Formal negotiation training is great for making deals more profitable, but it won’t bring you growth – in fact it could well hold it back.
Why? Because most negotiating training focuses on techniques for tough, competitive negotiations, not for building the open collaborative relationships that are increasingly the routes to rapid growth. To do that, negotiators need to stop playing hard ball, and start creating genuine emotional connections with their counterparts.
I’ve said before that emotional connections need three things: Purpose, Passion and Personality. Today I’m talking about Passion.
In the past year I’ve worked with several entrepreneurs, and several large corporates. All of the entrepreneurs exuded passion; engendered trust, and naturally looked to build collaborative relationships. Most lacked a bit of negotiation technique, but that’s not hard to learn.
In contrast, virtually all of the corporate buyers and sellers had great technique, negotiated hard and pushed for the most profitable deal. Unfortunately, only a handful had a genuine passion for the products they were buying and selling. That’s fine if all you’re doing is tough deals with other big corporates, but not if you’re aiming to attract entrepreneurs, foster innovation and create rapid growth.
On every occasion, the most dynamic relationships I saw were always those between buyers and sellers who shared a passion for the products they were dealing in. And on every occasion, that’s where the rapid growth happened.
Passion is one of the most persuasive of all emotions. It will win you the benefit of the doubt, carry projects through tough times, and get other people to sit up and listen intently to whatever you’re saying. Unfortunately, passion isn’t something you can train.
BOTTOM LINE: Passion is critical to great collaborations, and collaboration is the fastest route to rapid growth. If you only want to drive profit, fine - just put a trained negotiator in your business. But if you want to drive rapid, profitable growth, first find someone who is passionate about your products, then teach them to negotiate.