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What’s your mental mindset when you enter into a negotiation? Are you fraught with apprehension, imagining the gloom and doom that awaits you? If so, you’ve placed yourself at a psychological disadvantage before you really get down to negotiating. From a psychological perspective, that makes you ripe for the proverbial picking.

Before entering into a negotiation you should prepare sufficiently to ward off such hostile attacks on your mental psyche. If you’re unprepared, your apprehension will become enhanced.
The following is a partial system check list that will give you insight to prevent such apprehension from attacking your psychological aptitude before and during your negotiations.

• Psychology Mindset

o Know who you’re negotiating with (i.e. the source of motivation that’s brought the other negotiator to the negotiation table and who’s not at the negotiation table that has influence on the negotiation)

o Separate the verbiage from the person (Don’t be drawn into discourse simply because you don’t like the other negotiator or how he projects his offers and counteroffers. Instead, think about the psychological mindset he possesses that leads him to depict his sentiments in the manner he does.)

o Maintain and project a winner’s attitude throughout the negotiation; that which the mind focuses on expands.

o When at a potential impasse, observe the situation from different points of view; you never lose in a situation until you give up and accept defeat.

o Understand that you won’t get everything you seek from every negotiation. Rather than enter into a bad agreement, set markers that will signal your exit from a negotiation. If you engage too long, you run the risk of accepting a deal that’s not to your benefit.

• Shape The Negotiation

o During your negotiation’s planning phase, determine how you can position your perspective (value proposition) such that the other negotiator accepts it as being beneficial to her.

o Prior to entering into the ‘official’ negotiation, thoroughly explore how you might address situations that may arise.

o Consider how and when you can use leverage, and the form in which it may appear, to influence the other negotiator.

o Structure your offers and counteroffers so that they flow in the direction you’ve set for the outcome of the negotiation.

o Position yourself properly before the negotiation (i.e. get write-ups in news articles; heighten your perceive expertise via social media, etc.)

o Use empirical data to improve your negotiation position.

• Perception Versus Reality

o Negotiation Postmortem – Always assess your negotiation outcomes compared to what you thought would occur during the negotiation. Make notes pertaining to how you addressed situations. By doing so, you’ll sharpen your perception and glean insight as to how you can enhance the outcome of future negotiations.

You won’t come out ahead in every negotiation. When the perception of defeat engulfs you, don’t become bitter. Don’t let the perception of defeat prevent you from becoming a better negotiator. Learn from your frustrations. In so doing, you’ll maintain the mental psychological mindset that will allow your negotiation skills to grow… and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

I still remember the first time I was asked to prepare a commercial presentation for a potential client. On the one hand I was grateful for this amazing opportunity, on the other… I was terrified! That time I had no idea where to start from, how should I prepare myself and the presentation in order to make a great impression and consequently win the contract for the company. Hundreds of successful presentations later I believe that the greatest advice on how to prepare a powerful presentation I got from Abraham Lincoln, who said “If you had eight hours to chop down a tree, spend six hours sharpening your ax”!

A successful presentation is not a coincidence. It is an art, a performance created for a unique audience. The key to success is the careful mix of your personality and the workshop tools available: words, gestures, and interpersonal skills. The presenter has to adopt the clients’ perspective and be attentive to their needs, while simultaneously striving to achieve his or her own objectives.

Start from asking yourself four basics questions that will help you to set the objectives for your presentation:

1. Who am I as a presenter?
The primary challenge for the presenter is… self-awareness. Awareness of your own strengths and abilities, as well as the shortcomings. This will allow you to adopt the method of delivery to your own, unique style. You need to feel relaxed in order to create a personal connection with your audience. Unnatural behavior greatly reduces the credibility of the message and thus, has a negative impact on the perception of the presenter and the effectiveness of the presentation.

2. Who is my audience and what arguments should I use?
Another milestone on the road to create a powerful presentation is profound knowledge of your audience. Initially, acting solely as listeners, by the final scene it’s them who take over the initiative and make the ultimate decisions. Hence it is vital to know and understand the strategic needs and expectations of your clients, to be able to address them adequately.

3. What is my goal?
For you it may be obvious, but definitely not for many of the presenters I had the pleasure to shadow during their performance! So let me just emphasize it one more time- make it very clear to yourself and to your audience what the key point and objectives of the presentation are. You don’t want to leave the meeting with a bitter feeling of unfulfilled expectations.

4. How should I build my presentation?
Simplicity and consistency of the message is always appreciated. A small number of slides, intriguing and evocative words, surprising and applicable metaphors, many examples and creative and aesthetic visuals – this is the recipe for an interesting and engaging presentation which will remain in memory of even the most demanding audience.

Presenting, although described as an art, is NOT a so-called ” art for art’s sake “. It has an explicit purpose and an individualized audience, and therefore cannot be prepared in advance and used for any occasion. Every presentation should be created as a unique masterpiece of the presenter which triggers and inspires the public!

By giving the best presentation of your life you will expand your skills and abilities in public speaking. The expectations you have of yourself will be increased. Your progress towards greater confidence, a broader network base and a widened field of potential clients will be realized. Winners stand out from the pack. They are looked up to and people who are looked up to become leaders. You will be viewed as a leader. People follow leaders.

If you are reading this article then obviously you want to improve your presentation skills. You realize that these skills are important not only in business but in other walks of life as well. You’re not content with your present status quo; you seek improvement, growth and positive change. You are to be congratulated. Just be prepared to work for that improvement – hard work, and lots of it. Paradigms are not broken and reset by slackers.

Do you need to excel? To continually improve and develop? Would you relish change or do you harbor a certain uneasiness about it? Improvement means growth. Growth means change. Approaching change often triggers apprehension. Apprehension though, is not necessarily a bad thing. It can cause us to pause, think and reflect on a course of action we’re about to embark on. Jesus Christ himself said, “Who of you that wants to build a tower does not first sit down and calculate the expense, to see if he has enough to complete it?” (Luke 14: 28) That is, consider in advance the outcome(s) of what you’re planning. Embrace the positives. Minimize the negatives, if there are any. Then proceed.

America’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln said, “Whatever you are, be a good one.” You should be proud that you aspire to be the best. But giving the best presentation of your life goes far beyond that. You want to exceed all now established limits – to break the mold so completely that a whole new standard is set. Your paradigms will be forever changed to a new and higher level. Be proud that you want to be skilled at such an important level. “Have you beheld a man skillful in his work? Before kings is where he will station himself, he will not station himself before common-place men.” (Proverbs 22:29) You’re now headed for higher ground. It’s time to get “gussied up”.

The challenge of giving the best presentation of your life will involve work and preparation on your part. How to speak in public and presenting well requires attention to aspects such as:

o Poise and grooming

o Natural use of relevant language

o Application of quotes, anecdotes and humor

o Overcoming any fear of public speaking

o Knowledge of presentation programs and techniques

o Mastery of your presentation topic material

With proper preparation and perseverance there is little you cannot accomplish in time. If you genuinely think you’ll succeed, you will. It’s up to you and you alone. In upcoming articles we will discuss things you can do and techniques you can apply to ultimately give the best presentation of your life – again and again and again. You have my backing and support.