The Importance of Planning a Negotiation Strategy for Sales free essay sample

I read and analyzed this information multiple times until I had a complete understanding of the situation I was about to be submerged in and the responsibilities/duties I was obligated to fulfill. After completing this task and recognizing what my goals were I had to decide what strategy and type of negotiation I should use in order to plan appropriately and arrive at the goals assigned to me by POP Production. It was made clear that my goal was to structure a contract/deal with Windy City Theater that would outline an agreement concerning profit sharing of the box office tickets, salary amounts paid to my cast and crew, and who would be responsible for lodging/board costs. Having a lot of criteria and alternatives revolving around these three negotiable components, it created a wide range of bargaining mixes. With further research and exploration of information regarding WCT it was obvious that I did not have a clear understanding of their exact goals and priorities when it came to hosting a show in their theatre. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance of Planning a Negotiation Strategy for Sales or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Recognizing this blind spot and the importance to keep a positive and healthy relationship for the possibility of future business (Bugles); I decided to choose collaborative negotiation that would aim to create a settlement that fully satisfies all parties. After conceptualizing the information and present situation it had clearly outlined the necessary conditions that characterize collaborative negotiation and reinforced my theory that I was heading down the right path. It is these following conditions that define the relationship and motive of my negotiation: * Potential for mutual gain Fundamental motivation * High aspirations * Laborious and tedious * Problem-solving orientation * Required to work through issues * Premised on relationship building * Dilemma of honesty and trust Having my goals and strategy identified I was able to start the planning phase of my negotiation by creating a planning document. I outlined and organized information on both parties to the best of my know ledge relating to the topics of goals, background information, important issues, BATNA, resistance points, and target points. Once I had the raw data in front of me on my planning document I continued to outline the necessary steps to successfully implement my strategy. There are seven main steps which structure and make collaborative negotiation successful. It is these seven steps that I added to my planning document to ensure that I acted in the right way and followed the appropriate steps and rules of collaborative negotiation. 1. Define the problem and goal a. It is important that you keep it simple in the beginning as you are trying to build friendship and trust. b. I simply shared my three goals without any numbers or solutions attached to them. . Identify interest c. This is where I can try and figure out what WCT’s substantive interests are and what their priorities are. 3. Identify the obstacle d. This is where I planned to â€Å"open up† in a friendly way to find out what stands between me and my goals. 4. Develop Criteria for solutions e. This is where I planned to determine what WC T is interested in, in order to close the deal. 5. Have a frank discussion about pooling resources f. This is where I planned to talk about my other show Bugle and additional revenue generated from autograph signing sessions. . Generate alternatives g. This is where I planned to be creative and work as a team to generate additional alternatives that might help the both of us out. 7. Evaluate and select alternatives h. This is where I planned to use the provided spread sheet in calculating the selected bargaining mixes we agreed upon. I planned for this negotiation by first identifying what my goals were, choosing an appropriate strategy than creating a planning document that incorporates all the aspects of negotiating demonstrated above. Actual Negotiation I met Taylor Anderson at Red Square around 4:30 Sunday evening, and it was extremely noisy because it was during the midst of the low-rider car show. I had showed up early to walk around to see all the cars so I wouldn’t be heavily distracted from the negotiation. Once we found an appropriate spot we jumped right into the negotiation. I was the first person to speak up by saying that I wanted to be honest and work together in a collaborative setting. He paused for a second before saying anything but I could tell by his non-verbal sigh of relief portrayed on his face that we had the same intentions for this negotiation. Once we had come to this agreement we started going through the seven collaborative steps to get a better understanding of each other’s interest. We were able to go through the seven steps in a relaxing and friendly manner. When it came to verbal communication we were talking like two friends at a bar which relieved lots of stress and I believe it helped when it came to pooling resources. The fear of giving out to much information and being left in a vulnerable spot had dissipated as we got deeper in the negotiation. Being in a loud public setting had an extremely different effect on our verbal and non-verbal communication than that of being in the break-out rooms or class room setting where you feel obligated to talk in a proper business voice and sit in an upright manner; ultimately wearing a mask of deception which causes me to second guess everything my opposing party says or does. As we worked our way through the negotiation using friendly body gestures and speaking freely by using slang terms we started getting into numbers and bargaining mixes. We started off by discussing salary for my crew and cast. Taylor made the initial offer of $165,000 and I rebutted by saying I need a salary above $200,000. He then made an offer of $225,000 if I agreed to use my cast and crew for three matinees and autograph sessions. This sounded like a fair deal so I accepted it as part of the bargaining mix. The next topic was profit sharing. We agreed that I would keep 35% of the profits for this show since he agreed to pay for the lodging/board and meals. This gave the structure of my contract a value of $587,000 which is $287,500 more than what the Grand Palace was offering. When assessing our individual traits and how it influenced the outcome of our negotiation I believed it to have a positive effect. We were expressing almost identical moods and emotions which made us very cohesive and placed a large emphasis on premising relationship building and helping eliminate the dilemma of honesty. We were both telling jokes and laughing at each other’s jokes while calculating our bargaining mixes we had proposed to each other which symbolized that we had the same personality and could work parallel with one another when solving the problem at hand; together as a team/partner. Through verbal, non-verbal, conforming individual traits, and a laid back public setting helped in building a healthy relationship and developing a barraging mix that allowed us to mutually gain value from one another. Negotiation Assessment After reaching an agreement and walking away from the negotiation I started thinking and reflecting on what just happened and if I was truly satisfied or not. The first question that popped into my head was, â€Å"why did the negotiation progress as it did? I think the negotiation progressed as it did through the art of friendly negotiation which is the backbone and main driver of collaborative negotiation. If I would have entered this negotiation with a distributive and competitive attitude I probably could have gotten a higher salary and better split of the profits from the box office tickets but would have thrown away the opportunity to show my Bugel musical at the WTC which is favorably located in Chicago. The next question that came to mind was, â€Å"how did individual differences impact the process/outcomes? After going back over the series of events that happened I realized that it wasn’t the differences that played a major role but all the similarities that we shared when expressing ourselves through our individual traits. Not having to articulate around someone who is completely opposite really enhanced the relationship aspect which directly correlated with pooling our resources and generating multiple alternatives that held value for mutual gains. Another major factor that determined the outcome of our negotiation was the fact we had it outside in a non-stressful business nvironment. Not having to hold to the up-tight business norm allowed for us to act natural and be our true selves. It is important to separate the people from the problem and leave your ego at the door when walking into a negotiation. Being able to leave the business persona at the door I was able to fo cus all my energy at the current problem instead of focusing on portraying a serious business image and worrying about all my non-verbal cues that may hint I am not a powerful general manager and I can be walked on by someone who is more business oriented. Another reason I believe our negotiation went so smooth was due to the fact that I used my planned negotiation strategy directly from my planning document. Since I was able to use my planned strategy we were able to walk through each step and work as a team when trying to identify each other’s interests, priorities, and future plans. Having a well-executed and planned negotiation gave me a high level of satisfaction! I also felt satisfied because I know I gave the general manager at WCT a good deal and had made a new friend from the experience. This was a great learning experience; and with every great learning experience I was able to learn something new about myself. The most important thing that I learned about myself is that I am a way better negotiator in a non-formal setting where I can just be myself. I also learned that I am way better at collaborative and integrative negotiations than distributive negotiations. This is due to the fact that I have a friendly personality, can relate to all walks of life, and don’t have the heart to screw people over. Over the span of the quarter I have felt a large amount of personal development. I use to always veer away from conflict because I did not know how to handle/deal with it. I can now identify the type of conflict that I am dealing with and apply certain steps and follow certain guidelines to help find a resolution. A wise WWU negotiation 401 professor once told me, â€Å"You are surrounded by conflict so you better learn how to deal with it and resolve it† I feel that I have finally stopped hiding from conflict and can now deal with it and try to resolve it with confidence. Action Plan Still being new to negotiations and learning how to deal with them in a professional matter I have identified multiple weaknesses that I can hopefully improve by the following action plan. 1. I will learn the three strategic intentions of distributive negotiation by the end of the quarter. a. This SMART goal addresses my weakness of giving out to much information because I think my opposing party is my friend when really they have different intentions. b. The steps that I will take to accomplish this goal are to partake in more everyday distributive negotiations and every time I give out to much information I will snap myself with a rubber band. c. By accomplishing this goal I will keep the opposing party guessing what and how many resources I have. When I give up valuable information in the beginning I start working against myself. 2. I will learn two techniques by the end of the quarter to help me act more professional in a business environment. d. This SMART goal addresses my weakness of having to spend too much time focusing on how I look (sitting up straight, appropriate body gestures, etc. ) instead of focusing on the problem or conflict that I am trying resolve. e. I will accomplish this by joining a business club on campus where I am forced to act in a professional business manner. I will also try to stop using â€Å"slang terms† when describing or justifying my perspective or point of view. f. By accomplishing this goal I will get respect in the business field instead of being looked at as a joke. 3. I will learn to stop twirling my pen around my finger when I get nervous during a negotiation g. This SMART goal addresses my weakness/nervous tick that I have when I find myself lost for words or don’t have an immediate response h. I will accomplish this by keeping my pen on the desk and only pick it up if I need to write something down or make a calculation i. By accomplishing this goal I will not expose the fact that I am nervous through non-verbal communication 4. I will learn to stop using filler words every time I am trying to explain something that I am not one hundred percent certain about. . This SMART goal addresses my weakness in the sense that I don’t know when to use â€Å"silence† as a position of power. k. I will accomplish this by writing at the top of all my planning documents SILENCE so that way when I look down to try and figure out what I am talking about I will remember that I don’t have to answer right away and fill my sentences full of â€Å"ums† when trying to figure out my next argument l. By accomplishing this goal my speech will hold more â€Å"power† because I am not letting the opposing party know that I am lost for words which lets them know that they have me cornered with my own facts.

Practical vs. Theoretical essays

Practical vs. Theoretical essays Alexis de Tocqueville was born into a noble French family in 1805. After swearing his allegiance to the new government of France, he and a friend, Gustave de Beaumont, sought and received an assignment to study prison systems in the United States. After his arrival in May of 1831, Tocqueville made some of the cleverest, most enlightening observations anyone has ever made. His outlook on why the Americans were more addicted to practical rather than theoretical science was one of the most interesting. Equality begets in man the desire of judging of everything for himself: it gives him, in all things, a taste for the tangible and the real, a contempt for traditions and for forms. Tocqueville meant that people in America thought for themselves. They could figure out what was actually real, and did not like to follow traditions or go along with what other people thought, said, or did. This quote clearly shows that Tocqueville thought that the American people were obviously more practical than theoretical. He even stated in chapter 10, the chapter covering this issue, that Americans always displayed a clear, free, original, and inventive power of mind. He also went on to state that hardly anyone in the United States devoted himself or herself to the essentially theoretical and abstract portion of human knowledge. In a community thus organized, it may easily be conceived that the human mind may be led insensibly to the neglect of theory; and that it is urged, on the contrary, with unparalleled energy, to the applications of science, or at least to that portion of theoretical science which is necessary to those who make such applications. Alexis de Tocqueville seemed to think that Americans needed to be theoretical from time to time. He thought it would bring them more intellect, and perhaps interest. He also thought that instead of wasting good energy and activity, people should become more theoretical about things...

Boo Hoo

Question 1. Which strategic marketing assumptions and decisions arguably made Boo. com’s failure inevitable? Contrast these with other dot-com era survivors that are still in business, for example lastminute. com, Egg. com and Firebox. com. Boo. com was started by 3 Swedish entrepreneurs as they wanted to launch a world wide online retail website selling major sports brands clothing like Adidas, Nike, Fila, Lacoste, Polo and Ralph Lauren etc. here were major decisions and assumptions were made, taking for an example the currency conversion rate offered in US and Europe was far lower than the normal currency conversion rate in the market this lead to negative impact on the Boo. com and its sales. Initially it was though that world wide launching and making it a successful online store within month by injecting huge amount of money would lead to brand recognition in the market. Company invested $135 Million in the first 6 months in order to make it popular website all over the w orld (Tillett 2000). Author Verma Verma (2003) explains that website retailing is least expensive as maintaining website and uploading pictures and graphics and using creative 7 Ps of the marketing mix leads to positive result. Boo. com spend $6milion in 1999-2000 on web developing and adding pictures of the products which coasted them $200 per picture was a huge expense created by the company management, due to those reasons they couldn’t generate $20 million in 2000 and on 18th May 2000 company got bankrupt. The assumption of being a global brand within months by injecting unnecessary money in the technology and it operation was a wrong decision made by the Boo. com management which actually led to disaster and company needed urgent finances in 2000 which eventually lead them to bankruptcy. Another major assumption went wrong was the selection of the target market. Company started targeting males and females aged 18 years to 24 years old as it was believed they are more fashion conscious people. But critics and according to media pointed out the fact that these people are fashion conscious but how many 18 to 24 male and females go online and do shopping using their credit cards. This is what we are talking about in 1990 where online frauds and dial internet were common comparing to now. In contrast there were other online retailers like egg. com and Firebox. com and they survived and still running business. As money or profits generated and wise and realistic strategies and tactics were used by these companies. According to a travel Trade Gazette (2007) clearly stated in their article that Boo. om blew their money and wasted on so many unnecessary technologies. Article also presented that boo. com is linked with one of the biggest failures of the first dot. com era. It materialised at around the same time as lastminute. com and was Swedish-owned UK-based site selling lifestyle apparel. Extravagant marketing and development costs meant it burned through money which impacted i n 2000 when investors gave up and $20 million was not raised by the company on 18th May 2000 and was declared bankrupt. Where as other online companies used less financial sources and tried best to attract customers and satisfy their needs and wants. So basically above arguments and facts clearly shows various wrong decisions were made by the Boo. com management and by the company itself which led them to failure. Question 2. Using the framework of the marketing mix, appraise the marketing tactics of Boo. com in the areas of Product, Pricing, Place, Promotion, Process, People and Physical Evidence. For online retailers it is vital to create their marketing mix very effective as it is not mere limited to the Place, Price, Product and promotion (Rix Stanton 1998).

Planning Law Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Planning Law - Assignment Example The industrial age played a very big role in reshaping population settlement. It caused more and more people to flock into cities looking for work. However, in the 21st century, the information revolution is probably the number one factor that is affecting the way people settle. The information revolution that has been caused by the increasing communication technology that started in the mid-seventeenth century has now come to change the way people settle. However, since information revolution is always under continuous development, it is hard to say exactly how it is affecting human settlement. For instance, originally, information technology was only available in and around cities and urban settlements. The way this affected human settlement is that people had to move to cities in order to access these services. In this regard, the information revolution can be said to be having the same effect that industrial revolution had on human settlement. However, as time goes on, informatio n revolution is changing, and it is now easier for people to access these services such as internet connection and cell phone networks, even in some of world’s remotest points. This factor combines with the fact that most people these days work online, mean that the people can now settle anywhere in the world and don’t need to go to cities or urban centers. ... However, since information revolution is always under continuous development, it is hard to say exactly how it is affecting human settlement. For instance, originally, information technology was only available in and around cities and urban settlements. The way this affected human settlement is that people had to move to cities in order to access these services. In this regard, the information revolution can be said to be having the same effect that industrial revolution had on human settlement. However, as time goes on, information revolution is changing, and it is now easier for people to access these services such as internet connection and cell phone networks, even in some of world’s remotest points. This factor combines with the fact that most people these days work online, mean that the people can now settle anywhere in the world and don’t need to go to cities or urban centers. Part II McAuslan2 (1980) is trying to indicate that planning law is still very crude an d that it does not help in making cities better. This viewpoint is wrong because the law has made sure that the freedom that individual and organizations had a hundred years ago is not there anymore, and this helps in protecting cities and the environment in general. Module 4 Journal The local government is a very important arm with regard to the enforcement of planning regulations and laws (Westen3 2009). Without these local governments, the many planning laws would be useless and it would be very hard to manage the real estate available to any cities. Local governments understand the local city best and they understand the concerns of the local people in the best way. For this reason, the local government would be able to help in making sure that the

How persuasive are the design arguments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

How persuasive are the design arguments - Essay Example People always wanted to know much about the origin of humanity. This issue has always been mysterious for us and it really seems that nature that allowed us to touch upon its secrets, would like to hide the truth from humans. However, there are people, who dared to try to find out the truth. They are famous philosophers, who played an important role in the life of all of us. The philosophers devoted their lives to science in order to create the arguments, which attempt to explain the origin of humanity. The argument from design was widely discussed and serves as a foundation of the modern science. The given paper will make an overview of the arguments and come to corresponding conclusion. William Paley in his book Natural Theology (1802) paralleled between the living things intricacy and subordinate intricacy of a surveillance that was created by an intelligent creature, as it was known. This version is considered to be classic. Taking into account the reasoning from design, or teleological argument, the design that was discovered in the universe gave reason to talk about subsistence of the intelligent creator that is usually depicted as God. Paley underlined in his works that a watch could not become possible without the creator of this watch, thus it became clear that living creatures had no opportunity to exist without an intelligent creator. There is a version that living things are the offspring of intelligent design. It could be concluded that watches refer to the intelligent design, thus living creatures have similarity with them. The living things are â€Å"equipped† with the eyes, the main tools of gathering the information. Paley states: â€Å"[S]upp ose I found a watch upon the ground, and it should be inquired how the watch happened to be in that place, I should hardly think †¦ that, for anything I knew, the watch might have always been there. Yet why should not this answer serve for the watch as well as for [a] stone [that happened to be lying on the ground† (Paley, 1809. p.1). The idea of Paley is based generally on biological aspect and its intricacy. This version was seriously considered, when Mr. Darwin presented his famous evolution theory based on the natural selection in 1859. Darwin in this way explained how livings creatures, which are intelligent, could adapt in a perfect way to their environment, even if they were not so intelligent. By this statement Darwin doubted the Paley’s idea about the biological base of argument to design to a considerable degree. The 20th century gave birth to another argument that was connected to the cosmology. This argument is also called fine-tuning argument. It state s that it is possible to explain the life on the planet by the different independent natural processes, but the fact that the universe gave chance for the life existing on the privilege position, confirmed the presence of the intelligent creator. For example, you should understand that for life as it exists now at the earth many incipient conditions and values as well as physical constants are necessary. If these conditions do not operate in appropriate way or make some tiny error, life will be just impossible in our universe. This statement represents the additional proof of theory of the existence of some intelligent creature that made all conditions, values and constants work on life creation. Hurben and Drange claimed that the denomination of the different physical constants could be combined only with the possible found denomination. In this argument to design other possible combinations could not exist. In this case Carrier and Drange also claimed that such characteristic as f ine-tuning could be concerned as illusion, in the light of what was stated above. In the book called Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion by David Hume you can find critics to this theory. Norman Smith underlined that Hume’s criticism was not only pernicious but also complete. This point of

Symbolism in Bernard Malamuds The Natural Essay -- Bernard Malamud Th

Symbolism in Bernard Malamud's The Natural   Ã‚   The role of symbolism in Bernard Malamud's The Natural is important in helping the reader understand the theme and meaning of the novel as well as the time period in which it took place.   Malamud ¡Ã‚ ¦s use of symbolism defines the character of Roy Hobbs and shows how the events occurring around him affected his decisions and, eventually, his career.   Ã‚   Symbolism in The Natural takes the form of characters, such as women who strongly influenced Roy; historical events, such as the infamous 1919 World Series scandal; and even Greek and Roman mythology.   All forms of symbolism used by Malamud are woven into the life and career of Roy Hobbs.   As a first example, women have a tremendous influence on Roy ¡Ã‚ ¦s actions and feelings.   One of the more influential symbols in the book, women tend to control what Roy does.   The first woman Roy falls for is Harriet Bird whom he meets on a train on his way to Chicago to try out for the Chicago Cubs.   Roy is extremely attracted to her, but a major league ballplayer on the train named Whammer Wambold has already caught her eye.   Roy becomes jealous and begins to do things to try to get her attention.   At a stop in the route, the passengers get off for a break and go to a local carnival where Roy and the big leaguer clash in a contest of talent, a David-and-Goliath-type confrontation (Solotaroff 9).   Roy strikes out the batter with three blistering pitches, each of which make Harriet pay more and more attention to him.   As they arrive in Chicago, Harriet stays at the hotel at which Roy has booked a room.   She gives him a call and provocatively invites hi m to her room.   Succumbing to her invitation, and making his way to her room, he enters and se... ...he symbolism in The Natural is deep-seeded and is found by the reader upon reflection on the book. Therefore, understanding Malamud ¡Ã‚ ¦s use of symbolism is critical in understanding The Natural, its background, its times, and its meaning. WORKS CITED Abramson, Edward A.   Bernard Malamud Revisited.   New York:Twayne  Publishers,1993. Grail, Holy, ¡Ã‚ ¨Ã‚   Microsoft „ ¥ Encarta „ ¥ 98 Encyclopedia. „ ¦ 1993-1997 Microsoft  Corporation Helterman, Jeffrey.   Understanding Bernard Malamud.   Columbia:University of South  Carolina Press,1985. Malamud, Bernard.   The Natural.   New York:Avon Books,1952. Solotaroff, Robert.   Bernard Malamud: A Study of the Short Fiction.   Boston:Twayne Publishers,1989. Wasserman, Earl R.   "The Natural: Malamud's World Ceres" in Modern Critical Views: Bernard Malamud. Ed. Harold Bloom.   New York:Chelsea House Publishers. 47-64

Comparison: Hector in Iliad vs. Hector in Troy

Heroes possess five timeless qualities. They are always willing to accept a challenge, they are courageous, self-sacrificing, they can overcome struggle with strength and dignity, and they have superior yet human qualities. Over different eras, other qualities that are attributed to heroes change based on society’s changing morals and ethics. The two versions of Hector display the many differences between the Greeks perspective on heroes and the modern contemporary perspective on heroes.To begin with, it is implied that modern heroes are sympathetic and do not love to kill, while heroes in Greek perspectives love basking in glory over defeat of any of their enemies. Hector in the Iliad gloats over the sight of dying Patroclus, taunting him in his last moments alive, whereas Hector in Troy is remorseful when he finds out that it was not Achilles who he fought. He kills Patroclus to stop his suffering and says that it is enough fighting for one day, even though the war has just barely begun. This shows how modern heroes are dutiful to their cause, while not truly liking the violence involved.On the other hand, heroes in Greek perspectives are shown to be individuals who lust to kill and feel no compassion as long as they achieve victory. This ties into how the respect shown towards rivals differs greatly from one time period to another. Hector in the Iliad does not show respect to his enemies, therefore continuously taunting Patroclus. This is unlike Hector in the film who displays his respect for Patroclus by killing him. Hector’s respect in the modern version versus his lack of respect is evidence as to how heroes were believed to feel after defeating their enemy.Finally, these versions show that heroes by Greek definitions are opportunists, while modern heroes will complete a task through their own physical power. Hector in the Iliad is presented as an opportunist, diving in to kill Patroclus after Apollo has already injured him. This is unlike H ector in the film who fights Patroclus all on his own. This shows how the dependency of heroes has changed over time. Even though there are many differences between the perspectives of the Greeks and the modern contemporary, there are also quite a few similarities.First of all, both versions of Hector are displayed as fierce individuals. We can see this from the Hector in the Iliad through the diction used when describing him stabbing Patroclus. Their situation is compared to one of a lion and a tireless wild boar, where the â€Å"lion beats him down with sheer brute force as the boar fights for breath (Line 963-964). † By comparing Hector to such a tough animal and using â€Å"sheer brute force† when explaining how he stabbed Patroclus, his strength is shown. As well, showing that Hector has defeated a â€Å"wild boar† also contributes to showing his superiority.In Troy, just by his leadership and methods of fighting, one can see that he is very powerful. In ad dition, both are very loyal to their cities. They fight with courage and stay focused toward their goal. Even if Hector in the film commands the war to be over for the day, he still knows he has to be faithful to his city and fight again. Hector in the Iliad being the opportunist that he is, also shows his loyalty by finishing off his enemies with pride. All in all, through observing the attitudes and behaviors of the two versions of Hector, it is easy to interpret how these time periods felt about heroes.All heroes possess five timeless qualities in addition to other qualities which are believed to be important during their own time period. Sometimes, one may see that these qualities are quite similar, and other times, they are the exact opposite of each other. In conclusion, descriptions of heroes are created by looking at what will appeal to the readers or viewers based on morals and ethics valued during that time. For this reason, the two versions of Hector possess some of the s ame qualities, but also some very different ones.