The Key to Increasing Negotiation Success in High-Stakes Scenarios — with guest Fotini Iconomopoulos

Pam Harper (00:01): Should you redefine your negotiation strategy? Our guest today shares how this can help you get more of the results you want. Join us for episode 192 of Growth Igniters Radio with Pam Harper and Scott Harper.

Chris Curran (00:25): This episode is brought to you by Business Advancement Incorporated, enabling successful leaders and companies to accelerate to their next level of success, on the web at businessadvance.com. And now, here's Pam and Scott.

Pam Harper (00:43): Thanks, Chris. I'm Pam Harper, Founding Partner and CEO of Business Advancement Incorporated. And sitting right across from me as always is my business partner and husband, Scott Harper. Hi, Scott.

Scott Harper (00:56): Hi, Pam. It's great to be with you again on Growth Igniters Radio, and as always, our purpose is to spark new insights, inspiration, and immediately useful ideas to help visionary leaders accelerate themselves — and their companies of course — to their next level of game-changing innovation, transformation, and growth.

Now, Pam, these days we can't read The Wall Street Journal or tune into CNN, or even watch a home improvement program without being struck by how we are constantly surrounded by negotiation of every kind.

Pam Harper (01:30): That's right.

Scott Harper (01:31): We negotiate in almost every aspect of our lives every day, whether we're buying a house or getting it remodeled as we just did, or even negotiating bedtime with a child. But in spite of how often we negotiate, we've seen that sometimes it works out the way we want — and sometimes it doesn't.

Pam Harper (01:49): This is especially true in business. Whether you're negotiating with peers on the board or the C-suite, or let's say with employees, partners, customers,  everyone has their own purpose and needs. And yet we must all find ways to interact that enable us to get to the results we want and need.

Scott Harper (02:13): There are so many considerations that go into doing this well, though, so we can consistently get what we want.

Pam Harper (02:19): That's right. That's why we're glad to be speaking today with award-winning negotiation consultant, Fotini Iconomopoulos. Nicknamed “The Negotiator” as a child, Fotini has been honing her skills her entire life. Her new book is called Say Less, Get More: Unconventional Negotiation Techniques to Get What You Want. It was just published by HarperCollins on April 20th. A little bit more about Fotini: for the last decade, she has been empowering Fortune 500 executives and their teams to achieve their objectives through her expertise in negotiation, communication, and persuasion. She guides companies through high-stakes scenarios and creates tailored intensive negotiation workshops for clients across the globe in all industries who want to develop their teams.

Pam Harper (03:14): When she's not strategizing with clients, Fotini is a frequent guest on CBC and CTV Television, and an instructor of MBA negotiations at the Schulich School of Business. She also offers her experience to non-profit initiatives, including an empowerment program for young girls, an attempt to close the gender gap before it starts. She's been recognized with the Network of Executive Women's National Inclusion Award, as well as the Greek America Foundation's Top 40 Under 40 Award for her achievements and philanthropic work.

Wow. Fotini, welcome to Growth Igniters Radio!

Fotini Iconomopoulos (03:56): Thank you for that warm introduction. I'm happy to be here.

Pam Harper (03:59): Yes. And congratulations on the launch of your book.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (04:03): It's been a long time coming. I'm glad to finally have it come to fruition.

Pam Harper (04:08): We were intrigued that your father nicknamed you "The Negotiator" as a child. What prompted you to embrace that as a calling and to write your book?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (04:18): It was sort of accidental. When my dad nicknamed me that, it certainly wasn't a compliment at the time. It was, "We don't need to hear from you negotiator." They were just kind of sick and tired of hearing it.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (04:28): And as an adult, it was just something that was natural. I was always very assertive; I wasn't going to let somebody dictate to me how my life was going to turn out. When you grow up in a strict household where you have to negotiate your way out of the house, that was just a natural thing to step up and advocate for yourself: "And here's the reasons why I need to be doing this. And here's how it's going to serve me and you and everybody in-between." And so that was just a natural habit that I had, whether it was getting into an MBA program early without the work experience that they were looking for, or finding myself in a position being the youngest person to be calling on Walmart when I was in my early manufacturing sales days.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (05:05): It was attractive to me because I was doing it, and I just didn't realize that I was doing it. And when I was in that manufacturing world one day, a company was hired to train my team to be more effective negotiators. And they said, after I performed in this workshop, they said, "You should really be doing what we do." And I was like, "Yes, sure, someday when I've got more experience." And they said, "No, seriously, you should be doing what we do." Which is training executives and people all over the world. And so, I did. I quit my job and I joined them. And as I started training more and more folks, they went, "Well, it's great that you trained our team, but we have 100 million on the line. We have a billion on the line. We have 7 billion in Yemen. What do we do? What do we say?"

Fotini Iconomopoulos (05:49): So, they were dealing with these high stakes scenarios and they said, "If you know how to do it best, and let's bring you in to help us through that." And then a consulting practice was more or less born out of that. And when I quit my job, a number of years later, it was my clients who kept calling me back and said, "Can you come and help us with this one more thing? Can you come and speak to our team? Can you come speak at our national sales meeting? Can you come motivate this group?" And then that kind of just evolved into a speaking career.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (06:17): And when that speaking career happened, I think it was HarperCollins had seen some video of me online somewhere and they said, "We think you have a book in you." And I was like, "Okay." I really enjoyed sharing my insights in any value I could with all my audiences. So even after I finished a workshop, people would connect with me on LinkedIn and I would always be posting. If there was an article I found useful, I'd go, "Hey, audience. I think you guys would find it useful too. Here it is for you." And so when you continue to just put value there out into the world and people respond to it, you go, "Well, what else can I give you next?" And the book was just a really natural progression of going, "All right. Here's a way to make my information more accessible to even more people." And it was just a really fortuitous kind of happy accident that it all came together.

Scott Harper (07:06): Okay. Now, when we spoke earlier Fotini, you talked about redefining negotiation strategies. As Pam and I were discussing at the beginning, there are all kinds of negotiation, and you say that negotiation is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Why would a CEO or C-suite executive want to think about redefining their negotiation strategy or style?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (07:32): What I say in the book, and what I say to my audiences all the time is the reason I have a job today is because negotiations are not done on spreadsheets.

Scott Harper (07:42): Right.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (07:43): They're not rational things. If the numbers make sense, they should want to do it. But guess what? They don't make sense to people because we are irrational creatures.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (07:52): I've been known to tell my students, "People are psycho." We don't necessarily do things that are best for us because our emotions get involved. And the only common denominator in every single negotiation you're dealing with is you're dealing with a person.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (08:05): But that person's going to be different from one scenario to the next. So, I can give guiding principles, for sure. I can give people guardrails, and things to think about, but every scenario is going to be different. So, you need to take all of those principles and go, "Which of these now applies to the person or the group that I'm dealing with today?" Because there are loads of people out there who go, "I'm a collaborative negotiator. Everything I do is win-win." Well, when you come up against somebody who's like Donald Trump who doesn't have win-win in his vocabulary, that is not something that's going to work for that individual. So, you need to know how to adapt for your circumstances. And that's all based on who it is that you're dealing with. And that's why it's not one-size-fits-all.

Pam Harper (08:44): You're so right. You go out there and people have all kinds of needs, as I was saying earlier, and you really have to mix and match at times to say, "I normally would speak with somebody who's a customer like this, or with a fellow board member like that, but not in this case, not under this circumstance." Right?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (09:08): Yes.

Pam Harper (09:09): But I want to move to another question which has been on my mind. There were a lot of lessons in your book, but what is the biggest lesson that you've learned about negotiating with different stakeholders? This would be something that might not be obvious to the experienced negotiators who are listening to us in the C-suite or the board.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (09:35): So, I think what surprised me most, both from personal experience and anecdotal experience and then matching that with research as I continued to study the subject, is that likability is one of the most important factors when it comes to negotiations. When I say "likability," I don't mean that you have to be so likable that they're going to want to go on vacation with you and grab a beer after work with you or anything like that. Likability has a spectrum, right?

Pam Harper (09:59): Right.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (10:00): You just have to be likable enough to want to complete this negotiation. If you're buying a souvenir on a beach in Mexico, so that they go, "I don't want to deal with you. I'd rather sell my stuff to somebody else."

Fotini Iconomopoulos (10:10): Or you have to be likable enough that, "You know what? I'm going to have to deal with this person day in and day out for the next little while, so I don't want to have to hate going to work every day or dragging my feet through this particular scenario."

Fotini Iconomopoulos (10:22): I think the aha moment came up for me when I quit my previous job. And I've been self-employed happily for over six years now, but when I quit my previous job and other jobs as well, the reason why I ended up in this self-employment scenario is that people went, "Hey, when are you going to come back and help us out with this thing? When are you going to come back and work with our team?" And I'd say, "I don't work for that company anymore." They say, "We didn't hire the company. We hired Fotini. We like dealing with you." And that is what made them want to engage with me in the first place. It wasn't because I puffed out my chest and told them, "Here are all the reasons why I'm so wonderful."

Fotini Iconomopoulos (10:58): And it wasn't because I gave the massive discounts because I knew what they were paying before for my services. It was because they went, "We liked dealing with you." They felt acknowledged by me because I listened to their problems. They felt like they were being listened to in some way, shape, or form that somebody else wasn't listening to. And they felt like they had something in common with me because I was spending that time getting to know them a little bit more. And like I said, it's not about holding hands and singing Kumbaya. It's just about going, "How much of that likability factor do I need to have in order to complete this deal?"

Pam Harper (11:31): It goes back to it all depends on who you're dealing with and what the relationship is. It really comes down to a human dynamic. And we're going to take a quick break on that note. When we come back, we'll dig deeper with Fotini Iconomopoulos, keynote speaker and author of Say Less, Get More about taking the human factor into account during negotiation. Stay with us...

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Pam Harper (13:08): Welcome back to Growth Igniters Radio with Pam Harper — that's me — and Scott Harper. Today, Scott and I are speaking with Fotini Iconomopoulos, award-winning negotiation consultant,  keynote speaker, and author of the new book, Say Less, Get More. We're discussing defining and redefining your negotiation strategy to get what you want. Fotini, how can people buy your book and contact you for keynote speaking?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (13:38): Thank you for asking. You can buy the book anywhere you prefer to buy your books, whether it's Amazon or small, independent resalers, you can go to my website, fotiniicon.com for more information about that as well, or for more information to hire me for your next group event.

Pam Harper (13:53): Fantastic.

Scott Harper (13:53): And, Fotini for people who are listening, how do you spell Fotini?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (14:00): So it's  is F, O, T, I, N, I. It sounds like a pasta,

Pam Harper (14:09): Oh, so it does. And you can access resources relevant to our conversation today by visiting growthignitersradio.com, episode 192 and scroll down to resources. Before the break, you made a point that many negotiators are trained to focus on the facts and the advantages of a negotiation, but we discussed that people, smart negotiators, almost always have the edge. Tell us more about that.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (14:42): Yes. It's just so important to go into any negotiation knowing what you want to get out of it, but then you have to pause to think about what do they need, how are they coming at this? What are the struggles that they're facing right now? How can you solve for them? Or how can you leverage those to your advantage depending on the circumstances? So, it's really about making sure that you... Don't just go in there thinking about you, but how do you think about them and how do you factor them into your plans? And again, when you're just going by a formula, a black and white scenario, you're not going to get there. If you're just doing an Excel spreadsheet, you're not going to get there. But being able to think in their shoes for a moment will help you to formulate a plan that's going to get you a lot further.

Pam Harper (15:24): That's definitely true. One of the other issues is so often now when we're talking about stakeholders, we're talking about more than one decision-maker. So you're talking about teams. Is there anything that you would do differently under those circumstances?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (15:41): Yes, when you have a team, it can get really muddy and the last thing you want to do is be in a scenario where you're interrupting each other or misspeaking and misquoting each other. And that can make you look like you are a very weak team and make you look less credible. And when that happens, the other party ends up getting more aggressive. When someone smells weakness, it's an instinctual response to get more aggressive. So, you want to be a united front when you're negotiating with a team of people, whether it is you're all in the same room at the same time, or whether it's, "Hey, I'm going to talk to you today and your boss tomorrow and your colleague another day."

Fotini Iconomopoulos (16:13): The last thing I'd want to do is for, "I'm going to divide and conquer. I'm going to talk to Pam one day and Scott another day and see what I can get out of each of them." You two want to be a united front and repeating the same messages whenever we're talking together. So you want to be playing from the same playbook essentially. And that's a critical piece of the entire thing.

Pam Harper (16:30): And getting the intelligence about these people too, going back to understanding what these people want.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (16:36): Yes. Absolutely. And you can use multiple people to get different information.

Pam Harper (16:41): Right.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (16:41): So, in a larger organization, I tell people don't dismiss the little people, right? So when I was in the corporate world, working in manufacturing, the Walmart buyer's assistants were my best friends because they were massive sources of information. They had loads of insights about when things were going to happen and when deadlines were real or fake. I get tons of info from them, or they'd give me information that I could then use to go, "Here are some of the objectives of the organization." That's going to inform my language when I speak to somebody who is more senior or maybe this person is the gatekeeper, or maybe this person doesn't have authority, but they can influence the other individuals into getting on board with what I have to say. So it's about understanding who are all the players that I'm engaging with here? Not just the one sitting across the table for me.

Scott Harper (17:26): Absolutely. We've long practiced that the more perspectives you get, the more power you have. You just have to know how to put it together.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (17:35): Exactly.

Scott Harper (17:35): Now, let's talk about another end of the spectrum. We go from making deals and whatnot. So many companies now are in partnerships, and partnering is becoming more and more important every day in so many ways. Look at Pfizer BioNTech that launched one of the first COVID vaccines, for example. But the thing is, it's not always easy to get that right. Some partnerships go really well; others don't. Do you have a story about how that can work in a positive way?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (18:10): Yes. A good indicator of success when it comes to a partnership is when someone comes to the table and says, "How can I make sure that this is going to work well for you?"

Scott Harper (18:22): Right.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (18:22): So, if I'm going to think about all the things that could go wrong for me in this scenario, I'm going to think about how can I prevent those things from going wrong. But if I come to the table and say, "Okay, from your perspective, I would think that if this went poorly, you'd be in a jam this way. What can we do to solve for that?" If I'm coming to the table and I'm trying to come up with solutions for potential hiccups for you, then I'm going to be demonstrating to you that I am indeed trustworthy, and I'm going to trigger this innate sense of reciprocity.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (18:52): So we're going to have more trust between us. You're going to come to the table now with more information to go, "Well, I have a solution that's going to work for a potential hiccup on your end," and so on. So when we can make each other more dependent on one another, when we can solve for each other's problems, we are more intertwined, but we're also demonstrating more trust. And therefore that sense of responsibility and accountability to one another as well. That reciprocity goes a really long way. But if you're coming to the table, only thinking about things from your own perspective and your own, "My problems are going to be this, and here's how I want to solve my problems." Well, then it's going to make people very defensive and very stand-offish. So how can you envelop the other person's issues as well as your own and demonstrate that?

Scott Harper (19:36): Fotini, it's interesting that you're highlighting reciprocity. Pam and I did an executive survey a few years ago on alliances and partnerships, and found that the extent to which senior executives we surveyed reported results of the partnership meeting or exceeding their expectations was directly correlated to the extent that they reported there was a sense of reciprocity. This just underscores your point that mutuality has a real dollars and cents benefit.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (20:06): Oh, totally. Adam Grant wrote a phenomenal book a few years ago called Give and Take, and that gave me hope for humanity again. It was one of those moments where you go, "Okay, the givers are the ones who are going to rule the earth." Because when you give and you do it for the purpose of just putting value out there, people will reciprocate. They will do something in return.  To quote someone else, Robert Cialdini is the godfather of all things persuasion, "when you are the first to give, and when you make it personalized and unexpected, you are going to benefit in return as well."

Pam Harper (20:39): That's a really good point. So we've been talking about the importance of trust, but then there are those folks out there who... They haven't read your book yet, and they are trying to be combative. What is the most important way to align our interests with those kinds of people when it seems like our interests are opposing each other and they really don't want to go along for the ride?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (21:04): Yes. That's a tough situation. So I empathize with anybody who is dealing with those people who are just constantly putting up blockers. One of the easiest ways to work around that is by asking questions.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (21:16): But it's not just asking questions and making it feel like they're in front of a firing squad because that's going to make them even more defensive. It's asking questions with a mindset of curiosity. If you could say, "How can I help this person right now?" And you can go in and start asking questions when things get to a standstill, when things get really heated, it's asking what or how questions that would be like, "How can we solve for this problem together? What is it that we're trying to resolve here today? If I could wave a magic wand, what would success look like to you?" So you can start by asking hypotheticals. You can start by digging in a little bit deeper by just getting them to start talking a little bit more. They're going to feel as though A, their ego is going to feel really good because you're asking me to do some talking so I must be important.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (22:01): And you're also making them feel as though they have some autonomy in this process and you make them feel like they're part of the solution versus having your proposals or demands being shoved down their throats. But the reality is the person asking the questions is always the one in the driver's seat because you're steering the conversation in the direction you want it to go by being the one formulating those questions.

Pam Harper (22:25): It's very disarming to do something like that. It all comes back to helping each other to lower barriers. Having that ability to say, "We really do want what's best for all of us" is very powerful.

So, we're going to take another quick break and when we come back, Scott and I will speak more with Fotini Iconomopoulos, author of Say Less, Get More, about immediately useful, unconventional ideas for creating more successful negotiations in business and every other aspect of life. Stay with us...

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Scott Harper (23:03): You're listening to Growth Igniters Radio with Pam Harper and Scott Harper. We are brought to you by Business Advancement Incorporated on the web at businessadvance.com. We focus on enabling visionary leaders to dramatically increase momentum for game changing results. Now, Pam, our regular listeners know that many leaders we speak with are used to moving in new directions, to respond to a world that's changing in so many ways faster than ever before. But, as one CEO recently shared with us, it's one thing to be on top, but it's another a thing to make a lasting impact.

Pam Harper (23:41): That's right. That's why I develop my keynote, how Growth Igniters Lead for Tomorrow, starting today, find out the secret of the successful visionary leaders who are able to ignite game changing growth that creates long term benefit in a short term world.

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Pam Harper (24:17): Welcome back to Growth Igniters Radio with Pam Harper and Scott Harper. Over the last two segments, Scott and I have been speaking with Fotini Iconomopoulos, award-winning negotiation consultant, keynote speaker, and author of the newly published book, Say Less, Get More. We've been talking about whether and when to redefine your negotiation strategy to get more of the results you want. Fotini, remind us again how people can find out about this book and about your speaking and consulting?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (24:51): Yes. Thanks. You can find out everything you need to know at fotiniicon.com, or you can find me on all the socials and the book is sold anywhere you prefer to buy your books, from Amazon to your local independent bookstore.

Pam Harper (25:03): And we really recommend this book. You can find links and other information by going to GrowthIgnitersRadio.com, episode 192, and scroll down to resources. So, Fotini, this is the part of the episode where we talk about immediately useful ideas that can help you more effectively negotiate with different types of stakeholders. What's the first idea?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (25:30): The first, most obvious one to me is to shut up.

Scott Harper (25:34): Okay...

Fotini Iconomopoulos (25:36): It is the easiest thing to say and the hardest thing to do, because when we get really nervous, when we're under stress, the first thing we want to do is start thinking and talking at the same time because our adrenaline is rushing and so on. But I tell people, "I want you to pause. I want you to slow down so that you'll be able to speed up the process. You'll be far more efficient if you just give the other party some space. Some space to think and some space to share information with you. You're going to come across as far more credible and much more confident when you do that."

Pam Harper (26:06): Are you talking about maybe at certain times? How do we know when to shut up?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (26:12): Generally, if you're wondering if you should, you probably should be.

Pam Harper (26:16): Oh. Okay.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (26:17): So, I would say you can also own that moment in time. If silence is uncomfortable for you, it's totally okay to say, "You know what? I need a moment to think about that." Or, "Give me a second to just think about how I want to ask this question to get the best results for both of us." So, it's about pausing to take your time, to make sure that you are giving your brain to catch up to what's going on. And you're also giving them space to digest everything that it is that you are saying. Even when they're done saying something, pause a little longer, shut up a little longer and they'll probably start talking again and start giving you more information.

Pam Harper (26:53): Maybe take a sip of coffee or something like that...

Fotini Iconomopoulos (26:55):  Totally. There are lots of ways to force yourself to do it. I would say the person who speaks less is usually the one that gets more.

Scott Harper (27:04): Makes sense. Fotini, what's another practical example of upping your negotiation game?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (27:09): So another one that I love using, particularly with children, is to give people options. In the academic world, we call it multiple equivalent simultaneous offers, which just basically means give them all options.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (27:23): When people feel like they have a choice in the matter, they feel as though they have some autonomy and it's good for their ego. So with children, it's simple as saying, "Hey, would you prefer the broccoli or the cauliflower or the spinach?" And they're all vegetables. I don't care which one they choose. They're all equal in value to me, but now they feel like they get to puff out their chest and say, "I chose my own destiny."

Fotini Iconomopoulos (27:44): And the same is true. I use child analogies all the time in the boardroom. The same is true, whether you're dealing with a large global international retailer or you're dealing with a big bank. When they feel as though they have the choice between door number one, door number two, or door number three, they feel as though they are the ones that are in charge of the scenario when really, you're the one who's steering the conversation because they're your choices.

Scott Harper (28:08): We did that with our kids and they always said, "No, I want the macaroni."

Pam Harper (28:13): That wasn't an option.

Scott Harper (28:14): Yes. So, what do you do when they don't want any of the options you lay out?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (28:18): Yes. Odds are, especially in those high-stakes negotiations. They're going to go, "None of those options are good enough for me."

Scott Harper (28:22): Right.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (28:22): But you're going to ask a question and go, "Well of these ones, which is the most appealing to start with?"

Pam Harper (28:28): Oh, okay. So you go back and you lay it out there as a starting point. Good. So what's the third immediately useful unconventional idea? I love what we're talking about here.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (28:42): The third one; I'd say it goes back to something I said at the very beginning of this conversation, it's the likability factor. And this comes from a really interesting study that I love talking about. They took two groups of Ivy League MBA students, and they put one group and they said, "I want you to get down to business right away, start negotiating immediately." And they took the other group and they said, "Spend a few minutes getting to know each other first." And the group that got down to business immediately ended up closing deals 55% of the time. The group, however, who ended up spending just a few minutes getting to know each other first, closed deals 90, that's 90% of the time.

Scott Harper (29:19): Big difference.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (29:20): And because I know many people are going, "Oh sure, they got to know each other. So they probably just gave them everything that they wanted because they wanted to be liked."

Fotini Iconomopoulos (29:26): That's not true. The reality is that not only did they close way more deals, but they also closed deals that were 12% greater in value.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (29:36): So, just by spending a few minutes at the very beginning of the process, getting to know the other person or having some words of positive intent, you can actually set the stage for a much more fruitful negotiation. And I translate this into emails as well. So I talk to people about the email sandwich. It starts with some words of positive intent. You'll notice in the COVID era, everybody's emails start with, hope you're keeping well, right?

Pam Harper (29:58): Right.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (29:58): And it's just that simple little icebreaker moment instead of getting straight to the meat. You want to make sure that you're spending that moment, as trivial as it may sound, it makes a difference in terms of warming people up and making them want to deal with you. Then you can get to the meat. And at the end, that's when you can, again, finish with some warm thoughts and a call to action of some kind.

Pam Harper (30:16): I'm really glad she said that because that is something I've been seeing a lot more of too. What about texts? Can you do it in a text?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (30:26): Absolutely. You just shorten everything in a text. It's a more succinct process, but I would still like instead of... People just find it really abrasive when, if I'm texting you and I'm going, "Hey Pam, can you do this for me?" It's, "Hey Pam, hope you're having a great day." Or, "Hey Pam, happy Friday. I've got this thing I'd love your help with." It's only a few extra words, but it makes a world of difference in how receptive people are to wanting to deal with you.

Pam Harper (30:52): Fotini, we could go on and on, but we've actually come to the end of this episode. Can you leave us with some final thoughts on deciding whether to redefine your negotiation strategy?

Fotini Iconomopoulos (31:05): I don't know if it's whether you should, I think it's the strategy to think about is when you go in there, what mindset do you want to be in?

Scott Harper (31:12): Right.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (31:13): Right? If you are going in there and you want to beat somebody up until they give you the best price, I'm not going to judge you for it. Is that going to get you the best results? Most of the time, the mindset you want to go in with is a mindset of curiosity and going, "What can I discover about this person? And what can I help them discover about me?" If you view negotiation as a conversation between two people, because that's all it is, is just communication, you are more likely to get much better results because you're going to have a much more positive experience going in, which we just talked about is going to improve your brain abilities to be able to get better results.

Pam Harper (31:47): Fotini, thanks so much for being our guest on Growth Igniters Radio.

Fotini Iconomopoulos (31:51): Thank you for having me.

Scott Harper (31:52): Oh, yes. Thanks, Fotini, and thanks to you out there for listening to Growth Igniters Radio with Pam Harper and Scott Harper. To get show notes and resource links for this week's episode, go to GrowthIgnitersRadio.com, episode 192.

Pam Harper (32:08): Until next time, this is Pam Harper...

Scott Harper (32:10): And Scott Harper...

Pam Harper (32:11): Wishing you continued success and leaving you with this question to consider.

Scott Harper (32:16): What is one situation in business or some other part of my life where redefining my negotiation strategy could help me get more of the results I really want?

Chris Curran (32:38): Growth Igniters and Growth Igniters Radio with Pam Harper and Scott Harper are registered service marks of Business Advancement Incorporated. All Growth Igniters Radio episodes are copyrighted productions of Business Advancement Incorporated intended for the private use of our audience. Except as otherwise provided by copyright law, all other uses, including copying, editing, redistribution and publication without prior written consent of Business Advancement Incorporated are prohibited. All rights reserved.