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Negotiation – Getting the Best Deal

The ability to negotiate strongly will determine your success when dealing with others. Today, every price, every condition, every offer is negotiable. Neil Rackham, who wrote Spin Selling 30 years ago says that back then sales involved around 40% negotiation. Today, he estimates it is 90%. When considering a new job, your ability to negotiate will determine the remuneration you receive much more than your qualifications. It is estimated that in the average recruitment interview only five minutes is spent discussing (let alone negotiating) remuneration; yet that discussion could add $5,000 to your salary. Where else could you earn $5,000 for five minutes work? And, of course, you are not just negotiating salary, but also conditions. In these days of more flexible working arrangements and time-poor lifestyles, the conditions you negotiate can impact massively on your quality of life.

Win-Win Improves your Network

Negotiating great deals not only gives you a better outcome, but creates the maximum value for the other party as well. So, as well as rewarding you financially, it also improves your relationships and strengthens your network. Ron Shapiro, lawyer and agent for some of America’s highest-paid sports stars says, “The best way to improve your situation is to improve your network; and the best way to improve your network is to create win-win deals.”

Bargaining

Your ability to bargain strongly will be determined by your research. Use whatever independent authorities you can to give your offer more credibility in the eyes of the other party. Put your offer on the table and sell it – articulating all the benefits for the other side. But, don’t jump in too early. Latest research has shown the later an offer is put forward, the better the final deal is. While it is essential that the other side believes that you have come ready to put an attractive offer on the table; it is important not to do it too soon. The later a first offer is made in the negotiation, the more likely it is that the negotiation will result in a more creative, higher value deal. This is because the second you start bargaining in a negotiation, you stop sharing information, and it is in this sharing of information that each side can identify where they can offer value to the other side.

Perception

In negotiation, perception is reality. Clever negotiators work hard to see the negotiation from the other side’s perspective. They recognise that they need to aim for the highest perceived value to the other side. For example, you may take the reliability of your supply as a given as you have never failed to deliver. But for a customer who has been disadvantaged by lack of supply in the past, reliability of supply has very high perceived value. The other side’s priorities are often driven by their past experience. If their past supplier was unreliable, your ability to provide a reliable service will have very high value to them. Smart negotiators ask, “What did you dislike most about your previous arrangement?” then show how it will never happen with them  

Never Give without Getting

A basic principle of negotiating is never give anything without getting something in return. Even if what they are asking for costs you nothing – get something back. Remember, it’s all about perceived value. If you give freely, they won’t value it – and are likely to ask for more.

Deal-Making

Good negotiators work hard to create the best deal for the situation – taking the relationship into account. They recognise that in some one-off negotiations where there is no on-going relationship, it is enough to just get the contract signed. But, most importantly, they know that most negotiations are not the end of the relationship – but the start of it. Latest research has shown that up to 70% of negotiated deals fail in their implementation. Smart negotiators never lose sight of this question – what is the point of the negotiation? Surely, it is not just to do a deal, but to implement an agreement that is mutually beneficial for all concerned. Negotiation is a life skill. If you are observant, every day you will see examples of clever win-win outcomes. Learn from these and it will improve every aspect of your life.

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Presentation Folders for Corporate Marketing

Folders are normally used to store important documents. But the role of folders doesn’t stop there. A presentation folder has a great part to portray in improving the growth of a business. Though most people use it to organize documents still it has become a great marketing tool that any business should not ignore.

Normally you can see that the presentation folders are used to deliver very important documents such as brochures and letters. Basically, the common term for presentation folder is pocket folder. It is labeled as pocket folder for the reason that it has pockets inside it. Sometimes it is referred only as folder.

You see the significance of a presentation folder is undeniable. It can add an impact to your corporate identity whenever you have a meeting or there’s something you want to deliver to your potential customers. By using folders as a primary tool for your marketing campaign, it only implies that you really want to maintain a professional image for your company. Remember a professionally-designed folder is what people used to keep.

There are many uses of folders. But you must take into account that a folder will not be effective if it’s not designed properly. In view of that the folder should have a very compelling design to attract the attention of the prospective clients especially in important business meetings.

Bear in mind that the design of the presentation folder must given utmost attention. Among the features that you should consider the most is the life span of the folder. This implies that you should choose a versatile type of folder. It should be Versatile in the sense that you can use them with sales sheets, business reports, business cards, and other presentation materials.

If you your business to improve and get a hold of a corporate identity, presentation folders is the appropriate means that you should go for. You can make your folder very effective by using the right paper stock. A second-class paper is an easy on the pocket choice but the quality is not as good as that of the first-class paper stock. So when you choose a paper stock you should pick out the one that matches the purpose of your folder. It’s also ideal if you consider how many elements would you like to include inside the folder. How about the life span of the paper? Will it give the folder print a longer life?

Moreover, when it comes to the designing part, it’s best if you would keep the folder simple. A clean folder reflects a very professional for your company. You can make your folder look more personalized by adding some components such as CDs, pockets, business cards and many more. But don’t overdo the customization for it may ruin the main goal of your presentation folder printing project which is to provide information to wide-ranging prospects.

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Why is Chlorine Present in Drinking Water?

Why should chlorine be present in our drinking water? It is for very good reasons, as the treatment and distribution of safe drinking water are considered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as one of the major public health achievements of the twentieth century.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century it was found in London, UK, that water from a city well that had spread infectious diseases ceased to be dangerous after having been treated with chlorine.

Then in a few years the practice of water treatment was adopted by most of the civilized world as a means of protecting public health.

Up to those times drinking wine instead of water of dubious quality was the best assurance against illness, for those who could afford the expense.

Disinfecting the drinking water for human and animal use ensures that it becomes free of active microorganisms causing serious and life-threatening diseases, such as cholera and typhoid fever.

Chlorine is effective in killing most pathogenic bacteria and viruses. Chlorine however is not effective in killing certain protozoa like cryptosporidium.

The term chlorine refers to the chemical element Cl that exists as a poisonous yellow gas, irritant of the respiratory tract even at low concentration. As it is a very active element it is found in nature mostly as a compound, of which common table salt, sodium chloride (NaCl) is an example.

Chlorine gas is soluble in water. A common household product, bleach, is a water solution containing about 3 to 6% of sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl). This product too can be used to disinfect water in case of need.

Additional chlorination effects are the removal of iron and manganese and the residual property of continuing to hinder pathogen reproduction during the long way from the treatment facility to the house tap.

Is it safe to human health to drink chlorinated water?
It depends on whom you ask.

Some studies point to increased risk on health, while others show no additional risk.

It is generally recognized that drinking water chlorination is the process of choice for eliminating most of the life-threatening pathogens possibly present in the water reaching treating plants.

Some research efforts concentrating on the effects of certain by-products of the treatment, seem to suggest that substances like Trihalo-methanes (THM) have the potential to induce cancer in individuals as they do in laboratory animals when supplied at very high levels.

However it is commonly accepted that their presence in treated water in minimal quantities is far from threatening.

EPA regulates how much of these substances are tolerated in chlorinated water for safe use. The current EPA regulations establish a limit of 80 parts per billion (ppb), for THMs based on the annual average of eight distribution system monitoring locations.

Industrial and commercial sources, with deep interests in the use of chlorine and its derivatives, vehemently insist that independent medical sources failed to find statistically relevant results connecting chlorine with development of cancer diseases.

Other sources interpreting more strictly the results of certain research, seem to find concrete demonstration of the dangerous effects on health of chlorinated water.

Until more definitive research will authorize to settle the dispute by defining ways to sort the probable outcome of illness course according to additional contributing factors, it is possibly quite safe to assume that the present official standing of appointed authorities on water quality should be accepted except perhaps in unusual circumstances.

All sources agree that the benefits of chlorination for eliminating the presence of pathogens, are much greater than the minimal risk still remaining, if at all, relative to residual by-products.

The other existing means for obtaining a comparably safe result (ozonation, Ultraviolet light treatment, and use of chlorine compounds like chloramines and chlorine dioxide) are more expensive and do not provide sufficient advantages to promote their substitution.

It is suggested by professional experts that installing a suitable home filter at the point of use removes the nuisance of chlorine and byproducts from the drinking water.