Tag: authentic negotiating

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Authentic Business Relationships Authentic Deal-Making Authentic Leadership Deal-Driven Growth

Mindset of a Deal-Maker

Mindset of a Deal-Maker

Daryle L. Johnson is the president and co-founder of SmartIT Mobility. He’s also the owner of Ideation to Valuation. Daryle is responsible for setting overall sales, partner, and supplier alliance strategies. He’s also empowered to leverage corporate assets to deliver value with integrity and quality. With the mindset of a deal-maker, he is an innovative, energetic, creative, and very charismatic intrepreneur AND entrepreneur. 

He brings over 20+ years of market, business, and solution development experience to the DealQuest show today! Partners and customers include Google, T-Mobile, Sprint, and HP. In addition, he serves on several boards including Doorways, Mobil Trackr, STEMnasuim Learning Academy, and AIS Solutions. 

Mindset of a Deal-Maker

As an entrepreneur, Daryle believes in taking 100% ownership of his destiny and work. This requires effort, passion, and flexibility. It also requires the powerful mindset of a deal-maker. It’s this mindset that enables him to leverage partnerships, relationships, and opportunities within his business.

Daryle notes that being a deal-maker isn’t just a skill. It’s truly a mindset. 

It is absolutely vital that entrepreneurs understand that deals aren’t a one time event that happen. In fact, often amazing deals are disguised as “sales”. Entrepreneurs may not even realize how many deals they make, simply because they don’t think of them that way. They also may not realize how much power they have to create deals all the time. You must recognize that every sale has the potential to be a deal. When you grasp that, you can influence those outcomes with the mentality you bring to the table, and you have more power in your business.

K-12 Deals

Daryle shares about a deal he negotiateted for schools that took all of their needs into account. From pricing to software, he covered every possible problem that could have created issues for the school board. He partnered with T-Mobile (for both software and sales teams). Then, he brought in a training company to work with teachers, and he leveraged long-term marketing strategies to bring up front costs to the school down to $1 per device.

He also anticipated parent issues, teacher frustrations, and student needs. The final deal was the result of dozens of smaller partnerships, leveraged resources, and connections. Also key? His mindset. Rather than seeing the problem as too big, the partnerships as too complicated, or the schools as too difficult to negotiate with, he chose to see the possibility. 

Every challenge was faced, and solutions were created. Why?  Because he believed that it could be done. Ultimately, the program provided technology to over 60,000 students. It also spawned other local deals for Daryle, as a result of ongoing negotiations and collaborations.

In theory, Daryle could have gone into the school and said he had a solution he was selling for X price. If he had, he wouldn’t have been successful. Instead, his deal-maker mindset enabled him to create a full package. He provided a comprehensive solution in a way that made sense for his audience, and they bought it.

At the end of the day, that deal was all about the impact.

When he looks back at that deal, Daryle sees how powerful the subsidy of the carrier commission was for driving down the prices and making the product accessible. He’s the first one to say that they didn’t make much money on it. Instead, they made an impact. Although his strategies could easily be used in a more financially lucrative way, in this case he wasn’t looking for profit.

Follow the Process

In complex deals and negotiations, there are a lot of parties involved. It can become difficult to manage personnel and expectations. Daryle acknowledges that there are challenges. Over the years, he’s developed a process that works for him and keeps things moving forward.

The first thing he focuses on when making a deal is relationships. He wants to know what kind of relationship businesses or possible partners are open to having. Will it be transactional, strategic, temporary?

He’s open to any answer, but he wants to know up front what the situation is.

Next, he wants to know about the budget. If the numbers are off, it’s better to stop up front. It’s vital to have a money conversation before any party is in too deep. 

From there, clarity on what is being solved is key. Daryle also pushes that “what” one step further. He asks: If we solve that, what happens? What is the impact? What changes?

Once clarity is achieved, he finishes his process by asking how others envision this all happening. It’s key that everyone on the team or involved in the deal has an understanding of what it’s going to take to make it happen. They also need to be onboard with doing what needs to be done.

If someone is still standing, then it’s time to get started! And if the process has eliminated other parties? He can walk away and save a lot of time and trouble.

Strategic Deals

In a strategic deal, each party should understand the potential for something larger than just a single transaction. It’s not about just that one agreement; it’s about the potential of what could occur in a continued relationship.

In addition, Daryle shares that strategic deals have a functional fit. Value for value, every party is fully engaged. There is no one making money or getting paid that isn’t providing value as an essential part of the process. There’s also an understanding about who is taking the risks and where the costs lie.

Daryle prefers to keep a few deals moving at all times.

He’s always looking for ways to expand, grow, and build up credibility. Part of this is in building value equations. It’s not about his name, or a partner’s name. It’s about having something that has value on the market and that can be repeatable, scalable, and sustainable. Rather than one off deals that may or may not go anywhere, Daryle works hard to create deals he can leverage in the future to continue building on his past success.

On a closing note, Daryle suggests that audacity and out of the box thinking are key. Always be looking for new ways to add value, and don’t be afraid to push the envelope. You never know what you’ll get when you ask for the mildly ridiculous!

Listen to the full episode to develop the mindset of a deal-maker today!

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

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Authentic Deal-Making Deal-Driven Growth

Strategic Business Growth Leads to Deal Opportunities

Strategic Business Growth

Lately, you may have noticed that we’re having a wider variety of guests on the podcast. They are speaking about the variety of things you need to do in your company to prepare yourself for deal-related opportunities. This includes strategic business growth decisions like building teams and putting processes in place. It also includes building a company that’s less dependent upon you as the founder.

Strategic Growth Positioning

It is a myth that you need to be a huge company with huge resources and major capital to do deals. Why? Because deals are not only about financing. We’ve covered everything from joint ventures and strategic alliances to licensing deals and affiliate deals online. We’ve also discussed sponsorships and business partnerships. Everybody at any size can do a deal.

However, it does take some level of resources. In the very least, you need somebody with the time and focus and energy to get deals done. Are in the position where you are working in your business as the founder? Do you have to be there every single day to make sure that the sausage is getting made, so to speak, or the products are going out? Because if you’re the one actually delivering the services to the client — then you don’t have the time to work on any kind of deal.

If you’re not doing those things and you haven’t built a team and you haven’t put systems in place, your ability to do deals successfully is extremely limited.

Scalable and Salable

You’re probably familiar with the concept of scalable and salable. You know that those principles ring true whether you’re ever going to sell your business or not. But even if you don’t plan to sell, why not be in a position where you can monetize at the end? Too people get to retirement and their business just sort of goes away.

No matter what your business is, ultimately there is a way to monetize it in some way that lasts beyond your ability to run it. But you have to be sure that it’s not solely dependent upon you, and that you build it in such a way that it has value beyond you. When you build processes and systems and shift your mindset to build a team, that’s when you truly build a brand and something that has value beyond your own efforts.

So many experts and entrepreneurs have experience in doing that, which has allowed them to not only be in a better position to do that ultimate exit deal at the end but also freed them up and made the company more valuable with increased profits while they were running it.

It also ensured they had the power to do deals during their operations, not just at the end when they were phasing themselves out.

Working On Your Business

The fundamental level of this is the concept of working on the business and not in it. People have to figure out what their highest and best use areas are. That means what it is that you are great at, and what you love doing.

And too many people stop there. But just because you love it and you’re good at doesn’t mean it is highly leveraged. It may not even make a big difference in your organization.

You have to assess whether it moves the needle. If you’re not doing stuff at that level, then that’s your first problem.

Second of all, build a team. I’ve built this phenomenal team and they do a lot of the work in the areas that they’re more talented in than me or that are not in my highest and best use areas. It’s their highest and best use areas, though, and that allows me to leverage the high-level things that I do.

I’ve had entrepreneurs tell me that they can’t do that because they haven’t got the right people. Usually, they say things like, “I’m kind of a perfectionist”, or “ I don’t think anybody’s going to do it as good as I do”. Well, those are problems. Both the perfectionist thing and also the lack of trust in other people. Ultimately you can find the right people out there, but some of that is a mindset thing. When you believe they aren’t there, and that no one could ever do the job right, you’ll always have a reason to turn potential candidates away. Or a reason to critique and run off the people you do have.

Trust Me – 80% Works

So here’s something to keep in mind. Some people do it differently than you. And it doesn’t seem like it is as good, but you know what, maybe it is as good, sometimes even better. If they can do it 80% as good as you, let them do it. Even if that means you come in at the end and tweak that final 20%, you’ve saved a significant amount of time and started the process of training someone who will get better and better at understanding what 100% looks like.

When you’re in a position to have a successful business that’s grown organically and that scales in a way that’s not dependent upon you, you get to have a better lifestyle. You’re not working 20 hours a day, you’re not under extreme stress all the time, and you’re bringing in expertise and surrounding yourself with people who are better at certain things. If you have systemized things so that you’re acting in your highest and best use areas, you’re now leveraging what you’re best at. That means that you’re going to be producing more revenue. And then you start to build this team, who is also either producing revenue or helping get the work done, so not only are you going to have more time, but you’ll also be more successful.

And of course, that increases your enterprise value and valuation on the back end.

In your business, that can look like whatever makes the most sense for you. There is no one right way to scale or grow, or to run day to day operations. And you certainly shouldn’t feel obligated to grow past the point that you want your business to be at. What’s important is that you have clarity about what you’re seeking in your business.

I’m speaking from experience here and saying that it starts with us. It starts with addressing our own limiting beliefs and our own willingness to be open to learning and growth. All of that mindset work is the stuff that we need to learn as entrepreneurs so that we can continue to develop in a way that will allow our businesses to scale.

Grow Your Mindset

Over on my website I have a whole list of mentors and leaders in the mindset and development space. If you want to be able to grow more and experience more deal-driven growth, it’s vital that you get your business running in such a way that it’s organically successful and less dependent upon you. That starts with a mindset shift and a willingness to do the personal growth work to make that shift. And that feeds back into your ability to continue to scale, build your team, and put new processes in place when you get to that next level.

What I am committed to is not only deals and growth but really entrepreneurial freedom. I think you’ll see that in some of the stuff we’re doing with our upcoming Entrepreneurial Freedom course. If you have any questions about that, definitely reach out. At the end of the day, I love working with entrepreneurs. I love helping people achieve their dreams and visions. It can be some tough work, but it’s always easier when you have guidance and support.

Listen to the full interview here.

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

Categories
Authentic Deal-Making Authentic Leadership Authentic Negotiating Deal-Driven Growth

The C.P.R. Framework

Framework

So far, we have covered a good portion of the main topics from my book, Authentic Negotiating: Clarity, Detachment, & Equilibrium the Three Keys to True Negotiating Success & How to Achieve Them. On the show we have discussed the fundamental framework of clarity, detachment, and equilibrium, as well as the six reasons negotiations fail. We’ve also talked about the top five steps to becoming a great negotiator, and how to deal with inauthentic negotiating tactics. In the latest solocast episode of Fueling Deals, we cover the final topic from Authentic Negotiating: the C.P.R. Framework. The three elements of the framework are context, purpose, and results.

What is the C.P.R. Framework?

The C.P.R. Framework consists of three main elements.

Context: The context of a negotiation determines the person we need to show up as in the negotiation. It pertains to our state of being, and how that ties into our purpose and our results.

Purpose: What is the underlying ‘why’ of this negotiation? The purpose must be something positive that speaks to you because it will be your primary driver at the negotiating table.

Results: Any time you go into a negotiation, you want to be clear about the results you want to get out of it.

Effective Frameworks

Many of us know our results before we ever enter a negotiation. The context and purpose, however, are things we need to memorize. If both of these components are no more than a sentence long, you will be able to remember them no matter what factors are thrown into the mix.

You will also benefit from distilling these ideas into short sentences. This practice will help you get to the essence of your context and purpose. The C.P.R. Framework is the single-most effective framework for applying my negotiation tactics, but it is also extremely effective beyond negotiating. To learn more and hear examples of the C.P.R. Framework being used, listen to the latest solocast of Fueling Deals.

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

Categories
Authentic Deal-Making Authentic Leadership Authentic Negotiating Deal-Driven Growth

Five Ways to Accelerate Growth

Five-Ways-To-Accelerate-Growth

After one year and more than sixty episodes, we have gathered countless insights from the most talented negotiators, speakers, and dealmakers across industries. And with so much ground covered, we decided to introduce a series of ‘best of’ episodes. Here we’ve distilled the main talking points from our Fueling Deals guests. Today we’ll focus on how to accelerate growth as we learn from our deal-driven experts.

The Experts Take: How to Accelerate Growth

Each quarter will bring a new theme that combines different topics from each interview. This time, the theme is “accelerating growth”. We explore some of the major talking points from my interviews with Carl Gould, Bruce Eckfeldt, Phil Buchanan, and Matt Wavro.

Carl Gould dives into the growth and sale of his two businesses. His creation of monthly recurring revenue, as well as his branding and networking accomplishments, enabled him not only to sell the companies, but also to affiliate with the company and earn an income post-sale.

Next, Bruce Eckfeldt and I had a conversation about how to scale a company. We highlight points from Les Mckeown’s book, “Predictable Success.”

After that, Phil Buchanan shares advice for small onboarding deals and acquisitions. Our focus was on geographical expansion.

And lastly, Matt Wavro explains how he has utilized strategic alliances to accelerate growth. This includes partnering with minority and women-owned business enterprises.

Get the Full Experience

The excerpts from these conversations only represent a small part of the invaluable information from each episode, so make sure to go back and give them a listen if you didn’t get a chance.

Carl Gould, Bruce Eckfeldt, Phil Buchanan, and Matt Wavro each have unique perspectives on accelerating growth in their own companies, or by working with other companies. Make sure to check out the latest episode of Fueling Deals, and keep an eye out for a new ‘best of’ installment every quarter.

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

Categories
Authentic Business Relationships Authentic Deal-Making Authentic Leadership Authentic Negotiating

How to Handle Inauthentic Negotiating Techniques

Inauthentic-Negotiating

In the last few solocast episodes of Fueling Deals, we have taken a look at some of the major talking points from my book, Authentic Negotiating. So far, we have covered the Clarity, Detachment, and Equilibrium framework, the top six reasons negotiations fail, and the five steps to becoming a great negotiator. So, if you didn’t get a chance to read the book or listen to those episodes, I highly encourage you to go back and cue them up; there are a lot of great negotiating tips that you don’t want to miss.

In the latest episode of Fueling Deals, we dive into another topic from my book that covers inauthentic negotiating techniques and how to handle them.

The Empty Promise: Somebody makes a promise that they know they’re not going to fulfill in the end. You may choose to challenge their promise upfront to test its validity, then use CDE to keep a level head while you decide how to move forward.

The Big Fish: There may be a difference in scope or size with one negotiating party vs. the other. This can be approached with the notion that even a small fish has leverage because there are alternative plays, otherwise, the negotiation wouldn’t be taking place.

Nibbling: There is always another ask as you get closer to finalizing a deal. Sometimes a candid response is the best approach and it is okay to call them out for adding new terms. Figure out what needs to happen for the deal to move forward, and clarify whether or not there will be additional terms down the line.

Quivering Quill: Similar to Nibbling but it is carried out at the closing table to apply more pressure on the other negotiating party. Don’t get triggered or thrown off your game; instead, step back and evaluate whether the last minute concession works for you and whether this is someone with whom you want to do business.

Limited Authority: The other negotiating party abdicates the decision-making responsibility because of their position in the company hierarchy. While this may be authentic in theory, it is often used as an excuse. Stay calm, don’t let it affect you and decide whether or not they are the right partner for this deal in the first place.

Even ‘good’ negotiating tactics are supplementary to our core dealmaking framework, and no tactics or techniques can be substituted for fundamental skills. But you will frequently encounter authentic and inauthentic negotiating techniques regardless. The bad techniques reek of shady business practices and low credibility. And while you might never use them yourself, you need to know how to spot and deal with inauthentic negotiators on the other side of the table.

You can listen to the full episode here.

Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!

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Authentic Negotiating

Authentic Negotiating: A Crucial Skill for HR Professionals

During-Brainstorming-55
Business team during a brainstorming in a meeting

My article at FoxBusiness explains why negotiating isn’t just for leadership in the boardroom. HR professionals use negotiation skills to work to resolve employee disputes, negotiating compensation and benefits, among other needed tasks.

HR professionals can apply Clarity, Detachment and Equilibrium for their own negotiating needs, as well as train employees in better ways to achieve success. Try one of these tips:

  • Encourage employees to notice when they are getting emotional, triggered, or thrown off. Have them use this as a signal to take a break, breathe, and get reconnected to their clarity and detachment.
  • Encourage employees to ask the following two key questions prior to reacting or taking any action during a negotiation when they feel emotionally triggered:
  • Will the next thing I am about to say or do move me closer or further away from my objectives?
    Do I want to be right, or do I want to be effective?

Read the rest of my article and tips at FoxBusiness.

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Corey Kupfer is an expert strategist, negotiator and dealmaker. He has more than 35 years of professional deal-making and negotiating experience. Corey is a successful entrepreneur, attorney, consultant, author and professional speaker who is passionate about deal-driven growth. He is also the creator and host of the DealQuest Podcast.

If you want to find out how deal-ready you are, take the Deal- Ready Assessment today!