Keep in mind these important things below when you are preparing to make deals:
- Clarify to the opposing parties that your commitment is to your shareholders.
- After counterparts ask for concessions, make sure that’s all. Then explain to them the concessions they should be prepared to make in return.
- Be accessible, so the right people can find you when necessary. But don’t just wait around for others to search you out. Make deal offers persistently based on the best ideas you have developed, if you can find qualified targets.
- Make sure a wide range of options exist in deal terms so you don’t lock your prospective partner into a “no” decision. Put them in “yes mode” for easy items and then you can go in for the “kill,” the main deal.
- Go for large deals, even if the numbers occasionally turn out to be unrealistic. It’s good practice for other deals when you will be able to get “big fish” deals and favorable terms.
- The more time you and your business counterparts invest in researching a deal, the more likely it is to eventually close. With that said, if you lose calendar time, you may lose the intended accretive effects of the deal in the normal course of our fast changing economy and fickle consumer base.
- Be sparing in praising your vendors’ services until after any deal on the table is closed. Always be honest in your evaluation of vendors once your service contract is in place.
- Don’t agree to any one specific detail until you feel you understand and agree how it is supposed to fit within the framework of an entire package.
- Trying to pay the absolute lowest price to vendors may backfire and lead to a failed transaction or substandard service. For exceptional services, you should be looking for a low, yet fair, price.
- Be relaxed in negotiations, or you will give off a sense of fear that may put off the other side.
- While you should never allow yourself to be “beaten down,” you are often expected to negotiate and compromise. If you don’t want to do so, then politely move on to the next deal.
- Don’t compete or negotiate on price alone. Add valuable incentives.
- Aim for exclusivity in your contracts to lock out your competitors.
As you see, making good deals will require a variety of skills and a lot of motivation. You need to be prepared to do whatever it takes.
