It’s Negotiable

Good morning,

Happy Friday! One of life’s little pleasures is negotiating. For those who don’t currently find it to be a pleasure, perhaps today’s sunny note will help. Negotiating a better deal doesn’t have to be painful. There are simple techniques that can help. But none of them matter until we embrace this simple fact.

Almost everything is negotiable.

It’s often said that nothing is certain but death and taxes. Okay so death might not be negotiable, but taxes certainly are and so are the prices of everything we buy and sell on the planet.

Some people instinctively negotiate while others shudder at the thought of “haggling” over anything. In general, Americans aren’t particularly prone to negotiate purchases. We walk into stores expecting to pay the prices on the labels without thinking twice. Although missed opportunities in the grocery store might not add up to much, in the business world heedlessly paying sticker price or even sale price without negotiating can be very costly.

The bottom line is – there’s always a better deal available. It’s just a matter of whether we have the desire and the leverage to get it. Sometimes we will and sometimes we won’t, but we always have the opportunity.

Orvel Ray Wilson, author of “Guerrilla Negotiating: How to Create a Fair Advantage in an Unfair World,” offers numerous tips for negotiating in business and defending ourselves from other sharp negotiators. First he points out when not to negotiate, such as when you’d lose the farm, when you don’t care, when the other party’s demands are unethical, etc. Then he reminds us to “never enter a negotiation you’re not willing to walk away from.”

Based on this foundation, here are a few negotiation tips from Orvel:
- Prepare thoroughly and set priorities in advance, including “must gets,” “intend to gets,” and “nice to gets.”
- Ask for more than you really want, more than you even expect. Higher expectations yield higher outcomes.
- Never concede anything during negotiation without asking for something in return.

Most importantly, at home and at work, when you want something to be different - just ask. So much of what we assume is set in stone can actually be changed in our favor if we simply ask. And don’t be afraid of hearing the big bad “no.” Every “no” just gets us closer to the next “yes.”

Go for it – and have a sunny day!

Clarity

P.S. “Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy

P.P.S. Thank you for visiting ASunnyNote.com. If you’re new to Sunny Notes and would like to receive my sunny email each Friday, visit JoinSunnyNotes.com.

Clarity Patton Newhouse
Metropolitan Lincoln Mercury
32000 Ford Road
Garden City, MI 48135
313-670-7505
MetroMichigan.com

Tell or Sell

Good morning,

It's Friday and that's grand! Today's sunny subject pertains to sales. Of course we're all selling something, whether we call ourselves salespeople or not. I was reminded of this at a recent Livonia Chamber of Commerce meeting featuring Kirk Armstrong from Gerry Weinberg & Associates. Kirk pointed out that a leading cause of failure during the sales process is...(after making us guess)..."talking too much."

Talk less; listen more.

Many of us have been told this since childhood and - at least in one regard - there's something to it, namely that being a good listener is a valuable asset. Listening also involves asking relevant questions and follow-up questions, showing genuine interest in the other person and learning what's important to them.

This advice pertains just as well to personal relationships, where listening is also critical to success. (At least that's what all the love gurus seem to say!)

With clients, when we find ourselves doing a lot of talking, Kirk Armstrong warns us to ask ourselves, "Am I selling or telling?" If you're doing a lot of "telling" then you're probably not "selling."

Happy selling and have a sunny day!

Clarity


P.S. "To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation."
Francois de La Rochefoucauld, French Author & Moralist (1613 - 1680)


P.P.S. Thank you for visiting ASunnyNote.com. If you’re new to Sunny Notes and would like to receive my sunny email each Friday, visit JoinSunnyNotes.com.

Clarity Patton Newhouse
Metropolitan Lincoln Mercury
32000 Ford Road
Garden City, MI 48135
313-670-7505
MetroMichigan.com

Windshield or Bug

Good morning,

Happy Friday - It's going to be a sunny day! This morning I woke up thinking about someone I met about six years ago, who is one of the sunniest people I know. His name is Willie Jolley and he's the author of a delightful book whose key message is right there in the title.

A Setback is a Setup for a Comeback.
We all face setbacks in our lives. No matter how successful we are or want to be, success involves overcoming setbacks. Sure, let's make the most of the good times. But we can also bounce back from the bad times.

As Willie Jolley puts it, sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug. "When you're the windshield, you are big and strong and invincible; when you're the bug, you will keep running into obstacles." He reminds us that even on the days when we're the bug, the outcome depends on our attitude.

A positive attitude helps develop resiliency. "When you hit the windshield, you no longer smash and crash and die." You bounce off the windshield and are "thrust into a higher trajectory and you start to fly at a higher level."

Willie's book touchingly reminds us that we can survive setbacks and use them to propel ourselves to even greater success.

Today - whether we're the windshield or the bug - let's have a sunny day!

Clarity

P.S. "There is little difference in people, but that little difference makes a big difference. The little difference is attitude. The big difference is whether it is positive or negative."
W. Clement Stone

P.P.S. Thank you for visiting ASunnyNote.com. If you’re new to Sunny Notes and would like to receive my sunny email each Friday, visit JoinSunnyNotes.com.

Clarity Patton Newhouse
Metropolitan Lincoln Mercury
32000 Ford Road
Garden City, MI 48135
313-670-7505
MetroMichigan.com

We Decide

Good morning,

It’s Friday and that always makes me smile, even when the week has been as turbulent as this one. Today I'm thinking about life's one constant:

Change.

We all face change, big and small. But change itself is not the issue; it's how we handle it that has a huge effect on our success.

The specific change that's on my mind is Ford Motor Company's recent announcement that Mercury will retire at the end of this year. Mercury is a great brand whose vehicles such as the Milan are leaders in quality, safety and fuel efficiency. It will be sad to say good-bye.

As a Lincoln Mercury dealership, Mercury is half (literally) of Metropolitan's new car sales. Losing Mercury will be a big change for Metropolitan. So is it just a big difficulty or actually a great opportunity? We get to decide.

In the words of Sir Winston Churchill, "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

At Metropolitan, we’re focusing on the exciting new lineup of Lincoln vehicles Ford Motor Company is introducing and the other great services our dealership offers that will enable us to serve our customers for years to come.

At work and at home - whatever difficulties each of us face, let's be optimists - and have a sunny day!

Clarity

P. S. "Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal." - Henry Ford

P.P.S. Thank you for visiting ASunnyNote.com. If you’re new to Sunny Notes and would like to receive my sunny email each Friday, visit JoinSunnyNotes.com.

Clarity Patton Newhouse
Metropolitan Lincoln Mercury
32000 Ford Road
Garden City, MI 48135
313-670-7505
MetroMichigan.com