|
Articles
Negotiate for Profit - Making it happen:
When Bob Dylan, to the accompaniment of his mouth organ groaned out the fact that “the times are a changing”, he was heralding what Alvin Toffler would later give scientific credence to his now legendary book, Future Shock. What they were both saying in their unique ways was that we are entering a world where the old paradigms would no longer be relevant in meeting the challenges of the future. Individuals, families, communities, countries, organisations and businesses would need to become increasingly adaptable and creative if they were to meet the ever more volatile challenges the future was destined to pose. The cyclical nature of change was to give way to a turbulence never before experienced.
In the business world, greatly accelerated commoditisation sucked complacent companies into the vortex of an ever dwindling price cycle and ever increasing terms and conditions pressure. Whereas products previously maintained their exclusivity for extended periods, affording companies the privilege of price-maker status, this advantage was short-lived before they fell prey to the pack of other equally capable and often more competent at producing what they had conceived. Although their focus on optimizing their selling and procurement strategies had served them very well up to this point, these strategies were no longer as effective as before. A new dimension had to be added to the equation.
In their quest to break free from their revenue sapping involvement in a commodity dominated environment, innovative companies such as Motorola, Essilor International and GKN Driveline, to mention only a few, realized that negotiation was the third dimension that needed to be added to the traditional selling/procurement paradigm they had for many years relied on to sustain their success. They appreciated that by introducing negotiation into their corporate business equation and establishing a culture of negotiation within their organisation, they could meaningfully decrease the variance between those who negotiated on their behalf, substantially limit irrational competitor behaviour, enhance client relationships and ensure client loyalty. Training all their staff in the art of negotiation to the level required by their positions within the organization, not only sharpened their selling and procurement prowess, but also provided every member of their staff with a very powerful additional business tool, the importance of which very few other organizations had recognized.
Global Negotiation Academy, a South African bred company with extensive international experience, affords African businesses the opportunity of negotiation training and consultancy that is premised on the internationally acclaimed Harvard model of Principled Negotiation, infused by South African, African and international experience. The programs offered by the academy, presented by Dr David Venter and Dr Hospice Djohoun, recently described by the head of the Program On Negotiation at Harvard University as of a unique standard in the world of negotiation, are designed to assist organizations in optimizing the tangible and intangible value they create through their negotiation endeavours, hence the Academy’s pay line Negotiate for Profit.
Why unknowingly leave money on the table by not optimizing the outcome of negotiations when cost pressures are an ever-increasing phenomenon? Negotiation training ensures the ability to leverage value-added deals in a manner that ensures recurring business.
|
|
