Britain is a country of innovation and excellent quality products. There’s so many incredible exports the United Kingdom has to offer that the opportunities are literally endless.
He is now the world’s richest man and he achieved it in less than 20 years.
Britain’s Visiting Tourists Will Spend £26.3 billion In 2018
A friend recently asked me to help him think up a business importing exporting. As I got to thinking, I realised his biggest advantage is where he lives, Oxford. On doing just a small amount of research, the figures show that Britain’s tourism industry is huge and only getting stronger. Here’s a few facts from Visit Britain:
2017 set a record for inbound tourism to the UK in terms of both visits and spend. There were 39.2 million visits to the UK in 2017, up 4.3% on 2016, with these visitors spending £24.5 billion, an 8.7% increase on 2016. The growth in visits was in line with the trend seen over the past five years. The growth in spending was the highest since 2013 and the second highest since 2006; spend per visit rose by 4.3%.
Our revised forecast for visits for the calendar year 2018 is for continued growth. We are forecasting 40.9 million visits in 2018, an increase of 4.4% on 2017. Our forecast for spending by visitors in 2018 is £26.3 billion, an increase of 7.1% on 2017.
London obviously receives the most visitors but Oxford is already 8th on the list
A very interesting article in The Guardian gave interesting statistics on the amount of Chinese tourists that are now travelling the globe and the UK.
The Back of Your Hand
£26.3 billion is more than enough to go around so why not take your slice? My friend has lived all his life in Oxford and knows it like the back of his hand. His whole network is there so rather than think too far afield I suggested he start at home. Why not create tours of Oxford with your own flare. Sure there’s people doing it already but there’s no market in the world that’s untouched and without competition. He knows Oxford better than anyone and can take visiting tourists not just to the usual sites but his favorite places.
He can try and negotiate deals with local businesses, many of which he already knows, offering his tour groups a discount if brings them.
Home On The Range
One of the points we teach in our free import export training tips is the have a range of products. Always easier to come away with a sale if you offer a range of products opposed to just one. Our Oxford tours idea is no different, which could offer several tours to cater to different audiences:
The Pub Crawl: Who doesn’t love a pub crawl. Take your guests on a tour of some of the best local pubs, try some of Britain’s best beers and ale’s!
Food Tasting: Tour Oxford’s tea rooms, fish and chip shops, bakery’s, the many places that my friend knows and loves. Ask if they will cater for a group offering smaller portions as a few hours of eating at different places means you can’t eat the usual full size plate.
Movie Sets: There’s many movies and series that have been filmed in part in Oxford, running a tour visiting these and giving some local insight is something tourists love to see.
A Captive Audience
Once the tour group is in front of you, there’s a captive audience. Personality will make a difference so interjecting this would make the tour more enjoyable, interact with the group and this builds levels of trust. Building on trust then look to sell products to the group. We all love a souvenir, so negotiating with local businesses that offer fine, perhaps hand made products and these can be offered to the group.
I suggested my friend also makes sure to get the groups contact email and any other details as many tourists will return to a holiday destination. They may want to take another of the tours or hear about newly created ones.
Get their feedback and make changes as that feedback suggests.
Export Britain
Perhaps another piece of the jigsaw is to then get an online ecommerce site and promote this to the same audience and export Britain around the world. See our blog post with practical advice on how to go about getting online and exporting globally, without having to have a huge budget.
Offering tours as well as fine British products online is a double income stream.
You Won’t Know Until You Do It
As you can see, setting up this business really won’t cost a fortune and all you’re doing is taking the knowledge you have and using it to build a business. Take what interests you have and stick to what you know, this is key. Focus on one thing to start with, then grow your business organically.
Once you start to get the audience, you can market to them. The UK has some fantastic products and places to see and millions of people from around the world come here to experience it every day.
Creating your own import export business isn’t rocket science, it just takes a thought and a little imagination.
A part of knowing how to export is understanding what freight forwarders are and how they can help you with international shipping and logistics transportation, as at some point you’re very likely going to need to work with one.
They usually offer a range of services on behalf of importers such as warehousing, customs services, cargo insurance and of course sea or air freight.
Definition of a Freight Forwarder
A freight forwarder is defined as a company that receives cargo and transports that cargo on behalf of someone else. This is usually achieved by shipping, air or road.
3 Most Common Questions
Here are the three main questions we’ll answer:
What is the role of freight forwarders?
How do I select freight forwarders?
How do I find freight forwarders?
I ran my own freight forwarding company for many years, which I eventually sold so I’m well qualified to answer all three of these questions and I hope it will become clear to you the advantages are in your supply chain.
What Does A Freight Forwarder Actually Do?
Checkout a recording of our YouTube Live session where we discuss what a freight forwarder does and the role of a clearing agent:
Exporting larger loads is a multi-step process and that involves knowing how to find the most competitive freight rates, booking that freight for shipping, having to complete all the export documentation which can include an export entry, Certificate of Origin and Bill of Lading to name a few.
Gaining the knowledge for this is wise, so that you can understand, manage and control every step of the process yourself and therefore know firsthand where problems may lie in your export process and fix them in order to constantly streamline that process and become as efficient as possible. ABTS® offers online import export training courses that will do exactly that; help you streamline your export process and get your cargo shipment through customs clearance and to it’s final destination.
However, if you don’t have the time to study as you’re juggling what may feel like a million things, there’s freight forwarding companies. They’ll take care of all these tasks for you and will likely offer other services such as export packing, warehousing and local transport. They become your adviser and hopefully someone you can trust.
What Can I Ask A Freight Forwarder?
In short, anything you want about freight and how to get your goods from your warehouse to your destination. For example, if you need to get your products to China, you may want to ask them:
When is the next ocean freight vessel operating to Shanghai?
How much is it to ship a FCL to Shanghai?
What is the air freight rate for 40 kilos to Hong Kong?
A phone call or email may answer many of your questions and you’ll likely get some free advice as you only pay when they undertake an export consignment for you and send you the invoice. As you can see, the advantage of using freight forwarders is they are a one stop shop and will take care of your international freight needs for you. But as you know, when there’s an advantage, there’s many times, a disadvantage.
You can also ask a freight forward what documents are required for customs clearance and they will be able to tell you what you’ll need. This is something that is vital to know for international freight and a big benefit to using a freight forwarder.
Professional Freight Forwarders
The big disadvantage of completely relying on freight forwarders for all your international trade needs is that, like in any industry, some can take advantage of the fact that you have little or no knowledge of exporting and charge you accordingly. You didn’t think they work for free did you?
I stress only SOME, there’s bad eggs in every industry and the vast majority of forwarders are very professional and eager to help you. It goes without saying that a freight forwarder has to make a profit but that’s very different from ripping you off.
My advice is, by all means use the services of a freight forwarder BUT understand export procedures yourself so you have a working knowledge of freight rate structures and the real cost of producing export documentation. Once you know these facts you can work successfully with your freight forwarder and be sure you’re not being taken advantage of and working towards a solid long-term, professional relationship.
Know Your Freight Rates
Not knowing your costs has real consequences. We had an exporter that joined our training course in order to gain the knowledge he needed to understand his export process from start to finish. Until then, he had given all his exports to a freight forwarder and had never known what questions to ask or what the real-world cost was of exporting his goods. He had no understanding of freight charges.
He had worked so hard with suppliers, negotiated deals with them, found a market for his products, got the deals done to sell but at the last hurdle, he was taken advantage of.
As he had little to zero knowledge of transportation costs, freight rates or customs services and blindly trusted them, this particular forwarder could see his lack of knowledge and as a result charged £7.06 per Kilo while a commercial rate was £2.60 per kilo. This ended up costing him thousands in extra fees that he didn’t need to pay and would have obviously given him a much, much healthier profit margin had he had that knowledge.
After completing our course, he fixed that problem and went on to build a very successful business.
The point of this example is to emphasise that it’s very wise to have a working knowledge of exporting, not to insinuate that all companies will overcharge the innocent. As I mentioned, I was a successful forwarder for many years without overcharging my clients. All my colleagues in this business gave a good service for a fair price.
Finding a Freight Forwarding Company
Finding a company that’s right for you is as easy as searching for one on Google. Finding one that’s going to work well for you, is slightly different.
Follow this very simple rule: make sure that the freight forwarder can give you the service YOU require not what they WANT to give you.
For example, if a freight forwarder is strong in sea and airfreight to South America and Australia and that they can offer you very competitive rates to these destinations but your market is the Middle East, this is not a well fitting partnership. This may sound obvious but many times I’ve seen savvy exporters use suppliers in one way or another that aren’t a good fit for them, just because a friend uses them or they have a good name in a certain area.
What To Ask Your Freight Forwarder
Before agreeing any business or contracts with a freight forwarder, you should make out a wish list with the level of service YOU require from a them. Here is an example:
Can you offer UK collection from my local suppliers (here name your suppliers address)? If so please quote.
Can you offer competitive air freight rates from the UK to (your destination)? If so please quote up to 1000 kgs.
Can you offer competitive rates FCL/LCL rates to (your destination)? If so please quote. (This is where a knowledge of Incoterms 2010 is needed).
Please quote to prepare the following documentation: Bills of Lading, Certificates of Origin.
Can you offer local warehousing and export packing? Please quote.
Please name the contact person responsible for servicing my account.
What are your terms of payment?
Please send me a copy of your trading terms and conditions.
The above is just indicative of questions you should ask in order to get the service YOU require for your particular exports.
Finding Freight Forwarders
This is an easy answer thanks to Google. Just type in “freight forwarding in (here mention you town or city)” and you will be swamped with local contacts.
You can also check the BIFA or the International Freight Association website and they will supply you with a list of all Freight Forwarders who are members.
If you want to go it alone or use the services of a freight forwarder, either way you need to understand the business of exporting so take the time to get yourself up to speed. You won’t regret it and it really will streamline your business and add to your profit margin.
Quick Guide
Hopefully our handy guide will help you.
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Start Your Own Freight Forwarding Business
I setup up my own successful freight forwarding company and eventually sold it after many years. There’s a wealth of knowledge that I accumulated in that time and I became aware of all the pitfalls and problems so can advise on the best way to not only setup the business but also how to run it efficiently and profitably.
Check out my short videos on the basics that you’ll need to setup you’re own business.
Once you know what is selling and how to export, the bigger question becomes, how do you sell products online to an international market? The Internet is the obvious way to reach a global market and start selling without needing millions in advertising budgets through traditional advertising. Our simple guide below explains the basics of getting your website online and key points to marketing.
Global Selling
Below is a recording of a webinar where we discuss how to design and develop your website for selling around the world. Various online marketing methods are looked with hints and tips of how to launch your website and marketing strategy.
How To Sell Online
That idea that began in your head, you acted on, you’ve found a way to take it and turn it into a reality. Congratulations indeed, you are part of the minority. For many, taking the risk, working that hard, probably your current job in the day, then getting home and working another shift on your own company is too much for the majority. Putting up your own money to finance your new company, keeping the motivation and drive can be difficult but you’ve not given up, what you’ve achieved is admirable and you’ve proven yourself braver than most.
You’ve achieved so much, you’ve sourced or are manufacturing your products, importing them to your warehouse and now you need to start selling online.
Online Marketplaces
Selling is not rocket science, you have to sell your products at a higher price than you buy them. However, especially in this day and age where competition is fierce, it’s easier said than done. It’s not easy but you already know that coming this far. You’re obviously up for the challenge. Selling globally is something that we can all do these days thanks to the Internet. That idea of making money and taking orders while you sleep is reality, potential customers can find your site any time of the day, enter their credit card details and buy your products.
Buy A Domain
Before you can think about selling any products, a domain name is where it all starts online – www.mysite.com. Registering one is easy enough, go over to Go Daddy, search for your name and register it. Two quick tips:
1. Think about registering a domain name with your main keyword in it can help with rankings. You can register two names, one being your company name and the other more keyword friendly. You can promote your company domain on business cards, letterheads etc. but promote the keyword rich one within Google and online.
Don’t overdo the keywords though, keep it simple as even a small business still has to look professional.
2. The longer you buy the domain for, it could help your ranking in Google. Google ranks websites on many hundreds of points so buying a domain for 10 years won’t get you to the top on it’s own but it’s something that Google does measure.
Google’s logic is simple, if you spend the money to register it for a long period of time, you plan on being around, opposed to someone who is taking it year by year.
Your Ecommerce Website
These days you can build yourself a website with an online store builder. Years ago this used to be an expensive and time consuming project but now it’s really become much more simple.
There are “open source” free ecommerce platforms out there for your new online business which will of course include a shopping cart, the most common being WordPress. You’ll need a little tech knowledge but there are so many free tutorials on Google for WordPress that at every step you’ll be able to fall back on some video help.
Adobe Commerce is a second step up, more powerful as a ecommerce platform but you’ll need more tech knowledge.
Shopify is an option as somewhere you can setup shop quickly and easily but doesn’t give you all the control you may find you need.
WordPress may well be the best place to start. It used to be that you had to find a designer that would create your design then a coder to implement that design. Now you can simply go to a site like Template Monster and search for WordPress templates. Buy one, grab some hosting and install.
That is a little tricky and will take some time but here’s a quick guide on how to start . Check out Woocommerce as this is what you’ll need to install to actually run the ecomm side of your site but these days with a little study it’s entirely possible to create your own online store.
Selling Products Online
The temptation when building your shiny new website is to put everything you can think of in it. There’s literally thousands of free plugins and features you can add. Best advice, keep your own ecommerce website simple.
The advent of the internet has made us much less patient. If we can’t find what we’re looking for in a few seconds, we hit the back button and bounce off the site. The same will be true of your website; your competition is one click away. Keep things simple, clear, to the point and quick.
Search For It And Make It Snappy
A major part of online ecommerce is including a site search or a product search, especially if your site has many pages and/or products. Allow people to find what they want quickly. Quick being another key point for Google, as something else it looks for in the site speed.
If your site take a long time to load, Google penalises you. “Long” on the internet is measured in seconds. So keep your site light and make sure it loads quickly, especially on mobile as I’m sure you know, most of us access the web through our mobiles more than desktop now.
We’ve become especially impatient with the rise of the internet so make sure that if you really want to sell products online, your site and all pages load quickly.
Credit Card Required
In order to make money, you’re going to have to take money. So obviously credit card payments are a necessity.
Stripe
The latest and greatest way to do this in our opinion is with a company called Stripe, the best service for online selling sites. Their payment processing is fast, easy to integrate, their customer service is excellent and fees are very reasonable.
The way Stripe make their money is for each transaction they process, they take a small percentage. Once the transaction is approved and in your Stripe account, they’ll automatically send the money to your bank account however many times per month you set in your Stripe account.
This could be once a month, once a week or even every day if you need that for your cashflow. They offer WordPress plugins to make it even more easy to integrate into your website.
PayPal
The other alternative that’s been around for a long time is PayPal. PayPal isn’t as slick as Stripe and probably needs some updating but for those that have a PayPal account (and there are many that do), this can be a convenient way to pay.
PayPal allow users to enter their card details into their account and when they want to make a payment for a product, if they can pay by PayPal, they simply need to login and select that payment method.
The advantage to the user is that they don’t have to go and get their credit card and enter the details because it’s already setup.
Our advice is to have both available on your website so your customer can choose the most convenient payment method for them.
FREE Import Export Training
Learn how to start your own import export business.
Speak Their Language
We all want to sell products online globally to clients worldwide but remember you’re going to have to speak to them. Translations of the site will be needed.
You can try and sell to Spain in English but your sales will inevitably be stronger if you sell in Spanish. You’ll also have to consider what you’ll do if you have a Spanish customer that has an issue and can only talk in Spanish, a problem if you only speak English.
Customer Service Will Sell Products Online
One of the biggest lessons in knowing how to sell products online, can and should be learned from Zappos. Zappos has sold a billion dollars worth of shoes so if there’s anyone to learn from, it’s these guys. Customer service wins loyalty. When we call a company, we want to speak to a human, we don’t want to dial more numbers to get there, we want a response quickly.
If we have a problem or a complaint, make it right. The best way of keeping customers loyal is to deal with problems and issues, quickly and to fix the problem. We all understand that there are problems in life, it’s how you correct them that can make a disgruntled customer, a happy and forever loyal customer.
Make that happen. Have a read on Forbes about Zappos customer service. This is something that needs to be in place from the very beginning and should not be outsourced. No one outside of your company is ever going to care as much as you.
Analytics
Install Google Analytics on your site, it’s free. Setup goals and study the data. Without knowing what your audience is looking at on your site, what’s working, what’s not working, you won’t be able to progress. Analytics offers a wealth of information for you to study. Without using this, you’re blind.
Selling products online successfully means analysing data. Where are your users coming from, how long do they stay on the site, what are your most popular pages? You’ll need to study these metrics and keep refining until you have good conversion rates.
Where’s The Traffic?
After all this, you may find yourself wondering why you’re not getting any traffic or sales. Well, there’s around 645 million websites online today. How are people going to find yours if you don’t tell them about it? Means more work but we already know you’re not scared of that! Here’s a few ideas to get you thinking.
Google Adwords
Getting a high ranking in Google is what we all want but it’s no easy task. It takes time and a lot of work. A quick way to Google is using Adwords. Pay to appear at the top of Google. Yes it means you have to find more funds but it’s a quick way to get off the ground. The other advantage is that it will give you an idea of traffic, whether your site is working well, if you have customers calling you you’ll understand their needs better.
Blogging
WordPress is actually a blogging platform so use it. Create blogs that are interesting and relevant to people. I hope you are finding this blog useful and that you’re benefiting from the information. The next post I write, you will hopefully be interested in and continue to read. Over time, I hope you’ll become a loyal follower and share the information I’m writing about with others that will find it useful. The same applies to whatever you’re doing.
Don’t write blogs where you’re simply trying to get people to buy what you’re selling, drive people to your site with interesting and relevant content, then they may visit your site and look deeper, perhaps taking the plunge and buying something.
For example, if you sell cakes, don’t just try and sell your cakes on your blog. You can write recipes, make a few videos of how to make the best brownies at home, what are some of the best ingredients to use in cakes, what are your favorite cakes, whats the best cake tin…you get the idea. These subjects will be more interesting and if you post them out on social media, may get a lot more interest than, “Please Buy My Great Cakes”.
Be Social
Once you’ve written those great blogs or created a few great videos, send them out on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and all the networks. Use hashtags to gain more exposure.
The main thing to remember is not to get bored and give up. Blogging and gaining traffic takes time, you need to think of this as a 12 – 18 month project, it won’t happen over night. Be consistent and you’ll get there.
Sell Products Online With a Piggyback
Another idea is to use sites that allow you to sell but take a commission. This may not work for you if you’re working off tight commissions but in the long term it can still work, so consider it. Sites like Not On The High Street, Etsy and even Amazon and Ebay can really work to springboard some product awareness.
By adding your products to these, you’ll have to pay a commission on sales but you’re products may start to get exposure and any sales, means you’ll have the details of that customer to market to in future. Rather than looking at it as a commission on sales, you could look at it as paying to gain the customer.
Email Lists
Last point is to make sure you’re creating an email list of users. It’s an old form of marketing now but it’s still effective. It’s easier to sell products online to people that have shown an interest in what you’re offering and made an effort for you to keep in touch with them.
Offer something for free on you’re site, a discount, an ebook, a free cake! Get the user to leave their email and you’ll be able to keep them up to date with new products, discounts and other exciting bits and pieces!
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Conclusion
Creating your website, marketing and learning to sell products online is it’s own is a full time job so eventually, once your online business really takes off you may find yourself needing at least one dedicated person to working on this.
Nothing tends to happen quickly when it comes to the web either, there are so many platforms and browsers that to get a website to work on everything can take some fiddling and therefore time.
Make an overall plan for your website and stick to that and get it launched. You can and will continue to tweak it after that until you find the recipe that works for you. Perseverance is what will be needed so don’t give up and be ready for the long term game.
I hope this information helps get you off the ground towards finding your global market place and if it did, perhaps share it with others! (See what I did there?!)
Negotiation is a fundamental part of business itself and international trading. You’ll negotiate every part of a deal from sourcing your products from suppliers, dealing with wholesalers and retailers, negotiating price and therefore your profit margin as well as the terms of delivery. Understanding negotiation styles is one of the cornerstones to making any business successful not just importing and exporting.
Negotiation Skills
Deals come in all shapes and sizes but they are really only effective when both sides are happy and create value. Making a deal where you get everything but the other side comes away with nothing, in the long run won’t prove to be effective business negotiations as you could find yourself dealing with someone who’s unmotivated and doesn’t care about losing your business, therefore gives you a terrible or non existent customer service, won’t address your concerns and perhaps cut as many corners as possible to save on their budget, giving you little value.
Effective negotiations works when both sides gain and there’s a compromising style. Both sides are then motivated and want to work together for the long term, working toward conflict resolution and continually trying to better the service and relationship.
Personal Negotiation Strategies
This is really important to understand: Many deals are negotiated based on matching personalities and a collaborative style, not cost alone. If you can find something in common and personalities work well, this can seal the deal and is a much more effective negotiating style.
Negotiating a deal is much easier when you like the person you’re dealing with. Think about how much sense that makes for a second. If you’re negotiating with someone who’s hard headed, stubborn or arrogant and wants only what they want, you probably won’t be that interested in getting the deal done. You’ll see them as someone who’s probably going to cause you a lot of stress and grief as time goes on, which no matter how much money may be on the table, you’ll really have to consider if it’s worth it.
On the other hand, if you’re meeting with someone who’s relaxed and friendly, someone you can meet for a beer and discuss business, this is a much more likable scenario. They still know and understand business but you can see they’ll be good to work with, understanding when things go wrong and someone that will work with you for a solution, this type of person or relationship is much more appealing. Money will always be important but may not always be the priority.
Getting to know the person your negotiating with a little can go a long way.
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The Art of Negotiation
Imagine you’ve got a great idea, you’ve spend months researching it, you’ve spent hard earned money getting the idea off the ground. This is now your baby, you’re excited, you love seeing this idea that started in your head, grow and become a reality. The next phase is to meet two suppliers for example.
Approaches to Negotiation
The first is a guy who sits across the desk, asks what you want, looks it up, tells you he can do it, gives you a good price and leaves you to it.
The second is someone that takes the time to grab a coffee with you, wants to hear about how you came up with your idea, what steps you’ve taken to get the project to the point it’s at and wants to know about some of the obstacles you’ve faced. They show an interest in your baby, they show some enthusiasm and excitement and understand your project.
Perhaps they ask what other companies or people you’re working with as they may have a relationship with them as well something that could be a mutual benefit. They ask how you plan to move the project forward, perhaps suggesting they introduce you to a couple of people in their business network that would benefit you as well as ask what problems you foresee in the future to see if they can help combat some of these which already shows and understanding of conflict management.
The price they give you is higher than the first but still just within your budget. Which of those negotiation tactics do you think are better?
A comparison of different negotiation styles but being enthusiastic, taking the time to learn a little goes a long, long way.
Negotiation Training
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My Biggest Negotiating Fail
Before we get into more detail, I’ll let you in on my biggest negotiating fail so you don’t make the same mistake I did early on in my career. Learn this lesson and it will save you a lot of stress!
Step 1: Defining Objectives And Targets: Start with preparing your “L-I-M”.
1. Recognizing the objectives you would LIKE (L) to achieve. What does the perfect deal look like to you? Be realistic with this and make sure it’s not totally one sided. As mentioned, you don’t want anyone unmotivated on the other side and this is a key part of negotiation skills training.
2. Identify what objectives you INTEND (I) to achieve. Knowing what your objectives are will keep you focused, don’t lose track of these and make sure these are the prioritised in case you have to sacrifice one or two.
3. Finally, recognize the MINIMUM (M) you’ll accept. Know when you’ll walk away. If you cannot achieve what you need minimally from the deal, there will be no point in continuing the discussion. In these cases, don’t burn your bridges as you never in in future if you can’t do a deal again but be prepared to walk away.
Step 2: Setting The Negotiation Strategy
Are you working towards a Win-Win or a Win-Lose strategy? A win-win leads to collaboration, mutual interest, flexibility, joint problem solving and harmony between the parties, a good strategy for a long term relationships.
A win-lose strategy can lead to conflict, inflexibility, competition, one side beating the other and adversarialism. This strategy can be used effectively in one-off deals but be careful as if you need to come back and do another deal, you may find yourself with the door being shut in your face.
Of the two different negotiating styles, the first will produce a better deal.
Step 3: An Active Listening Negotiation Style
Concentrate on what is being discussed. Don’t answer back or interrupt. Try to understand the other persons point of view and don’t jump to conclusions. Understand what you’re being told and put yourself in their position, try and think from their side how you can bridge the gap.
Collaborative negotiators find more success in achieving what they want with an accommodating negotiation style.
Step 4: Methods Of Persuasion
One or several of the following 5 styles of negotiation can be used, depending on the circumstances:
Logic: A simple strategy, laying our the facts, the positives, the negatives and talking them through.
Bargaining Style: We’ve seen this many times on Dragon’s Den! Back and forth trying to find the acceptable middle ground. Using a collaborative negotiation style in general works well as it shows your willingness to work with the other party. Know what you will give up, and feel out what will the other person give up to make a deal. Be realistic with what you’re going to bargain with or the other side may not take you seriously and that could kill the deal.
Emotion: Someone that likes you will want to work with you. Find what you have in common, sometimes even ask about their family, do you have kids the same age, family that live in the same town. These things can help to find common ground.
Threats: Not perhaps the best or first course of action but it threats have their place as a conflict negotiation styles go and obviously a competing style to bargaining. If you are the client, you can threaten to take your business elsewhere unless they give you some kind of a better deal. Sometimes there is only so much the other side can do, they cannot sell to you at a lost for a sustained period obviously so use this tactic sensitively and realistically.
Compromise and Negotiation: Of these five styles of negotiation, find the compromise through dialog is likely the most effective. Chat back and forth, listen and compromise.
Five negotiation styles for you to consider and it’s up to you to select the correct one(s) for the particular situation you’re in. Make sure you have a very good idea of what you want and what you’ll sacrifice before you go into battle but remember, compromise and negotiation is the attitude to have. Winning the battle does not mean you’ll win the war!
Step 5: Style It Out
Find your own style; warm, a little humorous, tough, logical, all business? Negotiations are personality driven and a key leadership skill that you need in business. Personalities will either get along or clash. Find a way to get along and recognize these personality traits in the other party and respond accordingly.
Hopefully some of these techniques will help you put together a collaborative negotiation strategy. These probably aren’t Harvard negotiation styles but they are styles that have come from doing practical business day-to-day with international traders.
Bare in mind, that traders know their business, they know their figures and they know what they can and can’t do and negotiation styles in different countries can vary somewhat, so be open to this. You’ll come to understand this the more you negotiate deals in any particular country.
We’re all out to make a profit, we all need to make a profit so look to negotiate a deal that’s ultimately fair on both sides. This is what works best and will generate longer lasting business relationships.
We would love to hear how you get on or what tips you have for a successful negotiation, so feel free to contact us in the comments below.
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