From The Editor's Desk
How many New Year's Resolutions did you make? More importantly, what action plans did you put in place to ensure that these goals are achieved? If your resolutions involved money in any way, I do hope you included "attending The Dealmaker™ course" in your planning! Did you know that The Dealmaker™ comes with a money back guarantee? If you are not able to save the cost of the course within three months of attending a programme, you get your money back. You really can't lose.
The Dealmaker™ programmes keep growing. There are now four courses, namely:
- The Dealbuilder™ (strategic skills to close crucial deals)
- The Dealmaker™ (our flagship course)
- The Dealguru™ (for Executives Only)
- The Dealdiva™ (for Women Only - and the newest addition to our suite).
We will bring you news on The Dealdiva™ in the next edition but you can take a quick peek at the Open Course dates at the bottom of this newsletter.
In this edition we have a fabulous and fun story about a Mexican fisherman, which should serve to inspire you to keep your life/work balance resolutions. We also have a new feature we are excited to share with you! We have been asking leading business people to write articles for the newsletter on the intriguing subject of dealmaking. This edition contains Part One of an article by Simon Carpenter, Director: Strategic Initiatives at SAP South Africa (Pty) Ltd (the African subsidiary of SAP AG, the global software giant). The article, entitled "The Value Proposition For Building Negotiation Competence And Capacity", is an insight that must not be missed. If you would like to contribute an article for this newsletter, please contact me on editor@thedealmaker.com.
We also have the usual humour to brighten your day (something you probably need when you think about the excesses of the festive season!), the regular riddle, a fascinating Did You Know? and an introduction to another of our Coaches, Paul Keates.
May this coming year be better than all the others. Start this by making a vow to do some of the deals you've always wanted to do and to not losing any more money! Happy New Year to all our Dealmakers - Portia Ngcobo
Did You Know?
It is far better to deal with a "skilled" negotiator than an "unskilled" negotiator!
You are probably thinking this statement can't possibly be true - surely a skilled negotiator will "screw" you, just because they can? What is interesting is that the only time a skilled negotiator will push the deal to their advantage is when it is a once-off, short term transaction. A skilled negotiator will typically give you what you want in a negotiation. This sounds like a contradiction - a skilled negotiator giving in? Well, there is a caveat to the skilled negotiator giving you what you want - they will only give you this on condition they get what they want in return. What are their terms? How do you respond to their proposals? Should you ever walk away? What if the deal deadlocks? Negotiation is an enthralling subject...
Want to know more? We invite you to attend one of The Dealmaker™ programmes and learn what it takes to become a World Class Dealmaker and Negotiator. Contact enquiries@thedealmaker.com or call us for more information on +27 11 440 0193.
This Edition's Inspiring Story
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A boat docked in a tiny Mexican village. An American tourist complimented the Mexican fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them. |
"Not very long," answered the Mexican.
"But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?" asked the American.
The Mexican explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.
The American asked, "But what do you do with the rest of your time?"
"I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, have a few drinks, play the guitar and sing a few songs. I have a full life."
The American interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."
"And after that?" asked the Mexican.
"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mexico City, Los Angeles or even New York City! From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."
"How long would that take?" asked the Mexican.
"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five, years," replied the American.
"And after that?"
"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting," answered the American, laughing.
"When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!"
"Millions? Really? And after that?" said the Mexican.
"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings drinking and enjoying your friends."
And the moral is: know where you're going in life... you may already be there.
Extracted from www.noogenesis.com
Meet The Dealmaker™ Team: Paul Keates
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As an inveterate entrepreneur Paul has owned businesses for the past 23 years. Paul began his career with IBM, where he spent 10 years, and credits IBM for his work ethic and dedication to running mentoring programmes. Paul considers this period at IBM to be his higher education as the company was light years ahead of its time in terms of developing its human capital. |
In 1984 Paul and a partner left IBM to start SBS Africa, a company that in just a few years grew to be the largest independently owned national Information Technology (IT) company in South Africa.
Paul's responsibilities within SBS included controlling and coordinating various aspects of the business as well as consulting to and auditing the broader operations. Paul also evaluated and directed major organisational changes and restructuring. In addition, Paul negotiated the major business contracts and arbitrated the business and labour disputes.
Over the years Paul has extended his expertise to include formulating organisational direction, developing business strategies and action plans, setting and sustaining standards of quality and excellence as well as leading large teams of individuals. Paul attributes his success in working with people to his ability to liaise effectively and vigorously at all levels of diverse groups.
In keeping with his entrepreneurial nature, Paul started another IT company in 2003, this time choosing to become more involved in the marketing and consulting side of the business.
Paul's outstanding reputation and diplomatic yet assertive style precipitated the approach from The Dealmaker™ to join the company's global Coaching team, ensuring that others get to share in Paul's extensive business knowledge and skills.
Guest Article
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"The Value Proposition For Building Negotiation Competence And Capacity"Part 1
By Simon Carpenter, Director: Strategic Initiatives, SAP South Africa (Pty) Ltd and The Dealmaker™ Graduate |
1. Negotiations contribute to Brand Equity.
Your organization, like most others, expends significant resources building a brand that holds out certain promises to existing and potential customers. For organizations whose products are grounded in intellectual capacity (such as software companies) or whose services are based on knowledge and relationships (such as banks and insurance companies) the brand may form a significant portion of the company's market capitalization. Measures to promote and protect your brand are therefore crucial.
There is, however, a significant path to travel between the promise of the brand and the real, sustainable brand equity which flows from customers' experiences of interacting with your company and your staff. You may be asking "what this has to do with negotiating?"
Given that your organization exists in order to sell a product or service (and even not-for-profits or charities have to "sell" the idea of your donation being more valuable to you than some other use of your time or money) it is fair to say that in the course of these transactions, negotiations will ensue. These negotiations will cover a multiplicity of topics such as prices, quantities, discounts, durations, shelf-facings, delivery and so on.
The customer's experience of these negotiations with your staff directly, and often irrevocably, contributes to their experience of your brand. In doing so it influences their propensity to do more business with you, their loyalty and perhaps most importantly their willingness to be an ambassador for your brand and to recommend it to others.
It is therefore clear that negotiating is an important "moment of truth" for your customers and the more competent your people are at negotiating the better the impact on one of your most enduring assets - your brand.
2. Good negotiating minimizes the perils of commoditization.
It is not alarmist to state that in the connected global economy commoditization cycles are becoming almost instantaneous. Global, real-time networks enable the flow of information in such a way that today's differentiated product or service can be copied and improved by your competitor tomorrow. Competing on the intrinsic features of your product or service is just not sustainable and is one of the reasons why your brand becomes so important (see 1 above).
Apart from branding there are other things you can do to rise above the competition. One of the bases for overcoming the price pressure associated with commoditization is to go beyond merely building rock-solid relationships and to establish your company as a trusted adviser to your customer.
Negotiating has an important role to play in cementing this trust. Good negotiators know that it's not just about getting as much they can on their terms. It's about arriving at a mutually beneficial position based on understanding and acknowledging each party's needs.
Negotiating is a process (often prolonged) during which your customer gets many opportunities to assess your merits and trustworthiness. It therefore provides an excellent mechanism for deepening relationships and building a sense of shared ownership of the outcome that makes it very difficult for a price-based commodity supplier to usurp you.
Here's to your fruitful future based on excellence in negotiating.
Simon Carpenter is the Director: Strategic Initiatives at SAP South Africa (Pty) Ltd, the African subsidiary of SAP AG (the global software giant). This role includes working closely with Sales and Marketing to provide thought leadership on emerging business and technology issues. Simon has 25 years of experience in the IT sector and has observed first-hand the lasting impact that both good and poor negotiations can have on a company's top and bottom line.
Look forward to Part 2 of this article in our next newsletter!
The Dealmaker™ Programmes - Dates for 2008
If you missed our courses in 2007, make the time to attend one this year. Should you have any queries or want to register for a programme please give us a call on +27 11 440 0193, or, send an email to enquiries@thedealmaker.com. The course dates for 2008 are as follows:
The Dealbuilder™ |
Venue |
11 & 12 March 2008 |
Johannesburg |
25 & 26 June 2008 |
Johannesburg |
16 & 17 September 2008 |
Johannesburg |
The Dealdiva™ - Women Only |
Venue |
02 & 03 April 2008 |
Johannesburg |
20 & 21 August 2008 |
Johannesburg |
11 & 12 November 2008 |
Johannesburg |
The Dealmaker™ |
Venue |
08 - 10 January 2008 |
London |
19 - 21 February 2008 |
Johannesburg |
15 - 17 April 2008 |
Johannesburg |
10 - 12 June 2008 |
London |
22 - 24 July 2008 |
Johannesburg |
07 - 09 October 2008 |
Johannesburg |
The Dealmaker™ Follow-up |
Venue |
08 & 09 April 2008 |
Johannesburg |
21 & 22 October 2008 |
Johannesburg |
The Dealguru™ - Executives Only |
Venue |
22 & 23 April 2008 |
Johannesburg |
14 & 15 October 2008 |
Johannesburg |
The courses are conducted in small groups, thus there are a limited number of places on each programme. If you are booking for a team of eight or more people, group pricing is available on request. To register to attend a programme or to request further information, please email enquiries@thedealmaker.com.
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