Category: Business/Investing Publisher: Dana International Consulting, LLC
Type: Non-Fiction
Pages: 112
Copyright: Mar 27, 2008
ISBN-13: 9780980127744
Negotiating can be lots of fun as well as effective if the right skills are implemented. The new book Recipe for Negotiating Business Deals Successfully by Dana L. Cradeur breaks down the elements of negotiating into a manageable endeavor by providing a simple formula for negotiating profitable deals consistently. The book compares negotiating with something that is easy to remember like cooking chicken soup
The book Recipe for Negotiating Business Deals Successfully is an easy to use “recipe” that will ease the pressures of negotiating by helping one to remember the required “ingredients” that lead to a successful negotiation. Each negotiating ingredient represents an important piece of the chicken soup. Your ingredients serve as the building blocks for developing a power negotiation strategy that will assist you in closing the deal with precision and success.
In addition, you will become aware of how the power of emotions, ego, and fear play an integral part in negotiating and how to maneuver effectively around difficult people or situations. When negotiating with another culture, it is important to understand the culture characteristics and how those characteristics influence the negotiation environment. The book provides tips on negotiating and culture issues along with easy-to-use templates to document your information in an organized manner.
Just like the secret to cooking a delicious pot of chicken soup lies in its simplicity and key essentials, the secret to negotiating effectively is in keeping it simple and understanding the fundamentals
Excerpt
"Cooking up" a successful deal without some guiding principles would be like cooking without a recipe except you risk more than a few displeased dinner guests. The most delicious meals often come from secret recipes, passed along in families or among friends. This book provides a secret recipe for negotiating successfully. The secret is in making negotiation simple and straightforward so that anyone can learn how to make profitable deals."
Professional Reviews
Reader Views by Irene Watson
There are many books on the market dealing with business negotiating and with basically the same information “Recipe for Negotiating Business Deals Successfully” has. However, this book is different from
any other I have read and researched. This a thin book – less than 100 pages – but it has such a concise
“recipe” it outshines other books that take hundreds of pages to explain the same thing.
First of all, Cradeur is to the point immediately. There are no long-winded explanations but there are direct,
brief, and effective statements to follow. For example, after a short explanation Cradeur gives the following
chart (as it relates to cooking chicken soup):
Chef = Negotiator
Recipe = Strategy
Pot = Culture
Ingredients = Elements of the Strategy
Cooking = Negotiating
Soup = The Deal
People Tasting the Soup = Counterparts of the Deal
For those of us that can relate to cooking, we can relate to Cradeur’s chart very easily. As I look at the chart again, I’m thinking “how simple is this!” Yes, of course, negotiating a deal is no different than creating a pot of soup. Yet, as many of us know, we envision in our mind negotiating a deal is and/or will be hard.
Throughout the book Cradeur has illustrations making it even more clear to us of the simplicity. For example, she shows spices and an onion as the “ingredients that directly influence the negotiation.” There is a large section in the book identifying the ingredients, e.g. assumption, constraint, vendor lists, competitors, etc. Cradeur also covers how to add an alternative plan as well as developing a strategy, looking at critical success
factors, as well as finally closing the deal. And, as a bonus she covers how to negotiate with people from
different cultures. This addition is extremely important as we move our businesses globally.
Dana L. Cradeur presents readers with a concise, well-developed strategy and steps to take their business to a
higher level and be in a place of negotiating with ease and confidence. “Recipe for Negotiating Business Deals Successfully” truly is “the only book you need” on negotiating deals in your library.
RebeccasReads by Kam Aures
“Recipe for Negotiating Business Deals Successfully” takes the art of negotiating and breaks it down into an easy-to-understand formula by using the components of chicken soup. Each
ingredient in the chicken soup recipe represents a factor involved in the negotiating process. “The ingredients have three main functions: 1) to determine the true value of the deal; 2) to determine the true value you bring to the deal; and 3) to assist in formulating strategies to extract
the most value.” (p. 14). To make a good soup you need to tweak the ingredients so the flavor is just right. The same concept holds true when you are negotiating a deal.
I don’t want to reveal too much of the “recipe,” but I will give one example. In Cradeur’s book,
she compares the non-negotiable components of a deal to the carrots in the soup. “In a negotiation, the non-negotiable items are firm and non-flexible just like carrots. Non-negotiable items are any commercial and/or contractual terms and conditions that must be adhered to in
order to proceed with the deal.” (p.15) Each other key component of the deal is assigned a certain easy-to-remember ingredient as well.
After laying out all of the ingredients and making sure we understand the recipe, Cradeur
explores the affects of emotions and various personality traits on the deal process and give tips and strategies for overcoming certain issues and making the deal a positive experience. Lastly, she provides various tips on dealing with the complexities of negotiating deals with other
cultures.
I really enjoyed the final section of the book where Cradeur wraps up everything neatly into a
study-guide type format. All of the major points are outlined in a simple fashion and worksheets are included to assist you in the negotiating process. There is also a pull-out guide to take with you to refer to if you so choose. Even though the book itself is fairly brief, it is nice to have it further condensed down to an 8-page summary which is easy to refer back to in order to refresh your memory on key points.
“Recipe for Negotiating Business Deals Successfully” will be a beneficial guide to anyone entering the business world, anyone buying or selling a home, business, or any product or service, or just anyone who wants to learn the key components of negotiation and how to make them work
to your advantage. Organization is critical in negotiation and Cradeur’s creative book presents you with a format that will assist you in the organizational process and will help you to skillfully negotiate your way to the best deal that you can!
