One of the most valuable lessons I have learned in my career is the power of being an effective negotiator.  Some people will say that their job doesn’t entail negotiations but I would argue every job involves negotiations.  Whether you are trying to make a sales pitch with a formal presentation, doing a price negotiation with a supplier, trying to get your cross functional team to use your project idea, or even trying to convince your boss you need a raise.  If you talk to anyone at work at some point you are doing some sort of negotiation.

Being persuasive is another way to view negotiations.  If you are trying to persuade someone of your point of view then you are doing a negotiation.  The quicker you realize you are negotiating with someone the quicker you can begin to use some of these tips of how to be more persuasive:

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/how-persuasive-and-get-what-you-want-easily.html

For the basis of MP we are primarily talking about how to be more persuasive during presentations.  Every time we present in MP we are trying to persuade the audience to think our solution to the problem is the best solution out there.  Before you put together any presentation you should ask yourself “What do I want from the audience?” and then tailor your presentation to achieve that.

As I mentioned above I like to look at being persuasive as an important skill set to being successful in business.  Being an effective negotiator can get you on the projects you want, have the processes you want implemented, working with the people you want, and ultimately getting you that job and promotion you covet.

Some people don’t like negotiating, initially myself included, but the more you practice it and use these techniques the more natural it will become.  Before you know it you will be negotiating with people without even realizing it.

What have you negotiated for lately?