I recently shocked the participants during one of my "Elite Negotiation" trainings when I told them "Being human will help you win".After the initial surprise, I showed them a letter I received when I checked in at DoubleTree by Hilton Wroclaw, Poland, in April 2017 (a fragment is copied here). And I told them that the letter truly impressed me for two reasons: It was a fully personalized letter, personally signed by the Guest Relationship Manager of the hotel. It made me feel cared for and that I truly mattered. This is what attracted me (and countless others) to the Hilton chain across the years - they always knew how…

Is there such a thing like the "best way to sell"? Or the "worst way to sell"? Personally I believe yes and in this short article I will share my experience about the latter and tell you how to avoid "killing the sale with your own hands". These advices are 100% helping in  the selling process of both services and goods. As most of my business life I've been a client, I attended countless meetings in which suppliers tried to sell their goods or services. In the majority of cases, the potential suppliers made formal presentations, aiming at gaining us as a client.  What differentiated the successful suppliers from the unsuccessful…

A good friend of mine called me 2 weeks ago to ask my advice related to a purchase she had to make for her marketing team: a brochure for their forthcoming new brand launch. She has little commercial purchasing experience and wanted to get the most for her money, while avoiding potential pitfalls. So here are my condensed advices I gave her - which I hope will help you too! They refer to purchasing goods and also services and will help you know better what and how to buy what you need. Know what exactly you need to buy. Be clear in your mind what exactly you MUST get (mandatory) and…

Negotiation tactics - a "hot" topic that I'm sure will draw a lot of readers for this post because apparently many people are "mesmerized" by them! But before digging into some of my learning regarding the best use of negotiation tactics, I want to talk about one of my favorite movies: "Shortcut to happiness". It's simply a brilliant movie, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Alec Baldwin. You might wonder what this move has to do with the title of this blog post? It might surprise you, but the two have one very important learning in common: both in life and negotiation, you must work hard to be…

I was asked many times in my training or speeches what are the qualities of the best negotiators. I always answered in the best way I could, based on my experiences up to that moment. These days, however, I realized that the answer is much simpler than I thought and the answer was there, in front of my eyes all the time. I just did not see it until now! The qualities of the best negotiators are the same as the qualities of the best doctors! As simple as that! While you may argue that not everyone dealt with a professional negotiator, I doubt there is anyone who did not go…