just had a great meeting in a hotel lobby and it reaffirmed, yet again, that honesty and directness pays. The Americans are great at it but Brits are so entrenched in politeness and civility that they often struggle to get to the point. Result? Negotiations are often overly protracted and, sometimes, deals aren’t done because no one’s quite sure where to go next. Be honest and get to the point.
Today’s meeting was the result of a networking event and, as always, it was about having a coffee, not ‘selling’. If people think they are being sold to they back off. Yes, we all know that at the end of the day deals need to be done but isn’t it more about saying ‘this is what we do……you seem to need some of what we do…….explain why……now over to you’. Having spoken with the guy for an hour or so he got to the dirty question ‘how much
yes, Phil, I totally agree, honesty and directness pays, and pays very good. same thing with personal relationships. and one has to have a good feeling of balance between being open and direct or just pushy (which sometimes is also helpful!). that’s a hard thing to master, but once you get a sense of this balance, you go much further than others do.
and I do like the phrase ‘cut the bullshit’ =)