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Friday 20 March 2015

Tips to be Thee Negotiator.

I was doing some research about what makes a good negotiator and found this list made by a blogger as well. I thought it was pretty cool so I wanted to share it.

ONE:  An ability to work with the other party in searching for creative win-win ideas to bring the parties together.
TWO: A logical mind.  The ability to present his or her position in terms of principles that can be easily communicated.  
THREE:  A dedication to painstaking preparation and detail.
FOUR:  A willingness to tolerate disagreement and confrontation.
FIVE:  The ability to live with ambiguity for long periods of time. Things are rarely black or white in negotiation.
SIX:  Good judgment.  As the old farmer who was known for his wisdom said when asked why he was so wise, “I’ve got good judgment.  Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of experience comes from bad judgment.”
SEVEN:  Patience and willingness to let the situation evolve. Remember, rushing to complete a negotiation can harm you.
EIGHT:  Persistence and a refusal to give up in the face of opposition. You might hear “No” many times before you get to “Yes”.
NINE: Hard work and stamina. Lazy people make poor negotiators. Negotiations take work and effort to be successful.
I found these tips to be true. I'm in a sorority back at SJSU and I've had to try and "sell" my house to many prospective ladies. It's not easy, but the more practice you have, the easier it gets. As Head of Recruitment for my house I held workshops on how to be more persuasive with people and they worked, because what it comes down to is actually knowing what you're talking about and being assertive about what you want the other person to know. Also listening to them goes a very long way. Even if people reject you, you have to keep a positive attitude, stay optimistic and aim high, because at the end of the day it's nothing personal. (well... most of the times)

How to sell a product online before you create it

It's quite interesting because it's still focused on the main objective : create interest from possible customers before you show them the product.
Interesting because there , you don't even have someone in front of you , it's really all about the internet communication

Quite interesting article about the mentality in terms of wearable devices

Linked to Fabulyzer i thought it was quite interesting to share this article from Forbes i found last week on the internet.It's all about how people interact with their device , what they expect about the product specifications and options.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertpearl/2015/02/19/wearable-device/

Please take time to read it and share with me your point of vue , it's quite interesting because Fabulyzer will be part of that and moreover it's part of our future way of life.

Joel Peterson talks about how to conduct a successful negotiation

An interesting point of vue and presentation about how to conduct an effective negotiation.
It's from Joel Peterson , Stanford graduate school of business teacher.
It's a bit long but quite interesting , i so of you recognize some similarities and differences would be a pleasure to discuss them.




Five negotiating skills we could debate on!

I think it’s still important at this time to find articles like this one that are focus on 5 mainly important points of the negotiation skills. As it’s directly linked to us i find interesting to share it with all of you,

Feel free to give me your opinion!

Team Pierjon 12 Profiles Jolliane Leblanc

My sales video



It was cool to film one of my two sales agreements signature there !

Have a great weekend

Pierre Muglia

Interview preparation Pierre

Interview Preparation and Strategy Pierre">

Sales Agreements Pierre

Sales Agreements Pierre by PierreMuglia">

Hi everyone !

Here are my Sales agreements.

Have a good weekend

Pierre Muglia

Thursday 19 March 2015

The agreement and negotiation plan


Hereby the sales agreement and the preperation plan for the performance previously posted.

Feel free to give me a feedback in the comments section,

Have a nice day!

Wednesday 18 March 2015

Negotiation Needed To Sell Certain Products?

I'm a huge ELLE magazine fan and have been since I was around 15. Therefore I am more likely to favour and trust the things said and sold in this channel more than others.
They recently posted this article:

"Best Fitness Tech That Actually Works"

http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/g25990/best-fitness-devices/?thumbnails

The wording of this title implies that they have figured out this crazy sector and, based on their target market, have got the best products for their viewers.

If you can get your fitness product posted on these sites do you even need to negotiate or convince people to buy it when these channels do it for you?

Here's 2 new fat burning measured devices on their list of must-haves:

https://www.fitbit.com/es/aria#i.1o265989oyfjrr

http://www.skulpt.me/

What do you think? Do these products need further selling now they've gone through one of the leading magazines of the world?

Tuesday 17 March 2015

The performance



BEFORE: PREPARATION

I already interviewed my father to discover his needs, and he was aware of the product. During this interview, the objective was to make him sign the contract that will allow Fabulyzer to send him an email once the product is launched, if it gets launched.

I had to read again my notes so that I had in mind his needs and pains. I also had to have the agreement printed and bring it with me. I prepared also by completing the plan, to have a clear idea of how the interview would be.

AFTER: SELF-EVALUATION

About the preparation: I wanted the performance to seem natural, however I could have prepare more by noting down the questions that I had in mind. Of course I probably wouldn’t follow them step by step, but it could make the conversation more fluent.

About the negotiation plan: It was hard to define it in this case. It was easier for me to complete it when we had the case in class, because it was about two companies with specific goals (buy-sell and conditions clear).

About the performance: It seemed odd to act formal with my father. This might explained why I laughed when he said that he had no shape to maintain, at all. I wouldn’t have done it with a stranger. I tried to listen as much as possible, to make sure we both understood the same about the needs and pain we talked last time, and figure out if there was a new information that he would add. Regarding the body language, I could have been more dynamic. Finally, I think I did well, during the moment of the signature, to explain why a contract is required for an email and emphasis on the fact that it will not imply a compromise of buying. However, I could have asked if he new someone else that would be interested in Fabulyzer.

Monday 16 March 2015

Entering the minds of customers

**Article on sales engagement platform Highspot**
Just read a really interesting article about Highspot which you may or may not have heard of.The goal cloud-based sales engagement platform Highspot is a pioneer in matching sales with marketing. It's a company acting as the middle man between sales companies and customers.
Highspot:
  •  scores content on how well it engages customers
  • recommends content
  • sends out alerts
Have a read!


http://venturebeat.com/2014/11/07/highspot-nabs-9-6m-to-enter-more-customers-minds-with-the-right-content/

Saturday 14 March 2015

"Your body language shapes who you are"

Hey everyone,

as I told you in one of my self-evaluations, I learnt that my body language is very important for the whole atmosphere in a negotiation. Moreover, I have the feeling, that my body language transfers to my whole attitude forward the negotiation. Therefrom, I want to work on a positive body language.

I think this video is very interesting for you if you have the same objectives:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc


Friday 13 March 2015

Two interviews and the self-evaluation

1)
Skype:
Barbara Sitz: 38 years old, mother (2 children (4,2))

Me: Hey Barbara,
How are you?
Me: How is everything working with the kids?
Barbara: Lars was ill the last day and you know, it is very hard. You can´t go to work but I have to do many things at the moment... Than the relocation..
Me: I understand that! But what are you doing to catch new energy?
Barbara: Haha the kids consume my energy but they also give it back to me.
Me: Tell me about the last time you did sports for yourself.
Barbara: For myself? Swimming with the children does not count?
Me: No, haha :D
Barbara: I think volleyball. I stopped it during the pregnancy.
Me: I know. Do you miss it?
Barbara: Yes sometimes. But i don´t have the time for it any more.
Me: It would be funny to know how much energy the kids consume.
Barbara: Haha yes :D It is more exhausting than a marathon.
Me: If there would be a product with which counts how much fett you burn, would you be interested in it?
Barbara: I don´t know... I don´t like these kind of products. Yes, it is interesting but i think we should live our life. Yes, i want to loose some weight but no, i don´t want to be dependent on this idea. I don´t want to think about fett, calories and the other things the whole time. And if i would have such a product, i would be faced with it the whole time.

Summary:
PAIN: does not have enough time to do sports
MOTIVATION: willing to get her ancient figure back
NEEDS: a group to do sports together team sports (Volleyball) 

self evaluation, self-reflection and self-assessment:
I think this interview was successful; although this customer is not interested in Fabulyzer. I learned something about the customers´ needs without talking too much. I listened carefully and in an active way and because of that I figured some needs out without asking this question in a direct way. It was a pleasant atmosphere. I prepared my objectives before the interview but I wanted to react spontaneous. Therefrom, I did not prepare a question sheet. I had questions in my mind but I wanted to concentrate on the active listening.


2)
Telephone:
Michael: 28 years old, studied law and started to work in a lawyer office some months ago
Me: Hey Michael, how are you?
Me: How do you like your job?
Michael: I am really happy. I studied so long and it feels so good to have responsibility now. And you get money for it.
Me: Haha yes, that´s cool! Do you already have much responsibility?
Michael: Yes, I already have my own cases.
Me: Oh that´s cool. But do you have enough free time?
Michael: Oh, I really enjoy working at the moment and therefrom it is no problem for me.
Me: But you do not have time to do sports, do you?
Michael: Oh, it´s okay. I go jogging before work .. twice a week. And I can do sports at the weekend. But I am not so interested in it any more. I just want to keep my figure. Yeah, I could also work on it. But it is not so important for me at the moment.
Me: So you feel comfortable at the moment?
Michael: Yeah, I am happy with my job and that´s the most important thing for me.
Me: I am so happy to hear that! What are you doing right now? It is very loud.
Michael: I am on my way home from work and just went into a supermarket to buy some food.
Me: Haha always the same... Let me guess: Your fridge is empty like every time.
Michael: Haha since I am working so much, it is worser than you can imagine. I do not have so much time and I am too lazy to cook something when I get home.
Me: But you should eat healthy.
Michael: Yes, I know.. I have to change that. Especially, because often I do not eat anything in my break or only fast food.
Me: You are right. You should change something.
Michael: Yes, I know. I will work on it. Julia, can I call you at the end of the week again? It is too loud here.
Me: Yes of course. Have a nice week.

Summary:
PAIN: to lose his current figure
MOTIVATION: wants to keep and work on his figure
NEEDS: professional food diary

self-evaluation, self-reflection and self-assessment:

In this interview it was more difficult for me because the other person was busy. Moreover he was not focussing on the conversation and I did not find a good way to let him talk about his needs and pains. I think it is easier if the interviewee is only focussed on the conversation and is not doing two things at the same time. I was not able to get his whole concentration and therefrom I am not satisfied with my performance. 

Some of us had Media Manipulation in elective class. I think we can connect some topic we have seen in both classes such as how to convince a person or how to make an efficient approach.
That why I would like to share with you a video about: how to manipulate and approach people/customers.



Thursday 12 March 2015

The interviews



Questions to answer in terms of performing effective negotiations

  • What did you do?
    • I listened to the potential buyers more than I talked.  I just asked a few questions to know who they were, what were their main hobbies, where they liked to hang out, if they were interested in any sports etc.  I tried to avoid to talk about Fabulyzer at first.  Around the middle/end of the conversation I introduced Fabulyzer, after knowing the potential customer's pain (if possible/applicable).
  • What did you not do?
    • I did not start talking about Fabulyzer at first, because they would take me for a sales person and they would go away.  If a ''potential buyer'' would refuse me to talk to him about Fabulyzer, I wouldn't push and push and try to convince him to buy the device.
  • What did you want to do in the exercise but failed?
    • I really wanted to get to the point where I could talk about Fabulyzer and try to get some signatures, but for some of the people that I interviewed, it would just be impossible because they were not interested in this product.
  • What did you most enjoy? Why?
    • I enjoyed the interview part, because it was a big challenge for me and for most of the students to go outside their comfort zone, and talk to strangers, with the goal of obtaining intents to buy.
  • What will you do/not do next time?
    • Next time, I'll ask very simple questions just to know a bit more the customer, I'll let him talk and in my head, I'll take notes about what he says, what he needs, his pain etc.  I won't push too much to avoid putting pressure on the customer.
  • What does any of the above tell you about your negotiating style?
    • I am a very patient man.  I know how to listen to the customers, and to understand what they need.  I already worked as a sales person for different companies, and in the most cases when people buy, it is because they feel a connection between the sales person and them.  Talking about their lives, making them laugh and having patience are the key to success.
  • How has your team performed? How as your team hundred or helped you?
    • My team performed pretty well as well.  Everyone did their part.  It was not easy sometimes to approach the potential buyers, but at the end we had good results.  We all helped each other by giving feedback to our pairs, about both the negative and the positive aspects of the work.
  • How have the resources you have brought to the blog been valuable in terms of learning to become a better negotiator?
    • I can see my strengths and my weaknesses, and also the feedback of my pairs will help me become a better negotiator.  The fact that my classmates can see what I post and can comment on it and give me some FEEDBACK, will help me through it.
  • How has the feedback from your peers and team members improved your performance and preparation for negotiation?
    • As I said previously, their feedback helped me to correct my main weaknesses, so for the next negotiation, I would know what to do and what to not do.  It was a very constructive way to improve myself for sales negotiation.

Reflexion about Yvette's interview

For the last potential customer interview, I was the one who was in charge to film Yvette while she was interviewing the potential customer.  It's crazy to see that Yvette, the very quiet student, could do such a nice job!  Because of her, we obtained 2 signatures : the interviewed girl and her friend.

We first got out of the school without really knowing where we were going with this interview.  We had the idea to stay in the school area, because there are a lot of students in this neighbourhood and we did not have that much time.  We started walking, walking walking, for at least 15-20 minutes.  We had no idea what to do because the first few people we approached didn't really want to talk to us.  Then we saw that mexican girl, and started talking to her.  All the nervousness went away.  We had a very good interview, with nice results.

I think Yvette did a very nice job with this interview.  However, there are some points to improve for the next interview, if ever there is one.  I think at first she was a bit shy, either because of the fact that I had to film her, or because she was shy to talk to a stranger.  After a few minutes of recording, everything was alright.  I also think that next time, she should make the interview shorter, because not everyone has a lot free time and can answer during 10 minutes to an interview.  They got off topic at a few moments, which is great because we had the chance to learn even more about the potential customer.

On the other hand, I think that the fact that the potential customer was a spanish speaker, Yvette felt more confident and relaxed.  They spoke about a lot of things before talking about the main topic which was the intent to buy the Fabulyzer device.  We learned a lot about the girl's habits, about what she thinks about sports, about her free time etc.  It was a very nice experience for both of us, because even if I didn't have the chance to conduct an interview at this moment, I at least could film the scene and tell myself : OK, she's doing this and that wrong etc, and then, for my next interview, I will know what to do and what to avoid.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE

Hi everyone,

I'm going to try to explain to you all my experience, struggles and what I learnt out of all that.
At first, when we started the course, I thought that doing survey in "the real world" would be as easy as doing role play in class. I quickly found out that the previous experience I had would be almost useless.

First of all, people in the streets (or on-line) don't want to spend time with a stranger and answer him questions about a topic they might not care about. The questions have to be quick, understandable and precise. Nobody wants to answer vague questions and if they do their answer would be as useless as the questions.

The first step for me was to behave as if I was the customer and think about what kind of question I would like to answer or, which is more important, would create interest in me.

The second step was to work on my introduction. I found out that a punchline and a great smile were the best "weapons" to start an interview a be able to ask my questions.

The first interview were long and stressful but once I started to be more confident about the content of what I was asking, I quickly felt better and since then I had better answer and better results.

Besides that another difficulty was to work with a product and a sector that I  didn't perfectly knew and mastered since the begging.


These are the main line of my experience during this course.

Lucas Martinez

Wednesday 11 March 2015

Yvette's interview with a potential customer

This video has been made during the last class of negotiation skills.  Yvette and I had to find a potential customer and our goal was to make him/her sign an ''intent to buy agreement''.  Succesful mission!  We were walking in Yvette's neighbourhood, not far from TBS when we saw a mexican girl, that could be our potential customer.  We approached her, and started talking to her.  Then we introduced Fabulyzer, and she seemed very interested and curious about it.  When then asked her if she wanted to know more, and she said yes.  We told her that I was going to record the interview, but that she would not be filmed.  So here's the interview.  I am glad we found her because we spent at least 15-20 mins going round in circles.  Finally, she signed the ''intent to buy agreement''.  When we had finished with her, she saw her friend, called her name, and she came.  She quickly explained the product to her frind, which was very interested also, so we got a second intent to buy agreement.

Article

Hey!

Here's an article that helped me prepare for the sales negotiation. It's the top 10 effective negotiation skills. Hope it will help you as well.

Click here to have a look at it.

Have a nice day!

Tuesday 10 March 2015

The 3 major aspects I should change in my sales video are:
-        -   I might do a different introduction. When I start speaking with the potential buyer (in this case I know her) I could skip some points such as name or current occupation. However, I think that the rest of the conversation was quite well structured.
-        - When I speak about illness, I am laughing and when you are speaking about an important matter like health, you have to be really serious. I could maybe introduce the topic more gradually.

-        -  Before introducing Fabulyzer, I should ask more about Carolina’s background. I’m going too quickly to the point. When I was doing this in the street it was easier because I didn’t know the person. From my point of view, it is harder to sell something to a person you know than to a stranger.

Monday 9 March 2015

Team JEEP video interviews

Here are our two video interviews. The first fitting our business man persona, despite him being a student he fits the same characteristics we outlined for this persons for example lack of time. The first interviewee gave us an email only to provide him with more information rather than 'Intent to Buy'. Our second interviewee fit our trend follower persona with characteristics such as keeping up to date with the latest exercise routines and devices, as well as wanting to look good and keep fit. This interview was successful with us gaining a signed 'Intent to Buy' contract.

Saturday 7 March 2015

Script Interview

Hey ! It's me again. 
So here's the script of my interview since I did it in French. 

F : Fannie, the woman interviewed
A : Adrien, me.


A : Good morning my name is Adrien
F : Fannie, nice to meet you.
A : I just have a few questions. Thank you for your time. Do you do sport ?
F : No
A : Okay. And why ?
F : lack of time and workload
A : okay okay. In general when you do sport, what kind od sport is it ?
F : In general it’s Fitness and running
A : Do you use a device or measure your efforts such as a FitBit or a watch ?
F :No never
A : And would you be interested in knowing your fat consumption ?
F : Of course
A : Okay. Because basically, the product that will be launched in mid august, called Fabulyzer, which looks like this, is a device that allows you, by breathing into the device and thanks to acetone, to calculate the amount of fat that you consume and allows you basically to know exactly what you have been consuming. And Mostly in fitness since the typical watches doesn’t measure your performance and/or effort when doing squats for example. This is something that a watch cannot measure and that the Fabulyzer can. So it’s a very sophisticated and reliable product that allows to see your fat consumption.
F :Okay
A :So if you want some more information on this device, which is going to be launched in August, you can fill in this agreement. It doesn’t force you to buy the product but only to show your interest in this product and that you agree on receiving some more information about it. This will allow you then to see if the products appeals to you or not and if you want to buy it.
F : Perfect


A :So your name here, and a signature here.

A : and a second one for me…. That ‘s perfect ! Thank you very much !
F : you’re welcome ! Bye !

A : Bye !