Conference: Effective Negotiation, Persuasion and Critical Thinking

Introduction

Alliances in business are a natural route for development – but not all contracting relationships can truly be seen as alliances. A good, trusting and open relationship is essential for a long-term and successful alliance – and this needs to be practiced by the negotiators involved.

Negotiation is inevitably at the heart of every process to achieve what you want, whether in an agreement, bargaining for an item or closing a deal. At the end of each negotiation, the goal is to seek a win/win outcome – an essential characteristic of long-lasting alliances.

This seminar provides an essential framework for effective negotiation — which will be vital for building and exploiting an alliance - from building the relationship, critical thinking to prioritize goals (and awareness of possible ploys you may encounter along the way).

Objectives

• Developed a framework for analyzing current alliances and developed an effective plan and strategy for negotiations

• Practiced and developed skills for influencing others

• Gained confidence as a trusted negotiator

• Adopted appropriate behaviors for each negotiation stage to deliver results

• Successfully applied the principles of persuasion to any negotiation situation

• Recognized and countered the most common negotiating ploys

• Prioritized and planed your negotiation strategy through critical thinking

Target Audience

• Procurement and Supply Chain Managers
• Contract and Commercial Managers
• Business Development and Partnership Managers
• Project and Program Managers involved in joint ventures and alliances
• Sales and Key Account Managers
• Negotiation and Deal-Making Professionals
• Legal and Contracting Professionals involved in agreements and partnerships
• Senior Managers responsible for strategic partnerships and collaborations
• Professionals involved in vendor and supplier relationship management
• Operations Managers working in alliance-based business models
• Professionals seeking to strengthen negotiation, persuasion, and influencing skills
• Individuals involved in managing long-term business relationships and strategic alliances

 Outlines

Day 1: Developing Alliances

• Characteristics of a strategic alliance – effects of market dominance

• Culture and perception – and effects in building alliances

• Building trust through communication and achieving results for the alliance (bearing in mind its “life cycle”)

• Personality - strengths & weaknesses in negotiations

• Minimizing communication blockers to maintain relationships

• Development review and action planning

Day 2: Influence & persuasion skills in managing the alliance

• Challenges of meetings – group and individual strategies

• Positive influence of listening in challenging situations - good and bad news!

• Applying rules of influential presentations to maximize the impact

• Maintaining compatible body language & using logic, credibility, and passion

• Feedback and action planning

Day 3: Strategy in negotiation skills for partners and allies

• Steps in win/win negotiation

• The keys to collaborative bargaining in partnering

• Leverage: What it is and how to use it

• Negotiation tactics and ploys

• Dealing with difficult negotiators and barriers

• Ethics in negotiation

Day 4: Higher-level negotiation skills for challenging situations

• Listening and responding to signals and informal information

• Recovering from reversals, errors and challenges

• Developing a climate of trust

• Higher-level conversation techniques

• Concentrating action on the needs of alliance partners

Day 5: Maintaining alliances: critical thinking for decision making

• Gaining control and using information – formal and informal

• Identifying sources and testing assumptions

• Framing the problem

• Decision making under pressure

• Reviewing strategic alliances and building  a personal action