Thank Goodness It's Monday #355

HOW TO LINK ISSUES

AND REACH A CONSTRUCTIVE AGREEMENT

One step at a time is generally prudent advice. However … 

“Counterwork your rivals

with diligence and dexterity,

but at the same time

with the utmost personal civility to them:

and be firm without heat.”

Philip Dormer Stanhope, 

(1694-1773)

4th Earl of Chesterfield  

gave his son that advice

in a letter dated 

26 September 1752

Linking issues during a negotiation can often get you better results than you could achieve by treating them separately, one at a time.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Linking simply means tying together an agreement on one issue to an agreement on one or more other issues. 

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: There a number of circumstances in which a “linking move” can improve your performance during negotiations and help you get a better deal.

Here are three simplified situations to start your mental wheels turning. 

● Linking can help you overcome areas of negotiating weakness.  Successful negotiators often link an issue on which they are weak to an issue on which they’re strong.

Example: Assume that a long-time customer is trying to negotiate a new contract with the supplier, and the seller has tried to strengthen his bargaining position by bringing up that the purchaser’s company was slow in paying the seller’s invoices over the past year.

To offset this, the purchaser might reply, “Since you’re bringing up the issue of my company’s slow payment, let’s also discuss why your company had such poor delivery performance and why there were so many backorders.”

By linking these issues, the would-be buyer moves his negotiating position from one of relative weakness to one of parity, and quite possibly to one of relative strength.

●Linking can force the opposition to deal with certain issues on your terms.  This approach was used by a woman who was being interviewed for a mid-level management position.

Case in point: She had an impressive track record, and the company made her an attractive job offer that she was eager to accept.  She knew, however, that her success with the new company would be determined, at least in part, by the operating budget she would be given to get the job done.

Rather than accept the offer an outright, she linked her acceptance of the job to the company’s acceptance of an operating budget she envisioned.  Management looked over her proposal and agreed it was reasonable. 

If she had tried to negotiate the budget after she accepted the job offer, her negotiating leverage would have been greatly diminished, and the results might not have been nearly as favorable. 

●Linking can force concessions from your opponent.  Another way of using linking strategy is to tie one issue to another, then claim that your opponent’s position on the issues, as a package, is not acceptable.

Example: A purchasing agent could say to a seller, “I can live with your payment terms, but not at that price.” If the seller wants the deal badly enough, he’ll concede on the payment terms or the price.

If, however, the seller holds firm on both issues -- but still shows signs of wanting an agreement -- the would-be dealmaker could then link a third issue to the other two and try to gain a concession.

He might say, “At that price and under those payment terms, you have to hold more inventory and I have to have faster delivery; then I might be able to agree. Is that doable?”

See the connection? Linking issues together in this manner is usually quite successful, because it provides a negotiation opponent with an opportunity to concede something and still feel good about the deal.

On the downside: Linking can also work against you. It can give your opponent an opportunity to use a minor disagreement on one piece as a means to force you to make a concession on any linked issues. If the issues aren’t linked, but are dealt with separately, an opponent can’t prevent agreement on one issue by objecting to another.

One last point: And maybe, if you’re on the verge of what you expect to be an intense negotiation, it should be --

Your first point: It’s prudent to agree that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. That way all parties can advance in a negotiation with the expectation that, when they do make or gain concessions, those accommodations will have been made in good faith and will stick.

Wouldn’t you agree? (And in a linking move, if you do agree, you may stop reading this TGIM right after the Post Script.)

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. “If you come to a negotiation table saying you have the final truth, that you know nothing but the truth and that is final, you will get nothing.” Finnish politician Harri Holkeri said that.

Thank Godness It's Monday #354

5 PROFIT-BOOSTING WAYS

TO PAY LESS

FOR WHAT YOU ALREADY BUY

the topic of the morning at a recent breakfast gathering of “Trusted Advisors” settled down to no- or low-cost ways to take pressure off the P&L.  

More specifically the focus became how to beat back buying costs.  

What was shared speaks to the best kind of results you can get in an idea-sharing forum like this. 

Too bad you weren’t there to hear it. (Just teasing.)  

I have notes.  

And I will share. While every idea won’t necessarily have direct application in all types of firms (there’s a hard-goods, manufacturing bias to this crowd), without too much brain sweat it’s likely these proven-in-action strategies can be implemented in some form or other in operations of varying natures -- if to do nothing more, let’s say, than better manage office supplies. 

Added benefit: By and large they’re “Everyone Wins” ideas. So, in effect, when implemented you’ll “pay” less for what you buy, but that burden isn’t unfairly shouldered by anyone else. 

So, with no further ado, here’s the essence of my notes: Crack down on these five cost bloaters that add needless dollars to your costs. 

#1: Be-ready-for-anything inventory. If you’ve ever been “burned” (or know someone who has) by delayed shipments that brought production to a halt, your natural reaction was to beef up your inventories of critical items to avoid being caught short again.  But inherent in this is a natural tendency to overreact …figure longer, overly inflated lead times …and wind up with half again as much inventory as you really need at hand. 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Ask your suppliers to refigure lead times, and to shorten them whenever possible.  Don’t wait for a supplier to make the suggestion—you make the request. 

One of the breakfast buddies cut inventory holding requirements by nearly 20% after asking suppliers to refigure lead times. For years, her company figured four weeks lead time into all its orders. Then because they were asked, their key supplier refigured, and advised delivery could reliably be made in three weeks. And with a little prodding with that stick, other suppliers agreed they could do the same. 

Result: Her company cut its next round of orders to diminish its inflated inventory, then set the restock inventory order to the lower-but-more-frequent figure without fearing production snafus. 

You can also cut the dollars you have tied up in inventory with this effective –  

Cash-saving move: Set a limit on the quantities you buy at any one time.  

Rule of thumb at the breakfast table: Don’t exceed a three or four months’ supply.  Calculate with a sharp pencil. Even when vendors offer bonuses for bigger orders, remember that added financing/use of the money costs to cover the larger purchases could easily cancel out any other benefit. 

#2: Hidden costs in vendors’ bills: Many in the coffee klatch have turned the smallish effort it might take to check vendor bills into big opportunities for savings. 

Here are three common “fat” areas: 

• Unusual charges.  Check each vendor’s figures for non-routine expenses like special tooling or extra shipping costs. It’s not uncommon for needless charges – or even errors – to lurk here. 

• Reason for costs.  Treat it like a Make-vs.-Buy analysis. Do your best to find out from your vendors exactly why the product you buy costs the amount you’re paying. Have the manufacturer detail the costs that govern the price of high-value products.  Pay special attention to the amount quoted for overhead. The Trusted Advisors advise that this is sometimes a catchall to mask excessive costs elsewhere. 

• Deliveries that don't match charges.  Make sure you get what you will be expected to pay for. If you are billed for 10,000 pounds of material, have the shipment weighed to make sure it’s not light. If 10 gross has been ordered, 1440 pieces should arrive. In case of a shortage (hey, it happens), check to see the charges are suitably adjusted. If it happens too often, well … 

#3: “Check the stock”-itis: You can often run up labor and purchasing costs just keeping track of your stock on certain minor items. But you can often get your supplier to help you control – or even eliminate – much of this checking cost.  

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Invite your suppliers to do the work for you; check your stock on items they’ve sold you, and tell you it’s time to reorder. Because they are as anxious as you are to see there’s enough stock on hand, the supplier is your check valve against running out of an item. (And, of course, check yourselves now and then so that things don’t loop back to Scenario #1, above.)

#4: “I want this yesterday” ordering: Many at the table banged heads with this problem, especially those with centralized purchasing or who require multiple higher-level signoffs to seal a deal. The core problem: Production people don’t get their purchasing requests in early enough to allow the operation to get both on-time delivery and favorable prices.  

Costly result: Too often the buyer has no alternative and must pay premium prices for Rush! delivery. 

If this happens in your operation, even once in a while, put a stop to it before any of your people make late ordering their standard practice. Try this— 

Clamp-down remedy: Give production what they need to get it right: a deadline for reordering each item they use. See to it that they let the purchasing powers know as soon as inventory reaches a predetermined level. This will give your team time to shop around for the best price and delivery. 

#5: The “traditional” supplier: Just because a supplier offered the best deal some years ago, it’s no guarantee that they’re not taking your business for granted, or that its price and delivery terms are better than someone else can offer – especially in the current economic climate. 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Shop around. You may find some companies that were not competitive even a few months ago can handle your job fast – or at a price much lower than you’re paying now. 

On the other hand: If your research reveals your present supplier is offering the best price and delivery terms, of course, stick with them. But also let them know you checked around and appreciate that. Just knowing you know their deal is best keeps you ahead of the game. 

Trusted Advisors: Thanks for sharing. I think these ideas were a more-than-fair return on the price of breakfast.  

TGIM Readers: I hope these ideas were worth the investment of your time.

Sorry, Charlie.
Guess there's no stopping progress.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com 

P.S. “Business without profit is not business -- any more than a pickle is a candy. Industrialist Charles F. Abbott (1876 – 1936) of the American Institute of Steel Construction said that.

Thank Goodness It's Monday #353

WHAT DOES IT TAKE

TO SEAL THE DEAL?

I am such an old-fashioned kinda sales guy that, if you’ve been around me long enough in a business setting, I might even say to you (with a smile) upon parting --

 “Close Early … Close Often … Close Late.” 

Alpha-dog Blake (played by Alec Baldwin)
sent to "motivate" the salesforce
in the 1992 film
of David Mamet's 1984 play
Glengarry Glen Ross

That’s my version of the classic --

 ABC – Always Be Closing. 

And while “Close early…” and ABC have a dated bit of a Willy-Lowman-like air in these days of “consultative selling,” they’re sales fundamentals that I maintain still have great validity.

It's this simple: Even in this more open and communicative era, asking for the sale moves things along and actually helps both buyer and seller.  

So imagine my surprise when, after a recent protracted lunch meeting where I expected to lock up a long-pending deal, I came away empty. 

Why? In retrospect I realize that things got too casual and personal and friendly and I couldn’t bring myself to close.  

That’s costly. At least in time, if not in dollars as well. So I engaged in a little self-review that I will now share. 

What does it take to close?

Here are some traits shared by good closers. Use them to evaluate how good you are at each.  Consider how, if need be, you will shore up weak spots to boost your profit-producing power. And share them, including any useful insights you can provide, with anyone who represents your interests.

• Courage. You can’t beat around the bush and expect to succeed. Selling is not for the faint of heart. When the time comes to close you must have the courage to do so. 
• Tact. If you keep talking without even attempting to close you risk “buying back” the product or service you’re advocating for. Similarly, once you’ve asked for the order, quiet down (at least until you learn you haven’t yet earned it and can continue “selling.”) 
• Timing. There’s really no “right” point in the sales process to close. The timing varies with the customer, the business climate, and many other factors. There may be an ideal time to close but it can slip by unless you keep probing with – 
• Persistence. Some think of these as “trial” closes. The idea is scatter two or three at various points in the presentation. If one works, you’ve just closed. If it doesn’t, you keep going. I prefer a more situationally aware approach (but that’s the detail of the “Close early … Close Often …” story). Point is: Even when probing closes don’t work, they help you identify and overcome objections. 
• Poise. You can’t let anyone know they ruffle you, even if they do. You have to react quickly, but smoothly, to what they say. You have to make split-second decisions; think on your feet and cope gracefully when confronted with challenges.
• Confidence. Lack of it is palpable and kills deals. If you don’t think you’re going to get the sale, you won’t.
• Good listening skills. Selling -- especially “consultative” selling -- requires you to let the customer do a lot of talking. Well-honed active listening creates the opportunity for you to find out their needs so, in response, you can convey how your product or service uniquely fits those needs.
• Product knowledge. You must be thoroughly versed and vested in your product or service; what it is capable of doing and how it stacks up in the market. If you don’t know all the ins and outs and can’t explain them clearly, your competitors will, but not In a way that will win you business.

Etc., etc. Of course these aren’t the only characteristics embodied in a successful closer. Others include: Promptness, a neat appearance, an inoffensive demeanor, good organizational skills, and putting the customer’s needs first. But when you put all these traits together and embrace them until they become a seamless part of your professional persona, you (and I) will be a world-class closer. 

TGIM Takeaway: Many people fail at selling simply because they cannot bring themselves to close. If the sale does not close itself, they’re lost. And most sales don’t close themselves because prospects don’t make a decision unless you ask them to. 

So can I get your OK on this? Great! Please press hard. There are three copies.

Now let's get some coffee.

Geoff Steck

Chief Catalyst

Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631

201-569-5373

tgimguy@gmail.com 

P.S. “Half my lifetime I have earned my living by selling words, and I hope thoughts.” British Prime Minister, orator and author Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965) said that.

P.P.S.  Let’s close one more deal today, please. Click through below and reserve your seat (seats?) for the upcoming "Live" Business Breakthrough II – THIS THURSDAY – April 26th. 

This powerful business-building event is a must-attend for so many reasons (several hundred will be all the like-minded folks you’ll meet.) 

You can check out all of the details, register and pocket significant Friend-of-TGIM Early-Bird Savings here: http://bestsalesyearever.com/. 

BONUS OPPORTUNITY: There are also sponsorship options available that will provide you with high-quality exposure before, during and after the event.

To schedule a call to discuss sponsorship, e-mail: Eric@EmpowermentGroup.com.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Thank Goodness It's Monday #352B

A RIVETING TALE

WITH A TITANIC LESSON 

I have a sinking feeling …

Oh, wait. Maybe I should find a slightly different turn of phrase to begin this TGIM since the intended central theme of it is the presumed-unsinkable ship RMS Titanic. 



RMS Titanic departing Southhampton
April 10, 1912

So, let’s just ask – 

Had enough Titanic talk yet? On this day after the 100^th anniversary of the tragic disaster, I for one have. At least on one level. 

Here’s why: Blame it on Jack and Rose and that movie. I wasn’t a great fan of the now re-released-in-3D 1997 Titanic movie.  

Sorry all you fans. I just didn’t find it all that riveting and compelling, largely because, while I understand there was much historic accuracy, the central theme of the multiple Academy Award winner was king-of-the-world scale fictional hoo-hah.  

That seems to me to be a shame because there were so many real-life dramas involving both the noteworthy and unknowns of the time; plenty of real heroes and heroines as well as “villains” to draw life lessons from. 

But don’t quit reading yet. I do like the rediscovered, reinvestigated real history that’s being aired. And certainly the events surrounding the actual 1912 sinking provide many inspirational moments and even business lessons for the self-improvement-minded among us in.  

So let’s focus on one bit of reality – perhaps the most obvious -- from the tragedy: 

Titanic overconfidence. Boy, you better not be bragging that you’ve got a virtually “unsinkable” ship unless you’ve got your quality-control ducks all swimming in synchronized formation.  

In that spirit: It’s not new Titanic news, but it’s still TGIM newsworthy. It turns on a discovery by Dr. Timothy Foecke. 

 It’s known as The Rivet Theory. Dr. Foecke maintains that the unsinkable ship may have been sunk by defects in some of the smallest, least expensive parts. 

Since 1996, he has been involved in the forensic examination of the structure and mechanical properties of metals recovered from the wreck of the RMS Titanic. His initial report on the hull steel and rivets was published in 1998.  

I’ll sum it up for you: Two of the over 3 million of rivets that held the Titanic together were hauled up from her watery grave in the early rediscovery/salvage days. And -- 

The rivets were riddled with slag. Slag is the undesirable glassy residue of melting. 

In other words: Poor quality control of a critical element in making the ship virtually unsinkable. Striking the iceberg is now thought to have popped these brittle rivets opening the seams between the plates of the ship’s hull and beginning the infamous nautical “night to remember.”  

An aside to Titanic 1997 fans: To his credit, this is actually depicted in the James Cameron film. And I certainly value him as a deep-sea explorer and part-scientist/part-artist in the spirit of Jacques Cousteau. (BTW: A Night To Remember was also the name of a 1953 British film version of the sinking based on a book of the same era, often hailed as most historically accurate). 

TGIM Takeaway: This scientific discovery is a stark reminder of the proverb of childhood: 

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.

For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.

For want of a horse, the rider was lost.

For want of a rider, the battle was lost.

For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.

A version of this cautionary accounting appeared in Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack in 1758 and in a nursery rhyme book in 1898. 

The Oxford Book of Nursery Rhymes notes that a copy of it was “framed and kept on the wall of Anglo-American Supply Headquarters in London during the Second World War.” 

Perhaps it should hang in every business and home. 

Bon voyage for now. I wish you smooth sailing this week. 

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com 

P.S. Just coincidence? Another sort-of-riveting tale of seagoing tragedy is Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan.  

Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan
First edition 1898

That’s the title of a novella written by Morgan Robertson in 1898 – 14 years before the actual Titanic disaster; at least a decade before the doomed ship was even begun to be built. The completely fictional story features the ocean liner Titan, which sinks in the North Atlantic after striking an iceberg.  

More to compare and contrast:  

·         The Titanic was the world's largest luxury liner (882 feet, displacing 63,000 long tons), and was once described as being practically "unsinkable".

·         The Titan of the story was the largest craft afloat and the greatest of the works of men (800 feet, displacing 75,000 tons), and was considered "unsinkable". 

In 1912 Futility was re-printed
with the extended title
 on its cover to capitalize on
the recent sinking of the Titanic.
It's featured the full title ever since.

·         The Titanic carried only 16 lifeboats, plus 4 folding lifeboats, less than half the number required for her passenger capacity of 3000.

·         The Titan carried "as few as the law allowed", 24 lifeboats, less than half needed for her 3000 capacity. 

·         Moving too fast at 22½ knots, the Titanic struck an iceberg on the starboard side on the night of April 14, 1912 in the North Atlantic 400 miles away from Newfoundland.

·         Also on an April night, in the North Atlantic 400 miles from Terranova (Newfoundland), the Titan hit an iceberg, also on the starboard side, while traveling at 25 knots. 

·         The unsinkable Titanic sank, and more than half of her 2200 passengers died.

·         The indestructible Titan also sank, more than half of her 2500 passengers drowning.

I guess truth is, sometimes, no stranger than fiction. 

P.P.S.  Mark your calendar then click through below and reserve your seat (seats?) for the upcoming "Live" Business Breakthrough II on Thursday, April 26th. 

This powerful business-building event is a must-attend for so many reasons (at least 249 of them will be all the other like-minded folks you’ll meet.) 

You can check out all of the details, register and pocket significant Friend-of-TGIM Early-Bird Savings here: http://bestsalesyearever.com/. 

BONUS OPPORTUNITY: There are also sponsorship options available that will provide you with high-quality exposure before, during and after the event.

To schedule a call to discuss sponsorship, e-mail: Eric@EmpowermentGroup.com.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Thank Goodness It's Monday #352

WHAT “THE BOSS”

CAN TEACH US ABOUT LIFE 

It's happening again in my near-the-Meadowlands/Izod Center neighborhood in northern New Jersey. 

Just the other day I saw several people with the condition.  Their symptoms were similar; all were -- 

1.    More positive,

2.    More enlivened, and

3.    More energized than usual. 

Before I could even ask, "What happened?" they all willingly volunteered the answer: 

"I saw Bruce last night." 

Luckily there will be tens of thousands of similarly "afflicted" Garden State-ers and music lovers around the globe this summer because (in case you didn’t know) Bruce Springsteen is back on tour.  

Q: Why does "The Boss" have this amazingly positive effect upon people? 

A: Bruce is energized, excited, and passionate. In other words – 

Bruce is "INTO IT." This "INTO IT-ness" has elevated him to the status of being considered by many as "the greatest live performing act in the world today." 

Now you and I will probably never join Bruce on stage for a set at the Meadowlands or anywhere else.  

But we can take this "Springsteen magic" back to our jobs, our relationships, our classrooms -- all our daily encounters. 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Absorb the Springsteen lesson of being INTO IT. 

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: We need not just be in a job--we can be INTO it.

If you’re a student (and you know I’m a proponent of Life-Long Learning so I maintain we’re all students, in a traditional classroom setting or not) we wouldn't just be in

school--we'd be INTO school. 

And we don't have to be in a family--we'd be INTO our families. 

It’s not just a matter of semantics.  

You see, there's a huge difference between going to work and being a worker.

There's a big difference between going to school and being a student. 

And there's an enormous difference between having or being a child and being a Mom … Dad … Son … Daughter … Sister …Brother or being actively involved in any family dynamic. 

The sooner we can take what Bruce Springsteen does on his stage and in his performances to our own personal "stages" and "performances," everyone will benefit. 

Baby, we were born to run. 

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com 

P.S. No ticket required: You can hear Bruce’s nearly-hour-long keynote presentation at the recent SXSW music festival here.  A pointed tribute to heroes (musical and otherwise) of mine, Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, begins at 44:25.  

P.P.S.  It’s not Izod or quite so impressive a venue but, I promise you, there will be INTO IT-ness – 

Mark your calendar then click through below and reserve your seat (seats?) for the upcoming "Live" Business Breakthrough II on Thursday, April 26th. 

This powerful business-building event is a must-attend for so many reasons (at least 250 of them will be all the other like-minded folks you’ll meet.) 

You can check out all of the details, register and pocket significant Friend-of-TGIM, Ultimate Bargain, Pre- Early-Bird Savings here: http://bestsalesyearever.com/. 

BONUS OPPORTUNITY: There are also sponsorship options available that will provide you with high-quality exposure before, during and after the event.

To schedule a call to discuss sponsorship, e-mail: Eric@EmpowermentGroup.com.

I look forward to seeing you there.