oinryua.info

A wedding anniversary is a remembrance of the incredible years that you have spent together, the joys that you have shared with each other and the troubles that you wiped from each other’s lives. This big day is about celebrating the love that exists between you and your partner, and making them realise the importance which they have in your life. And if you surprise them with some incredible wedding anniversary presents to make this day even more special, they will be a lot happier as well.

Here are some great anniversary gifts for men and women.

Flowers

Flowers are a great way to represent your feelings to your significant other. So whether it has been just a year since you were together or whether it has been twenty years, a beautiful smelling bouquet will ignite the same feelings that you had on your first ever date.

Just remember one thing in this; every flower represents an emotion, and if you can utilise this concept into creating a bouquet, you will be able to let your partner know of all the feelings that you have had for them.

Watches

A watch is another great present for your partner that will make them realise just how valuable they are to you. True this does not exactly have anything to do with love but it still can be considered a great gift because your partner can use it everyday.

Vacation

A getaway to a distant place can truly reignite the initial spark and love in your relationship, and when you do it on your wedding anniversary, it is even better. Try to go to the place where you had your honeymoon to refresh all your wonderful memories of the past. And if you are short on budget, you could just go to another great place nearby like an inexpensive beach hotel or the like.

Spa Vouchers

Small issues in everyday life can build up a lot of stress on a person’s mind. So why not invest in a rejuvenating spa hamper and let your partner relax after an extremely tiring day at work? You can even go to a couple’s spa and relax together.

Dinner

A dinner at a restaurant that offers tasty food is one of the best wedding anniversary gifts ever. You can even make it more special by arranging a candlelight meal and asking the band to play soft music in the background.

I often get requests by sales mangers for negotiation skills training for their sales people when in fact upon further investigation their people usually need consultative selling skills training first. You cannot negotiate effectively if you cannot sell effectively first. Both are processes which need to be learned and applied in the correct order. However over 90% of sales people follow no logical process when selling or negotiating leaving their sales at risk.

Everybody negotiates all the time, at work, at home, and as a consumer and as a sales person. For some people it seems easy, but others view the process of negotiation as a source of conflict to be resisted and avoided if possible.

Negotiation is a process and a skill that can be developed. Negotiation can be described as a process that involves two or more people dealing with each other with the intention of forming an agreement and a commitment to a course of action. In a sales environment, negotiation often involves a series of communications between two parties to form an agreement about the details of a sales solution.

In many cases, it is possible for a proposal to be generated that satisfies the needs of both parties. However, sometimes one or more parties may have to accept less than they had hoped for when they entered the negotiation process. And finally, in other situations, the fulfillment of one party’s wishes may come entirely at the expense of the other party’s.

Therefore, negotiation is the process of navigating your way through each of these alternatives, ideally aiming to come to an agreement that is complimentary to both parties’ needs.

Possible outcomes

There are five possible outcomes of negotiation:

1. Compete = Win:Lose
2. Avoid = Lose:Lose
3. Accommodate = Lose:Win
4. Compromise = neutral
5. Collaborate = Win:Win

In my experience when I negotiate I aim for #5 and get either #5 or #4. I know that I do not want #’s 1-3 to happen. However too often I see sales people end up with #’s 2 or 3. This is no good for anyone and can train clients to expect things they do not deserve like unnecessary discounts.

Rule of thumb for negotiation in sales:

• Unless you have the power or authority to change or modify terms, create new product solutions, you cannot negotiate.
• Negotiation should never be a substitute for selling. You need to be able to sell well first and foremost.
• Negotiation is an effective strategic tool that you use ONLY when you need it.
• The earlier you give away concessions in the sales process the less impact they will have.
• Be aware of giving sales people the authority to discount. All too often this is a licence to give away your margins too soon and too often. We see this when people ‘cave in’ on price too soon for fear having to deal with potential conflict which usually doesn’t eventuate if the sale is done effectively. However they never let the sale run its course to find out.
• Discounting is a negotiation tool that should only be applied as a last resort and should have a trade off in it for your business so can you benefit from the deal as well. This is different from volume pricing which rewards people for buying bulk from you.
• If you postpone tough negotiations whenever possible you will miss learning about new things, getting new ideas, new ways of pulling your offer together as well as creating potential conflict down the track.

You sell when you:

• Identify clients’ real needs and priorities, create viable solutions that are of value to the client and outweigh the cost of purchase and gain agreement to move forward to close the deal and do the work.
• Can’t vary the terms. If you can’t vary terms and negotiate and the client won’t agree to move forward with you on the current plan then it is a ‘no sale’. Move on rather than give it away. Giving it away is not negotiating it is just giving something of value away which costs you.

You negotiate when you:

• Both parties can vary the terms
• Resources are scarce
• Agreement and conflict exit simultaneously

Value versus Cost

To help you avoid unnecessary negotiations when selling first of all find out what people really value and what is most important to them.

If you and your sales people are having trouble doing this then you need to improve your and your sales teams’ ability to have quality business discussions with clients and prospects, in particular, their ability to thoroughly understand their customers priorities and business needs and how your products and service can be crafted into relevant solutions that will address specific requirements and create value for the client.

This would include developing their questioning, creative problem solving, up selling/cross selling and solution selling skills.

Effective negotiation in a sales situation requires people being able to:

• Be Assertive
• Challenge every assertion
• Get the real facts before offering up anything
• Uncover real needs and issues
• Negotiate late and negotiate little
• Manage conflict and not take it personally
• Analyse the situation and the demands and weigh them up appropriately
• Keep the customers’ needs in mind at all times as well as your own
• Aim high
• Respond to demands for concession
• Develop a proposal with guide-lines and trade-offs (if necessary)
• Prevent the customer from ‘fragmenting’ your proposal
• Present a total proposal that ‘adds up’ to a win/win solution
• Focus on achieving satisfaction for both parties
• Don’t make the 1st move
• Don’t’ accept the 1st offer
• Are willing to walk away
• Use all their most effective communication skills (listening, paraphrasing, questioning, problem solving, etc.)
• Apply a process
• Don’t avoid negotiations
• Have a ‘negotiation consciousness’

When do you need to negotiate instead of sell?

• When a client demands an arrangement which is different from what you are able to offer
• When you are dealing with a tough client who wants to ‘win’
• When a client and you disagree on some aspect of the proposal
• When the client will not agree to your initial offer (find out why because some people just like to win and want to bargain as part of the process. This is quite common is some cultures as part of the ritual of the sale)
• When we are unable to reach agreement, even after many discussions
• When you can’t move forward unless you change your approach some way
• When you can’t deliver from you current suite of resources or you need to step outside of what you normally do to win the business (take care as this can be very costly)

I hope this helps put some perspective to selling and negotiation.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

When you are preparing a presentation, one of the first things to do is to focus on your message.

Think of your message as the one thing you’d like the audience to remember from your presentation. State it in one sentence, if you can – think of it as fitting on a headline of a newspaper or a billboard.

What’s the one thing stated, succinctly, in one sentence, that you’d like the audience to take away from your presentation? Whether you are talking for ten minutes or an hour, what would you like the audience to remember?

If we were to interview the audience after your presentation and ask, “What was the point of that presentation? What was the message?” would they all say the same thing? They may describe it using different words, but in essence, it should be the same content.

We’d want them to say, “Well, the point of that was to understand the three reasons for not moving ahead with this project now.” Or,”Well, the purpose of that presentation was so he could explain his management philosophy, and how he’s going to lead the team.” Or, “The purpose of that was to explain the first quarter numbers, and why they are not as good as we expected.”

So before you start putting together your material, your outline, and your slides, it’s important for you to be clear on your message. State it in one or two sentences and write it on the top of your notes or outline.

Because, if you’re not clear about exactly what you’re trying to communicate, it’s going to be very difficult for the audience to understand it.