Sunseeker? I wish.
So we are at the start of the year!
Spent too much over Christmas? Eaten too much? Drank the equivalent of 4 years’ worth of pints in the space of 10 days? Me too.
Compounded by a grey January, last Monday (8th January) is literally the most depressing day of the year. It is the busiest day for divorce lawyers, and even if your relationship survived the enforced Christmas get together, most of us need to get something in the diary to look forward to.
January is also a big month for booking holidays. A bit of sun and can certainly lift the mood.
It is also the week of the London Boat show, and despite the massive uncertainty that follows Brexit, it seems that one of the exhibitors is pretty confident about 2018 and beyond.
The CEO of Sunseekers Yachts, the luxury boat builder based in Poole Dorset was interviewed on Radio 4 this morning giving his view of business in 2018.
Now the starting price for a Sunseeker is £650 K and the end price is entirely up to you, the level of customization being I suspect limitless.
But despite that Phil Popham their CEO says that they are 90% sold for 2018 and order books are looking good beyond that driven by a devaluation of the pound, significant product development and an increase in global affluence.
Now listening to that, most of us would think, I wish I had a brand like that. Plenty of demand, a mapped out future. I bet they don’t need to negotiate!
But the tenacious negotiator thinks slightly differently. The challenge is now afoot. How do I negotiate with powerful brands or people? What variables can I introduce to create interest? What questions do I need to ask? How can I gain more value for me in the deal that has minimal cost to the other side?
All negotiators understand that conflict is an inevitable part of the selling and buying process and hearing the “no”, “I can’t do that” or “why should we move from where we are” are challenges to our creative thinking and value seeking.
Build that into your thinking in 2018, and it may be sunnier than you had hoped.