Charles was my original negotiation coach. Carolyn and I hired him to teach our whole team back in the nineties. And I’d hired him to coach various clients over the years. But this time I thought it would be better if we developed a program together that combined his knowledge as an alternative dispute resolution expert and my creative services experience. It was fun to both develop and to give to an enthusiastic group of 35 creative professionals. And the benefits were immediate. They closed several deals in the following week that more than paid for the event. In one case got significant cash up front, an unprecedented event for them. All of this made Charles and I very happy!

Now I’m looking for groups and individual clients that I can share this experience with. Creative professionals are leaving way too much money on the table. Worse, they’re not receiving the full value for the years of training and experience they offer nor are they receiving even a fraction of the revenue their work generates for their clients. It’s time to, at the very least, level the playing field.

Participants in the seminar learn how to:

-Understand and get used to their emotions while bargaining

-Protect themselves while securing the best deal possible

-Secure cooperative behavior in the midst of conflict

-Recognize basic and complex bargaining tactics

-Move the conversation from money to shared interests

-Uncover and use the deeper interests that lie beneath positions

The seminar uses two three-hour modules on the first day and a third four hour module the following morning. Each module uses a combination of:

-Lectures on theory and tactics by both Charles and Ted

-Role-playing in competitive teams

-Story telling and analysis by group members. The stories are gathered during pre seminar interviews

-Strategic analysis of famous bargaining scenes from films

The seminar is designed for a group of 30 to 40.

Adopt the analytical thinking mode you use with clients.

Lack of sales is a symptom. Ask yourself what is causing the symptom, don’t assume that it is only the economy.

Make a list of the obvious issues. Look for what you are avoiding and ask yourself why.

Look for inspiration in your greatest sales successes and list their commonalities.

Research the trends that are changing the world, your city, your clients and your business. Ask yourself how you can leverage change to your benefit.

Examine your greatest frustrations and look for the opportunity hidden within them.

Three stories of this process in action:

Get Real: Faced with relentless competition at the over $100k level, one of my clients retooled his business to be profitable on projects below that level.

“When I started this business, every job was profitable, and it was a rare day when we landed a $100k fee, but years of success had made us fat, happy, and inefficient. When the downturn hit we took a hard look at our company, eliminated inefficiencies and are now running a leaner operation.”

By taking action to insure profitability at a lower price point, he has managed to retain many of his corporate clients who are also struggling with lower budgets and the constraints of the new RFP guidelines.

On Your Own: Be realistic about your situation. This might be a good time to start your own business. Or – if you are the owner in this story – to look up from your screen and pay attention to business.

The boss was always more interested in doing the work, than getting the work. When the economy went south, he cut the salaries of the creative team.

After years of working well together, the creative team decided it was time to rethink their options. With the recession in full swing they took off with a few clients and started their own business.

“Things have been going really well for the three of us. Lots of fantastic projects for equally fantastic clients, so there isn’t a single complaint here, especially since it’s still all been through word of mouth and devoted clients.”

And, a word about devoted clients – future work is often found among past clients. Now is a good time to call them, find out what they are up to, and ask how you can help.

What’s New? Don’t get stuck in the past. Companies that change with the times are more likely to succeed.

In early ’09 the iPhone was new and hot and clients were demanding that their websites work on smart phone screens. The team was jammed with web work and saw these demands as an intrusion on their “real work”. After fielding complaints from both the team and her clients, the owner realized that by changing the focus of the “real work” she could ride Steve Jobs’ coattails to the stars.

She dedicated her firm to identifying and mastering every significant platform from the limited cell phone screens to the rich new tablets. The result: a thriving company in a down time.

It’s a great business, respected in its category and suddenly your best client announces that all projects over $100k will go through an RFP process requiring six bidders. Now you’re facing serious competitors, and a shortage of work. Worse, projects you do win are far less profitable.

This is nothing new. We live in a market economy and prices for consumables have been dropping since the dawn of the industrial revolution. The phenomena of dropping prices, isn’t steady, it comes in fits and starts. This is one of those down moments. A couple of years ago it was all up. However, over the long term the downward trend is relentless. That’s the big picture.

The small picture, however, is where it can get really ugly.

The current economic climate has unleashed a wave of corporate cost reductions that have hit my clients hard: Walmart’s relentless pressure on suppliers to lower prices; P&Gs recent pricing drop to private label levels; Microsoft’s adoption of tighter purchasing policies.

Some say that the giant public companies are using the recession as an excuse to cut costs across the board far in excess of what’s necessary, using the recession as cover. Maybe so, but the real question is what to do about it.

DEAR CM, A Virtuous Cycle is a series of events which result in a favorable outcome. A Vicious Circle is a series of events which result in an unfavorable outcome. In business, this can mean the difference between success and failure.

The Virtuous Cycle below describes continuous promotion, using every completed project to spread the word of your expertise, and to generate inbound calls.

When I started my company, the demand for our services was greater than our ability to fill it. When we finished one project, there was usually another waiting. If not, we would start looking for one.

But, as a company grows, or competition increases – as it has in our current economy – the need for a more consistent flow of work is required to meet cash and stability needs.

The solution is to think of the completion of a creative project as half of the job. The other half is using the completed project – your company’s “product” – as a case study to both prove and promote your expertise.

Promotion generates inbound calls. Media coverage and public speaking provide third party endorsements that validate your value. Inbound calls are pre-qualified leads – clients who identify themselves as needing the services your expertise can provide. The fact that they are calling you reinforces the value your services hold for them.

When they hire you to start a project, the Virtuous Cycle begins again.

TED