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When it comes to negotiation the negotiation teams are busy strategically planning and working on each other’s moves almost like a giant chess game. Still, if the negotiation and agreement is supposed to work long-term, there must be something on the table for both parties. Negotiations have to be a little bit of “win-win” because if they are too much one-sided and too much “win-lose” in the end everyone loses because the deal falls through, or the objectives are not met causing problems for both sides.

The difference between negotiation and chess is that in chess there are specific rules, and it’s easier to predict your opponent. In negotiation although there are unspoken rules, almost anything goes. This is why creativity in negotiation matters very much, and the team with it has a huge advantage as they can come up with innovative ways to solve problems, and help the other party get what they want, so their team can get what it wants.

The more creative the negotiators, and the more agile they are, the more opportunities they have. This clearly gives them the advantage by far. All too often, people go to school to learn negotiation, and some of the top negotiators in the world have often gone to the same school interestingly enough. In top business level negotiations many of the parties involved either went to Harvard or to Yale. They are working out of the same playbook.

So, if you have someone on your team that is highly creative and did not attend Harvard or Yale then your team has the advantage, do you see that point? I hope you will please consider all this because it has come to me at a very high price, through my many years of negotiation. It was a learning process for me, and much of it I learned the hard way. So please think on it.

The secret of success is in the quality of your focus. Like a surgeon precisely removes the damaged part, you must replace what is not efficient with something that is. Do not focus on the past except to learn from it. What you do now will determine the success or failure in the future.

Focus on the present to prepare for the future. Focus on the past to learn from your mistakes and successes. Focus on the trends so you can ride them to success. Focus on new developments to take advantage of them. Analyze everything so that you can weed out inefficiencies and keep going at full speed to reach your goals.

One thing often overlooked is that if you keep on doing what you have been doing, you will keep on getting what we have been getting. It is insane to expect different results with the same action. If you are not getting good results, you must change what you are doing. Here is where the precise part comes in. You usually do not have to change everything, just the inefficient part.

The problem is that you probably do not know which part to change. This is what focus is all about. You must develop a method of analysis to determine what is efficient and what is not. Sometimes you simply have to change something and see what happens. It is a matter of discovering what does not blend in with your system. It is a process of elimination to remove what is not efficient.

Success is often a matter of timing. What will work one time, may go belly up another time. Businesses often move gradually to a peak, hold steady for a while and then begin to decline. The same goes for products that businesses sell. They are popular for a while and then decline, depending on their quality and the quality of their competition.

You have to have a feel for what is hot and what is not. You have to know when to get in a business, how it is doing, and how to make it more efficient. You have to know how and when to get out if time changes have outdated your business.

This is where your focus is critical. How well you do, depends on how you read what is going on. You must not only focus on the present, but you must have a gut feeling for which way things are going. This requires analyzing trends. You can get better as you gain more experience. If you are sharp enough to anticipate changes in the trends, you can get a jump on the competition. If you guess wrong, you will lose ground.

How fast you rise to success and how long it remains to a peak, depends on the efficiency of your focus. You must sell what is hot and drop what is not. You must keep up with new developments. New technology may threaten your business unless you see it coming and take advantage of it. If you do not keep up with changes in the times, you will be left behind.

Remember the movie, “Field of Dreams”? The movie’s mantra was, “If you build it, they will come.” Along those same lines, in a persuasive presentation, if you SOLVE their problem, they will BUY. Let me explain.

Many of you have heard and read my “bespeakism” turn your focus 180°; imploring you to put yourself in the audience’s seat. Once you’re there, ask yourself, what’s bothering them? What’s keeping them up at night? What’s a PROBLEM they have that your product or service can SOLVE? Once you figure that out, you’re ready to begin building a presentation that will truly persuade them.

Begin by illustrating for them what their “Picture” looks like; where they currently are. Include in that picture, a crystal clear view of their problem. Now ears have perked up; heads are nodding. They’re listening because you’ve shown them that you “get” them. More important, you’ve just brought out in the open the thing that’s keeping them up at night! “Yes!” they’re thinking, “That’s exactly where I am! If only someone could help me with this problem.”

Enter YOU and your proposal for solving this problem. (By the way, this kind of intro works just as effectively for informative presentations; you have to give the audience a compelling reason to listen and learn − illuminating a problem they’re facing that your information will help them solve is the best way to capture their interest.) For those of you in the selling business (and who isn’t?) this is when you tell them in PLAIN English (think smart savvy 11 year old), using BIG BOLD BRAVE words what your solution is.

Next, you illustrate the payoff; the BENEFITS to them of adopting your proposal. These are NOT bells and whistles, doo dads and super duper gadgets. These are the what’s and how’s their lives will be better, easier, safer, richer, more carefree, etc. once they begin using your product or service. The better you know your audience and understand their problem and how you solve it, the more easily and compellingly you can communicate this to them.

Now you have to use your knowledge of them to bullet proof your idea. This requires you taking the time thinking as though you are they and asking, “What will their objections be? What will they still be doubtful about? What may I need to disabuse them of?” Bringing these things out into the light and knocking them down one by one will seal the deal. You will have addressed their doubts before they’ve had a chance to voice them.

Next you paraphrase what you’ve said thus far. Briefly recap their problem, your proposed solution, the payoffs to them of adopting it and the proof they need to dispel any misconceptions or doubts that your solution will work. One piece left; the prompt.

This is CRITICAL and yet many many persuasive presentations are missing this important element. Tell them what they’re NEXT STEP is! Don’t be afraid of being “pushy”. You’ve just illustrated very clearly and compellingly to them WHAT their problem is and HOW you can solve it, as well as telling them the GREAT things they’ll enjoy by adopting your solution. You’ve even illustrated possible objections and debunked them. At this point they’re DYING for you to tell them where they sign, what line they get in, who the check’s to be made out to, etc. You’re their problem solver! The answer to their prayers! Don’t stop after you’ve told them how you can solve their problem; tell them the steps they can take to get started.

Before your next presentation, sit down and ask yourself, “What is my audience’s problem? How does my product or service solve it? What is the result of that solution? Then follow the structure I’ve described above

(also known as the bespeak presentation method) and you’ll be giving persuasive presentations that assure that you’ll be heard and get results. And who wants to give any other kind?