K&R Negotiations Adds Operational, Business Development and Analytical Expertise to Drive Client Success

Posted on October 27, 2011 | Filed Under News | Leave a Comment

Information and Operational Management Veteran Val Pacini
Joins Top Negotiation Firm

Ridgefield, Conn. – October 27, 2011 – K&R Negotiations, which provides professional negotiation training and consulting for both mid-sized and Fortune 200 companies around the world, today announced the addition of operations manager Valerie Pacini. Pacini will focus on driving operational efficiencies, global administration of client experience, ROI-focused analytics, and business development.

Prior to joining K&R, Pacini served for 13 years at Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, the last seven years as Senior Manager of HR Information Systems, where she was responsible for system administration, application management, benefit and compensation operations, process engineering, audit and compliance. Val Pacini attended the University of Colorado, Denver.
"Positive negotiation outcomes and more profitable relationships for all players are central to our mission and culture. Teammates like Val Pacini help us deliver on that promise every day," says Mladen Kresic, CEO of K&R Negotiations. "Her depth of experience and high performance standards will be an asset to every company we help. We’re excited to have her on the team."

About K&R Negotiations

K&R Negotiation Associates, LLC, is a consulting firm specializing in structuring and negotiating business transactions around the world. The company is comprised of professional negotiators, sales executives, and business attorneys. K&R professionals average over 20 years of professional negotiation experience and apply a results-driven methodology to change negotiation behaviors and improve negotiating success. K&R’s clients include Fortune 200 companies such as IBM, EMC and Xerox, as well as smaller companies such as Bristol Technology (now part of HP), Priceline, SEI and others. For more information, please visit www.negotiators.com.

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For more information please contact:
Nate Warren
720.244.4734
nwarren@fusionmarketingpartners.com

Overcoming Negotiation "Dealbreakers": K&R’s MID Chart of Goals™

Posted on October 22, 2011 | Filed Under Negotiation DealbreakersNegotiation SkillsNegotiation Strategy | Leave a Comment

How often have you encountered a "must have," a "need" or a "dealbreaker" in a negotiation? People on both sides of the table can be unnecessarily painted into a corner when these supposed "non-starter" positions are expressed.

But in reality, there are very few dealbreakers in negotiations. More often than not, the true problem is that people in negotiations have trouble breaking down the issues and organizing them in matter of importance. Either as partners in the negotiation process or during our negotiating seminars, we help our clients break down each issue on the table so they can identify and separate means (how we’ll get there) and ends (the desired destination). Once ends and means are untangled, it is amazing how many seemingly intractable issues are suddenly neutralized.

People speak naturally in terms of means. "Can I have a glass of water?" is more expedient than saying "I am thirsty and want to relieve my thirst. What do you have to drink?" However, there’s a downside to this; the former way of stating the request already assumes your preferred solution: water. However, if they know that you are thirsty, they may have all kinds of beverages that can satisfy your thirst. Separating the means from the ends is crucial to understanding what people really want and need. You can then identify creative ways to satisfy their needs. That’s why the K&R MID™ Chart of Goals is crucial to our negotiator training.

MID


Separating and Understanding Means and Ends: Mandatory, Important and Desirable (MID)

  • Mandatory requests should be the true goals (or ends) that must be achieved by either side for the deal to work. These are true dealbreakers.
  • Important requests are goals or favored means that matter a great deal to one side, but will not necessarily determine the fate of the deal.
  • Desirable requests are the lowest priority items. While important and mandatory items take clear precedence, these "desirables" can still be traded off for something of greater importance.

While we are simplifying the nuances of the MID Chart for purposes of this post, the purpose is to break down all the requests and stated positions on both sides of the table so that you can:

  • Methodically separate means from ends
  • Arrange negotiating issues in order of importance
  • Move conflicts over means out of the Mandatory column and into the Important or Desirable column, since means are rarely mandatory
  • Understand where tradeoff opportunities exist

Not all deals can be made – or should be made. MID analysis forces you to determine what problem you are really trying to solve. This is especially important when you are facing a conflict over goals that appears unsolvable. MID analysis can light the way forward or help you determine when to cut your losses and move on.

Negotiation and Leadership

Posted on October 20, 2011 | Filed Under Negotiation SkillsNegotiation Strategy | Leave a Comment

K&R Negotiations’ Mladen Kresic Pens Guest Piece on Negotiation and Leadership for the Hartford Business Journal


negotiation process

K&R Negotiations co-founder and CEO Mladen Kresic recently penned a guest column for the Hartford Business Journal’s Talking Points section. The guest post discusses Kresic’s recent encounter with Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Paul Bucha, who was a captain of the 101st Airborne Division during the Vietnam War and, later in life, a successful business leader and chief cexecutive.

While accompanying his son’s Cub Scout troop to hear a talk given by Bucha, Kresic was struck by how the principles of leadership described by the speaker were indispensable qualities for a good negotiator.

Bucha was only 25 years old when he led his men into battle. In describing the leadership traits that were indispensible to his men’s survival, he listed five: integrity, capability, confidence, compassion and humility.

When I heard him outline these traits, I realized how clearly applicable they are to all facets of life, particularly in negotiations.

In negotiations, if any of these traits are missing, leadership will be ineffective and outcomes will be compromised.

Kresic goes on to explain how these qualities are critical to the negotiation process. You can read the rest of the piece by following the link above. Thanks to the Hartford Business Journal and editor Norm Bell for including us.

Click to Read the Article

Opportunity Forensics: Accurately Predicting When Your Deals Will Land and How

Posted on October 13, 2011 | Filed Under Opportunity Forensics | Leave a Comment

While many believe themselves proficient at sales forecasting, often these critical predictions are based on arbitrary timelines ("It’s the end of Q4!"), emotion and opinion. The fact is, opportunities progress, and then close (or not) for predictable reasons, and at predictable times. Opportunity Forensics™ moves sales forecasting out of the subjective realm and into a specifically directive process where you can identify the tasks that will deliver revenue you can count on.

We assist our clients by developing a methodical filtering process that identifies the gaps with their prospects and assists them in developing action plans to move them to closing. This innovative approach to sales forecasting replaces subjectivity with objective, measurable forecasts and provides a framework for a customized sales process based on how your sales team sells.

K&R Opportunity Forensics™ builds your ability to understand and analyze all aspects of the sales process. Our clients learn:

  • Why clients act or don’t act.
  • How to persuade, and what value arguments to make at what time.
  • Which factors determine when and if an opportunity will close. Early in the process, you will understand what you can and cannot control.
  • How to apply a specific, repeatable structure to assess and improve value statements, and make a simple prediction of time to close.
  • The Value Matrix™ – the attributes of value and its use in persuasion.
  • Timestamps – what are the elements that can be used to influence time to close?
  • Execution leverage – internal and external teamwork.
  • Degree of difficulty – how incumbency and the customer’s business condition affect the timeline.

K&R Opportunity Forensics ™ can show you the milestones of your sale, enlighten your sales team to where they are in the sale, and their likelihood to close.

Once you understand the precise tasks ahead, they can move forward. This adds certainty to your sales teams forecast and keeps your team from working on opportunities that are not going to close. Reliable forecasts provide rippling benefits throughout your organization – from sales, to planning, to manufacturing, to resource requirements.

Find out more about how Opportunity Forensics™ can improve your sales performance.

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