Are You Listening or Leaping? In my area of expertise, being a negotiation and listening listening skills motivational keynote speaker, I often ask my in-person or virtual attendees if, during a negotiation, they listen or leap? I am usually met with head scratching. Negotiation and listening skills are inter-twined. As a keynote speaker and consultant on negotiation skills, I have sat through hundreds, if not thousands of negotiations. Needing...
Want to be a Superior Realtor? Learn Negotiation Skills In my work as a negotiation skills training speaker to real estate agents, I am often asked why negotiation skills are so important? My response is that when realtors learn negotiating skills it is one of the best ways that they can differentiate themselves. Real Estate Negotiation I recently came across an excellent piece in the prestigious Harvard Business School online...
All That Stinks Here Isn’t Cheese As a negotiation skills keynote speaker and breakout speaker who speaks nationwide on negotiation, I will admit two things upfront: I actually used the expression “all that stinks here isn’t cheese,” with a cheese-making ingredient client, and that I don’t know anything about cheesemaking. Well, Excuuuse Me As to the expression, it led to me helping the sales manager at the ingredient company...
Negotiation Skills Speaker Learning effective negotiation skills isn’t a talent reserved for an elite few. As a negotiation skills speaker, I often remind those who attend my negotiation skills keynote addresses and workshops, that 70 percent of the sale is made before you get there.“Well then, Mike, what is the other 30 percent?” It’s You! The unknown factor in any negotiation, especially for people in sales and marketing, is...
Mike Hourigan, your Negotiation Skills Speaker In my specialty as a negotiation skills speaker and negotiation expert, I have learned that the key to an effective negotiation is not to “win” but to reach a mutually beneficial compromise. To that end, when I teach negotiation skills in my keynote speeches or negotiation skills breakout sessions, class participants are frequently surprised when I stress the importance of making the other...
In my role as a virtual negotiation skills keynote speaker, whenever I present a topic as a virtual negotiation skills training speaker in the area of virtual negotiation skills or soon (I hope) in-person negotiation skills training, I am frequently asked: “Mike what is the most important negotiation skill that I need to bring with me to the meeting?” Actually, there are four negotiation skills every negotiator should possess....
As an online negotiation skills speaker and in-person change management speaker, I am interested in the popular phrase the “new normal”, or sometimes “the new now.” The problem is that “the new now” is a moving target and as a change management speaker, I know all too well that executives often have trouble keeping up with the change. A Millennial in Trouble Recently, I was made aware of a...
In my specialty as a virtual negotiation skills speaker, I have had the opportunity to teach negotiation skills training on an international basis. In fact, just last week I delivered a virtual keynote on negotiation skills to an international organization where 14 nations were represented. The amazing questions I received about negotiation skills from the virtual audience were equally excellent and insightful no matter where in the world the...
As a change management speaker, both in my virtual and in-person talks, I tell my audiences that navigating change is all about negotiation. It is your life skills that let you frame the negotiation. Let me give you an unfortunate, but worthwhile example. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a Disease. How We Face it is a Negotiation. We are currently locked in a battle against an unseen foe: the...
Inspirational Negotiation Skills & Techniques Speaker It is always an honor for me as a motivational negotiation skills and negotiation skills training speaker to offer helpful hints on effective methods to improve negotiation bargaining positions. In my keynote addresses, I frequently talk about the many negotiation skills that can be effectively used to ensure that the potentially equitable deal is not diminished by wasting away opportunities and leaving us...
It’s Not the What, But the Why In my keynote and breakout sessions I talk as a negotiation skills speaker on workplace communication, I often say that above all, successful negotiation skills are about successful communication skills, where parties need to get to the “why” and not worry about the what. If I am negotiating with you, I can try to give you what you want if I know...
It will surprise no one reading this post that negotiation skills training is needed so that you and the other party can ultimately arrive at an equitable solution. Negotiating Skills is something you’ve probably tried since grade school. Remember when you were trading baseball or Pokémon cards in school? It is possible, you may still be mad at yourself for trading a Pikachu or A-Rod card for two or three...
In speaking and teaching on negotiation skills for association executives, I am all too familiar with the pressures on association meeting planners these days. Whether you are a professional meeting planner, work for a professional planner or your boss has thrown a meeting project in your lap, nothing about learning the negotiation skills for an annual meeting, quarterly meeting or regional training sessions is easy. In fact, it’s become...
Mike Hourigan, Inspirational Speaker on Negotiation Skills and Team Building Using Negotiation Skills to Eliminate Silo Thinking When I present keynotes and breakout session talks on negotiation skills to eliminate silo thinking, in the Q&A session I am often asked what the relationship is between negotiation skills and team building. The short answer is “Everything!” Negotiation skills are the ultimate team building exercise because developing negotiation skills eliminates the...
You’re a Professional Manufacturer’s Rep, but Who’s Representing You? My negotiation skills keynote speaking for manufacturers’ reps and manufacturers’ reps workshops are based on real-life experience. I started my career as a manufacturer’s rep, then I successfully managed teams of manufacturers’ reps for a major corporation. As a negotiation skills speaker, my background as a manufacturer’s rep was invaluable and also eye-opening. One serious observation I made is...
How Much is Not Enough? In my work as a negotiation skills speaker for independent contractors and co-workers, whenever I deliver a keynote speech at an industry association, I am typically asked: “Why do we always feel we’re never getting enough for our work?” The question is increasing in frequency as the number of independent workers has skyrocketed. In 2018, The Brookings Institute estimated that there are 15.5 million...
Mike Hourigan, Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Speaker As a national keynote speaker and breakout speaker helping people with their negotiation and conflict resolution skills, I am well aware of how words such as “negotiation” and “conflict resolution” are interchanged, even misused. When I present to corporate and association audiences on negotiation skills, I talk of two broad classifications. There is “hard negotiation,” for example, when customers walk into a...
I often stress the importance of Negotiation Skills in my Safety Motivational keynote addresses. Why? Because emphasizing safety to transportation, manufacturing, food processing or refinery personnel is a continuous negotiation. Organizations understand the need for safety training, but to many employees it is just another boring meeting where they have to force themselves to stay awake. They walk into those meetings complacent, and they leave the same way. Why...
Every Aspect of Healthcare is a Negotiation Skill Healthcare Negotiation Skills Speaker Mike Hourigan is a nationally recognized Negotiation Skills Keynote Speaker on healthcare negotiation skills, who often talks to groups of healthcare professionals who don’t normally associate negotiation skills with their profession. Negotiation skills in healthcare are not only important to the practice of medicine but lives may depend on it. When I speak on the topic of negotiation...
“How Many Bananas per Bunch?” One of my great joys as a negotiation skills speaker is to meet with meeting attendees both before and after my keynote addresses and seminars. Sometimes the meetings are casual and informal, sometimes as part of a question and answer session. I really like these interactions because I had real-life experience myself starting with manufacturing and sales and working my way into upper management....