company’s leadership team approved the training two months earlier and now someone in the HR department wanted to renegotiate, comparing the previous year’s training proposal to the current one.
This person asked questions about the figures in virtually every cell of the spreadsheet. Finally, I stopped him and pointed out that it seemed we were getting bogged down in the cost minutia rather than the long-term gains that were achieved in the previous year’s training.
I pointed out that there was an increase in sales revenue and that one individual grew so much that it was noticed by one of the partners of the company. Once I pointed these out, he said he would complete the grant application.
I had a KWINK moment...
Knowing What I Now Know, what would I do differently? I would make sure that I knew who the key people were, who was responsible for what, and who would make the financial decisions – good advice for many situations.
When you read the full article online, you'll discover exactly how I totally changed the direction of the call from cost saving to profit improvement and watched the contract get approved quickly.
What is Your Company Worth? What Determines How Much You Get? How Fast It Sells? (#1 in a series)
This month we start a series of in-depth articles exploring the 13 factors that determine the value of your business. We'll also give you tips and advice to maximize what your company when you read the full article online. The first two value drivers we’ll discuss are:
- Discretionary expenses, and
- Customer concentration.
Discretionary Expenses Can Obscure the True Value of a Company
Here are some examples of poor discretionary expenses that will devalue a business:
- The owner hits a Maui trade show each year, not because it’s critical to the business, but because he likes the getaway.
- The owner has family members on the payroll at salaries higher than market rates.
- The business provides an upscale German car to an employee when a less expensive model would suffice.
Preparing for a sale, owners should work to limit their business expenses to those that are truly operationally necessary and will likely continue post-acquisition.
Customer Concentration Hurts the Value of a Company
Too much income from one client is a red flag. For buyers, the risk threshold usually varies between 10 and 20 percent. To fix this problem:
- Add new clients,
- Show that the “large customers” are really several smaller customers with autonomous purchase decision making, or
- Buy a competitor to dilute the revenue source concentration.
- by Business Coach Greg DeSimone - Beacon Equity Advisors, Inc.
Advertising, Copyright Infringement and Common Marketing Practices that Could Land You in Court
Booming online marketing has created many legal problems. Here are some areas where your marketing can break the law:
- Possible copyright infringement,
- Breaking terms of use,
- Using data that does not belong to you,
- Violations of the CAN-SPAM Act (email),
- Making false guarantees, and
- Advertising in a misleading manner.
Copyright Infringement
Simply finding an image online does not mean you can use it! Copyright infringement fines are stiff. Some safe image sources:
Using Data That Does Not Belong to You
If you are collecting data from your followers on a social media site, it is illegal to sell those data to other companies. However, you can use them to sell your own products.
Violations of the CAN-SPAM Act
Many violate the CAN-SPAM Act, which makes it illegal to send automated emails without a working unsubscribe link. Canada and Europe have separate laws in this area.
Making False Guarantees and Misleading Advertising
If you make guarantees or claims that you cannot prove, it is deceptive advertising and a clear violation of the law.
It is simple to copy and publish all kinds of content from the Internet. However, be sure you are fully within the bounds of the law.
While this article is US centric, most other countries have similar protections and laws. It is up to you to know what laws apply. It's for this reason we strongly recommend you consult competent legal counsel to be sure you are in compliance will all laws.
4 Tips to Overcome Controlling Behavior
Controlling behavior takes many forms but, in most cases it will be evidenced by bosses who:
- Make pronouncements as to how employees complete tasks,
- Constantly question employee judgment, and
- Continually check in with staff members for status updates.
A 2014 Accountemps survey revealed that 59 percent of employees had been micromanaged. Of those, 55 percent said micromanagement was barrier to productivity.
If you're ready to overcome your own controlling behavior to help employees be more productive, here are four tips:
1. Focus on Building Trust. Meet with employees one-on-one and face-to-face. In the process, reassure each one that you're working to change your approach to him or her.
2. Request Employee Support. Ask employees to alert you if you return to old patterns of controlling behavior.
3. Assume the Role of Coach – Not That of a Controlling Boss. Start coaching employees, rather than controlling them. To begin, increase your expectations of staff members and overtly encourage their efforts to be successful.
4. Empower Employees. It might take more time to train an employee to prepare a report than to create it yourself, but in the long run this will free up your time.
Change is Tough, You Don't Have to Go It Alone
As professional business coaches, we have many tips, tools and programs proven to help businesses large and small solve personnel problems, sell more, gain control over their time and make more money.
If you are committed to changing your company for the better and would like to know more about how we can help, let's talk. It's always confidential and there is no obligation.
The Challenge of Creating Value in Business is Complex, Here Are 7 Steps You Can Take
The challenge in creating value in business today is more complex than ever. This stems from the contradicting performance requirements companies must meet to create value, such as:
- Quality vs low cost,
- Reliability vs speed,
- Customization vs standardization, and
- Innovation vs efficiency.
This challenge becomes exacerbated by having to satisfy multiple stakeholders with different needs: board members, stockholders, customers, and employees.
Some notable companies are meeting these challenges. Southwest Airlines balances speed and reliability; Netflix and Amazon offer richness of content and reach the maximum audience; and H&M equalizes fashion and affordability.
7 Steps You Can Take
There are seven steps you can take to adapt to the shift required for better management of business complexity:
- De-clutter the organization from multi-level hierarchy, creating an inclusive environment,
- Encourage your teams to learn to prioritize and focus on the most value-driving activities,
- Understand exactly what your people do,
- Distribute the power within teams to give autonomy to foster the ability to use judgement in finding solutions, collaboration, and ownership,
- Reinforce integration,
- Allow learning from every experience and share knowledge, and
- Reward those that engage and reinforce the consequences for those that do not.
By Business Coach Shohreh R Aftahi, MBA, PhD
www.pathtofullpotential.com