Negotiating Skills For People Who Don’t Like to Negotiate
I love talking with other creatives about the projects they’re working on, and how they ask for — and get — more money for the valuable services they provide. And it’s rewarding when they follow up to let me how our conversations helped them prepare for their next negotiations.
Not long ago, I was in New York City, and had the chance to speak at Freelancers Union and Spark Design Professionals. I didn’t know it at the time, but Lady Liberty was in the audience, and sent me a note with her highlights from the workshop.
Lady Liberty is, of course, Debbie Irwin. Debbie is the voice of the Statue of Liberty on the landmark’s narrated harbor tour. With her permission, I’m sharing her summary. And if you’d like to learn more, you can join me once more this year when I offer Negotiating Skills for People Who Don’t Like to Negotiate on Wednesday, November 4, at SVC Seattle.
Take it away, Debbie!
The overall message was one of empowerment: understand your weaknesses, know your strengths and accentuate the positive! The presentation was interactive — we practiced negotiating and we analyzed video scenarios, which gave us concrete examples of how to and what not to do.
Ted was generous with his time in responding to people’s specific situations. This was helpful to me, because sometimes I have a hard time applying advice to my business.
The illustrations on the slides were both charming and relatable — a refreshing change from all-text presentations.
My key learning points:
- Allow yourself to be vulnerable — admit and defer to someone who has more experience.
- Allow yourself to feel confident — remember all the past successes. List them don’t dismiss them.
- It’s helpful to understand our proclivities as creatives: more attuned to feelings, addicted to the flow, addicted to perfection, etc.
- Figure out an inspirational story — that’s what sells people. (This is hard for me!)
- Paint a picture of their job, focus on their interests.
- What is given free has the value of the price paid.
- Be the first to throw out a number (and make it high!) — that’s the anchor around which the discussion happens.
- They know what they know, but they don’t know what I know!
I’m more at ease now with stating my fees and turning away work that doesn’t come close to paying me what I’m worth. There will be many times when people come knocking on my voiceover doors but don’t end up buying my services and that’s okay. I don’t always make a purchase every time I shop in Bloomingdales!
Debbie Irwin specializes in helping her clients #BeHeard. Based out of New York City, Debbie’s voice travels the globe in narrations for museum tours, documentaries, television and radio spots, corporate trainings and more.
Negotiating Skills For People Who Don’t Like to Negotiate takes place on Wednesday, November 4, 9 am – noon. For more information and to register, please visit the SVC website.
