Workshops & Consulting

 If You Don’t Ask, You Don’t Get. Negotiate: The H.E.A.R.D. Process

Negotiation is part of everyday life. In business you are in a negotiation when you want the best price on new office equipment, revisions in a copier service contract, to change your mobile phone plan, extensions on a project deadline and the best deal or a new car for your family.

How do you get more from every negotiation and not damage relationships?

Successful negotiators are prepared negotiators. They know how to read the silent but observable messages sent in everyone’s body language. Learning body language secret “tells” will open a new world chocked full of information for the perceptive negotiator.

For negotiation pros, you’ll brush up techniques you may have forgotten or seldom use. For negotiation rookies, you’ll become more confident in your ability to get more of what you want and need for your business.

Mary Redmond reveals the secrets that only veteran negotiators know and use. She has 20+ years of negotiation experience including negotiating on behalf of some of the world’s largest financial institutions.

Learn five keys to successful negotiations: H.E.A.R.D.

• Homework: Research and plan
• Explore: Engage
• Assess: The known and unknown
• Recommend: Rehearse and propose
• Document: Draft and distribute the agreement

Take aways

• You’ll have a process that works in all situations.
• Refresh your techniques as an experienced negotiator.
• Move beyond rookie negotiator to become a seasoned veteran.
• Hear “yes” more often.
• Decipher when “no” means “maybe” or “tell me more.”
• Learn ways to spot liars.

You will be a believer in Mary’s motto: “If You Don’t Ask, You Don’t Get!”

Listen: Be Brilliant

From the moment we wake until we lay our head on the pillow at nigh, we listen to our own inner conversation or to others in our home and at work. Communication is exhausting. We know that to our ear, the sweetest sound is not the sound of our spouse professing their love for us or the sound of our newborn baby cooing. Nope, it’s the sound of our own voice. The shocking revelation is that if we’d close our mouths and stifle our brilliance, we’d be more successful and happy. Tough to swallow? Most of us will admit that we are occasionally, poor listeners. We accept that once-in-awhile, we fail to give someone our full attention. Far too often, we react to what we thought we heard and not what someone actually said and seldom stop to confirm the message we “heard” is the one that the speaker intended for us to hear. How do you improve listening skills and show others you hear what they say and react appropriately? The inner Listening Game includes a:

• Mental game plan.
• Desire for accurate communication.
• Acceptance that we could all improve as listeners.
• Desire to master new techniques.

Take aways:

• Learn to be brilliant and be quiet.
• Discover magic words and phrases that build rapport.
• Give up the floor for more power.
• Practice with open-ended and closed-ended questions.
• The 5 Ws and 1 H.
• The improv comedian’s first rule.
• Manage objections with ease.

Body Language: I Don’t See What You’re Saying

The subtle and not-so-subtle differences in how men and women negotiate can make or break your next communication. People approach others at work, play or at home differently because of their gender, culture, customs and socialization.

What seems like a warm greeting to you may be an insult to someone from another country. Do you take the time to read their body language that will give you clues to the “right thing to do”?

No matter how much we try to control body language, it leaks out and gives away inner thoughts and feelings. When you accurately read body language, you’ll be more successful in business or personal exchanges.  You’ll learn to decode and correctly interpret those “mixed messages” that used to throw you off.

For business professionals, the question is how to maximize your ability to read what others are thinking and react appropriately to both their words and their actions no matter what their gender.

Take aways:

• Powerful tips to read others body language accurately.
• Ways to modify your own silent signals to improve communication.
• Know the eyes lie, feet don’t.
• Why Wonder Woman is powerful and stress-free.
• Vocal variety: How to speak so others want to listen.

Men and Women Do It Differently: Negotiate That Is!

The subtle and not-so-subtle differences in how men and women communicate can make or break your next meeting. Often times, it’s not what you say, but what you DO while you say it that determines the outcome.

For men, physical power displays rule. Over-used sports metaphors litter the playing field while males discussing “winning” and taking their “best shot.” Men may use up all their time-outs and celebrate success with a victory lap. They grab a beer with the “opposing team’ after the negotiations dust settles.

Many more women dread negotiations than do men. They’ll do almost anything to avoid this  communication they often describe as confrontational. They use words and phrases such as disagreement and conflict when describing an upcoming negotiation.

Despite their aversion to “negotiation,” women are naturals at reading body language. This innate ability to see through the words and read another’s inner thoughts results in successful negotiations at home and in the workplace. From an early age, women are taught to watch others’ behaviors to determine discomfort and confusion. Most women are described as sensitive and they are often the caregiver and nurturer in the home. This may be an attribute in the workplace, but it can also hinder a woman’s climb up the corporate ladder.

When in the workplace, all business professionals benefit from improving their abilities to read what others are thinking and react appropriately.

Fearless Negotiator Mary Redmond helps people sharpen their body language reading abilities and overcome negotiation reluctance whether they are male or female.

Take aways:

• Powerful tips that help you read body language buying or concession signals.
• Ways to modify the silent signals you send.
• What your colleagues, bosses and suppliers tell you with their hands, eyes and feet.
• How to accurately decode mixed messages.
• Vocal tactics that show you’re in charge when you slow down and speak up.
• Quick tips on how to appear and feel more confident.
• More control of your personal and professional life.

Are You Selling, Buying or Negotiating?

We are either buying or selling every day from dawn to dusk. You probably never thought about sales exactly this way before. When your 10-year-old talks you into allowing two friends over for a sleep-over Friday night, you were SOLD.

If you convince your spouse to pick up groceries on the way home, you SOLD him or her. If you talk a shop owner into giving you a discount on your purchases, a SALE is made and the terms and conditions were NEGOTIATED.

The art of selling has been going on since Eve talked Adam into a bite of apple in the Garden of Eden.  She negotiated her way out of an easy lifestyle.

If you’re hungry, you go to the grocery store and buy food to solve the problem of a growling tummy. If your car no longer runs and cannot be repaired, you negotiate to buy a car. Money exchanges hands, needs and wants are discovered and they hopefully are satisfied.

Selling is NOT, it’s not talking another person into purchasing something they do not want nor need and cannot afford. Not everyone can sell, however, you may be surprised to find that you possess the basics of a great salesperson.  

The profession of sales requires:

• A desire to help others.
• The ability to be a good listener.
• A pleasant manner and personality.
• Open attitude to learn selling skills.

Take aways:

• Learn where to go to do your homework.
• New techniques to establish rapport.
• How to face fears and walk through them.
• Why open-ended questions are so powerful.
• Processes to comfortably uncover concerns, wants and needs.
• Handle objections easily.
• Reach agreement and close the sale.

Mary Redmond reveals the secrets from her 25 years as a sales and negotiation professional. She has sold everything from lingerie, fine china, skillets and towels at Macy’s to financial and consulting services to lawyers, accountants, city and school administrators and to small business owners and corporate presidents. She shares stories from the sales trenches to help you be a more successful, comfortable and confident salesperson.