Deal-making for business owners

We've been hearing a lot about the art of the deal lately. For many business owners, making deals is less about thinking HUGE and more about getting deals done right, not that the two are mutually exclusive.

So how can you get your deals done, and done right?

-Some people believe that business deals are a zero-sum game, with a winner and a loser. If you will be working with the other party after the deal, or if you may want additional deals with the same party in the future, OR if you may want to make deals with other people in the party's circles of influence, the win-win deal works better. Period. Business expert Stephen Covey agreed.

-You can make deals only with the decision-maker. If the decision–maker isn't at the proverbial table, you are wasting your time.

-Know who has the power in a deal. Who needs this most? If it isn't you, find ways to assure you are not desperate – or at the very least, that you do not appear so. Here's a fun article on the topic.

-Don't bury important issues just to get (an inferior) deal done. Get them out in the open and get your important questions answered.

-Know what issues are negotiable and what ones are not – on both sides.

-Learn to read subtle signals during negotiations. Here's a good Entrepreneur article on that topic.

-If a deal feels bad while you are making it, it's probably even worse than you think. Apply a multiplier to that gut feeling.

-Unless you are getting married, most deals shouldn't have "forever" or even very long-term clauses. Situations change, and escape hatches or exit plans can be valuable when they do.

-Deadlines can be advantageous. Urgency of real need helps get deals done.

-Aside from deadlines, many deals have organic shelf lives. When stale or stuck, they really aren't happening. Know when to stop chasing a deal.

-Also know when to keep lightly in touch, because some good deals come back to life when you least expect it.

-Negotiating, at its best, is the art of coming to an agreement, not conquering an opponent.

-Not good at negotiating? Attend a seminar or webinar (there are many) or read a negotiation book.

As in all matters, model your negotiation skills after people you admire, not only for their ability to make advantageous deals, but for their overall reputations and ethics as well. This article was originally published in Succeeding in Small Business.

Image © 2004 van Schouwen Associates, LLC, by Stephen van Schouwen.

 

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Worst practices in business: Who DOES that?

You’ve heard of business best practices, of course. They are the subject of books, articles and seminars nearly every day.

Far less often do people talk about the all-too-common everyday worst practices that can annoy your customers and vendors, slow your progress, squander your opportunities, and eventually, lead to serious harm or failure for your small business. You may have experienced many of these either from the customer or vendor side.

But who on earth would routinely behave in ways that could have such a negative impact on their business’ short- and long-term well-being? In fact, these everyday “worst practices” are surprisingly common:

• Fail to provide project or delivery updates when your customer requests them

• Turn in projects late or incomplete

• Over-promise, then under-deliver – and deliver when it’s too late for the customer to request changes

• Cut corners in quality and refuse to make good when requested to do so (or at best make good reluctantly)

• Don’t return phone calls or respond to emails from business associates in a timely manner

• Don’t show up when you say you will; make them wait

• Forget you asked for a meeting at your office, and be out at another meeting when your guests arrive

• Take the attitude that if they want your business, vendors should be available to answer your calls 24/7, holidays, weekends and late nights included

• Argue about price, even if the price you’ve been given seems fair (you can always save a little more, right?)

• Demand that vendors rush to do your work – every time

• Then, don’t pay the vendors for a long time – and make them inquire repeatedly about payment

• Lose your vendors’ invoices – every time, if possible

• Refuse to track your time, expenses, sales, and work product, and then blame everyone around you for poor profits

• Insist that you’ve “always done it this way”

• Think of business as a “zero-sum-game” – one person wins and the other must lose

• Assume that everybody else does business just the way that you do, and that you can go on this way indefinitely

In fact, you can get away with some of this for some period of time. One day, however, your customers may wander away, your vendors fail to jump to attention, your employees bail, and your profits vanish.

Before that happens, if you have an inkling that some of this sounds just a little like you, keep this list handy, and cross off each behavior as you eliminate it from your own everyday practices.