Negotiating Success Seminar
In late 2011 Charles Wiggins and I developed and gave a seminar on Negotiations for one of my Midwest clients. It took a full Friday and half of the following Saturday. The relentless price pressure that all my clients find themselves facing inspired the seminar. This seems to be especially true of creative firms that work primarily with the giant CPGs.
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.
2 Comments
Hi Ted, sounds fascinating. I’d be interesting in such a seminar. I loathe negotiations, especially for startups for which I’m providing very high value services (naming, positioning, messaging). Most of them have little money. It’s also been a challenge to negotiate with CFOs who often have no idea about the value of creative services.
Great idea. Thanks much, britt
Ted – What a fabulous idea. These kinds of conversations are often so difficult for not only creatives but many consultants. Best of luck with the seminars!
Denise