Virtual Negotiation Speaker for Accountants – Keynote Speaker / Motivational Keynote Speaker Mike Hourigan

The Need for Virtual Negotiation Skills Speakers hasn’t changed, but the Times sure have!

My focus as a virtual negotiation speaker for accountants is not to teach you to “win.” In these difficult times called the new normal, my focus is to help your firm understand its negotiation aims without discouraging your present or future associations.

“Winning” a one-time negotiation may be fine if your objective is to buy a new car, but hammering away at a client to gain a small advantage is guaranteed to result in a loss of business. My virtual accounting training will help you succeed.

We’re All Stressed Enough

The pandemic has forced most of us into a virtual world. Everyone, it seems, is stressed. We’re humans and we like human contact and the back and forth that humans enjoy. COVID has taken a lot of that away from us, at least temporarily.

When I teach accountants virtual negotiation skills trainings, the first thing I emphasize is to treat the client as a person, and not a box on a Zoom call. The person on the “other end” of the negotiation brings a whole set of temporary lifestyle changes to the table from keeping a dog from barking during the virtual meeting to protecting their families.

Save for hermits, no one is having a good time right now. It is a difficult situation and we must recognize it as such. It is not business as usual and a little empathy goes a long way.

While we want to negotiate fees so that a favorable outcome is reached, the ultimate goal is to set the foundation so that we can go from differences to a long-lasting pact between two parties.

What is Your Style?

It is essential in these virtual times to develop skills as effective negotiators using our own unique negotiation style and to carry that through to many different situations. My specialty as a virtual negotiation skill trainer for accountants is to help you shape and hone those skills.

Negotiation doesn’t mean pounding the table or being intractable, but being a partner in reaching an equitable solution. During my Negotiation Skills Training I have helped many excellent negotiators who are, by nature, quiet and “shy,” as well as helping to moderate the excitable and overbearing.

In some ways virtual negotiations can be more real – and remembered – than in-person. I say that because technology allows virtual conference calls to be recorded and “dissected.”

What you say in one negotiation may be compared to what was previously said. Therefore, a vital skill is to not only develop a style but to be consistent and genuine in that style.

What is Your Plan?

Another, crucially important skill is to plan the negotiation that will help ensure your firm’s success. As a virtual trainer who has worked with numerous accounting teams, I want to help train your team to give you every possible advantage starting with who comprises the negotiation team, what their roles are, and how you view your strengths and weaknesses.

That said, every accounting negotiation whether virtual or in-person must be professional and contextual. In all ways the negotiating team must be appropriate and convey a unique image.

In terms of the negotiation, whether virtual or eventually in-person, remember that most firms bring approximately the same tangibles to the meeting. What are remembered are the intangibles. Make your negotiation count!

Mike Hourigan, Virtual Negotiation Speaker for Accountants helps accounting firms to better negotiate. Mike offers virtual podcasts, live video conferencing and in-person events. For more information on Mike Hourigan, call today at (704) 875-3030 or by filling out the form below.