Negotiation skills workshop

Negotiation skills: 

This training session will be structured in such a way to make it as practical as possible. The entire session is divided into equal learning modules but each of these modules will have practical elements to them so that the participants begin to experience what it is like to conduct a successful negotiation.

There are a number of key areas that will need to be covered in the training

• Understanding the difference between selling and negotiation

• It is important for those who are involved in negotiations that they also have an understanding of the basics of selling skills and that they understand when selling stops and negotiation begins

• Practical; Short 10min Quiz. Which statements are sales statements and which are negotiation statements?

• Understanding negotiation styles

  • There are a number of basic negotiation styles

  • These range from more confrontational, combative approach to those people who are more comfortable with a collegiate approach

  • It is important to recognise styles and then how to counter these

  • It is important to identify our own styles and know how the strengths of our own styles and potential weaknesses

  • Practical Role play; The trainer will do a role play with a number of the participants to show how ‘style’ can affect the course of the negotiation

• Identifying desired negotiation outcomes

  • In any successful negotiation it is crucial before start that we are clear about what we wish to achieve

  • It is also important to find common ground where at all possible

  • Practical session; In their teams or as individuals the FAN teams will be asked to identify what overall goals and outcomes the desire from the FAN Programme and which negotiations are critical to their success.

• Identifying the parameters of the negotiation or what are also described as negotiation variables;

  • Parameters those items which can be negotiated

  • Knowing what is important and what is less important

  • Prioritise each of the variables in order of importance

  • Discussion; the trainer will lead a discussion to identify what are the most common negotiation variables

• Learning how to trade variables

  • Having understood the parameters of the negotiation it is then crucial to gain the skill to trade variables against each other

  • Case study; This case study will outline the basis of a negotiation between a small food producer and a larger multiple. It will demonstrate how a seemingly weak negotiating position can be turned into a much stronger position.

• Getting a final agreement or “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”

  • It is not uncommon for an individual to carry out a perfectly good negotiation only to be caught by ‘a sting in the tale’

  • Discussion; The trainer will ask the teams to work together to identify some items a professionally trained buyer will purposely ‘leave off the table’

• Some classic negotiation situations

  • It will be important that the participants of this workshop get a feel for what some classic negation situations are and how to handle these

  • The teams will role play a number of high stakes situations with the trainer to get a feel of how important it is to keep cool under pressure

About the trainer: 

Paul Reavy, from Belfast, has  21 years’ experience and proven track record in leading and delivering business development and business start up programmes on behalf of Business Development Agencies such as Invest Northern Ireland, InterTradeIreland, Scottish Enterprise, County Enterprise Boards, City Councils and County Councils.

In the afternoon will have the vist of the Managing Director of Bulher. This will be your opportunity to network, and introduce your startup.