How to best negotiate when working in property and life in general?
Samuel Dawson Property and Off Plan Dubai have been going now for 7 years with over £100 million sales done worldwide. We have negotiated our fair share of properties and have mastered the art of negotiating on behalf of our clients over the last couple, with help from a very special person.
When we first started, negotiations were a consequence of the process, we had not given them much thought and from School to College and subsequently University it is never something you are formally taught. Coming from a Sales background from my graduate scheme and even before that working in a sofa sales store from 13 (being allowed to sell when they were extremely busy) you are always entering in negotiations without realising. Naturally, with time it is something you do get better at with a certain level of aptitude, but if you put focus and dedication into the art and nuances of negotiating the results can be staggering.
The best thing about learning Real Estate (Estate Agency) in Dubai was the level of individuals you are dealing with, whether it’s the agents themselves, the buyers or the seller’s everyone had a great story and a leader in their particular field generally. One evening over lunch with three agents who I respect dearly and are all still good friends, we were discussing a deal in which one of the agents had agreed to a sale under the value of the property. This is nothing new, but even from the figure alone, the consensus was it was below market value. The conversation progressed and we ended up discussing the negotiations and a further agent mentioned Chris Voss and how his teachings would potentially have got a higher offer.
I had not at this point in time, heard of Chris Voss, this would have been early 2016. As an FBI hostage negotiator, Chris Voss persuaded terrorists, bank robbers, and kidnappers to see things his way. He teaches strategies to help you in everyday negotiations, whether you’re aiming to improve your salary, the service you receive, or your relationships. This immediately appealed to me and was something that I wanted to explore further.
If you think about a hostage, there is no middle ground, you can not cut the slack, share the load, or agree to a partial release. It is by definition, all or nothing. You get the hostage or you don’t. How do negotiations like this take place and ultimately can you apply these tactics where there is a middle ground, a common goal as it were? It turned out you could, during the next year I signed up for the Chris Voss course and watched as sales went through the ceiling I was previously bumping into.
It also helped in ways that I could not have predicted, I sought co-operation and understanding in even the most basic of tasks in my day-to-day life. My productivity soared. I was in much less pointless conflict on lower levels, asking the right questions in formal and informal negotiations from the off. Personal Growth and Development have always been important, but that one meal changed the way I act in a working environment forever.
Chris Voss’s favorite question?
What is the biggest challenge you face?
Simple, to the point, genius. Next time you find yourself in a situation or negotiations of any nature, ask this question, stay silent and wait for the response…
Samuel Dawson
Managing Director
Samuel Dawson Property