Tricks to Get Promoted With Ease in Your Present Job

So you love positions of responsibility, cherish the feeling of being valued by peers/seniors and a high pay check never did you any harm! Well, these are some significant reasons that make us push our limits in our respective jobs and thereby get promoted. You think you know it all! Never mind, some more knowledge regarding keys to success will help you even further.

Once an employee consolidates his/her position in a certain department and gains enough experience, prestige and recognition for his/her work, it becomes natural for him/her to expect a justified economic reward for having done well. So, when it is time for you to expect that well-deserved raise, follow these tips and the much-deserved promotion won’t be far away -

1. Be Proactive: You must begin showing visible interest and willingness in taking up new responsibilities. It is recommended that you identify the desired position well in advance and obtain necessary facts and characteristics of that position. Thereafter, you must begin working on your skills to become eligible for the concerned position. For instance, if it is an international role you want, gaining fluency in some international languages might help your cause. If it is a leadership position you’re after, you must exhibit these skills effectively in presence of your superiors.

2. Work on your Qualification: It would be great if you can further your education/qualification simultaneously while performing well in your present profile. The trick is to show a lot of initiative, responsible behavior, perseverance and effectiveness in the present scope of work. Please note, a promotion would involve additional responsibilities and thus additional work load. All this can lead to a significant increase in work pressure. Therefore, you must be prepared to work and perform under stress at all times.

3. Exhibit your skills: Obtaining a promotion not only involves getting acquainted with desired professional skills and qualities, but also exhibiting them in critical business situations from time to time.

4. Be prepared for arguments: If you have done all the hard work and are ready to apply for that dream position in your organization, the first thing that you must do is be prepared with the arguments. A recommended trick is to talk to your boss in a secluded place without much disturbance. Your pitch must be calm and reasonable. It should focus primarily on your past performance and readiness to assume a new role. You should reinforce all your achievements and have ready answers to counter the initial rebuff. Do everything but never bring the personal reasons such as “rising mortgages”, “baby expenses” etc. into the argument.

To put it shortly, you have to sell your professional skills and abilities in a manner that your superiors are clearly able to match your skills with the demands of the vacant position.

Buying and Selling Automobile Dealerships – Axioms When Negotiating

Buying and Selling Automobile Dealerships – Axioms When Negotiating the Contract

No two negotiations are alike and in the art of negotiations there are no fixed responses; there are only basic rules that are to be adapted according to each circumstance and basic duties that formulate the boundaries of hyperbole. The basic duties when negotiating are discussed in another article. The basic rules of negotiating are as follows:

(1) Be prepared. Axiom 1: Do your homework.

(2) Identify your objective ahead of time and when you reach it, STOP. Many times I have seen lawyers that have won their cases keep talking until they have talked the judge into ruling for the other side. During negotiations, many dealers who have found what they were looking for, have lost the deal because they tried to sweeten-the-pot one too many times. Axiom 2: Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.

(3) Always keep your objective in mind when negotiating and do not get sidetracked on meaningless issues. The negotiator is not at the negotiation table to win a debate or to teach someone a lesson. The most successful negotiator does not bicker. Axiom 3: Keep your eye on the doughnut and not the hole.

(4) Answer only what you are asked and only to the extent to which you are asked. Do not anticipate what the other side wants to know. You are not there to educate them, or to impress them with your knowledge. For example, if asked when you were born, you do not have to volunteer location and lineage. Axiom 4: It is usually what you say, not what you hear that hurts you.

(5) Do not volunteer to immediately relinquish any written documentation that you have researched and prepared, if the other side will settle for it being mailed at a later date. Axiom 5: If something was not originally written for publication, always re-read it with the idea of publication in mind before you release it. Axiom 5a: Don’t give away free information.

(6) Outline the other side’s position and concessions and have them initial the paper before leaving the negotiation session and give them a copy. Axiom 6: Faded ink is clearer than the sharpest memory.

(7) Do not feel pressured. There is nothing the other side can do to embarrass you into an agreement. Axiom 7: If you do make a mistake, 99.9% of the world will never know or care.

(8) Do not get emotional unless it is an act — and then, only get emotional if you have previously won an award for “Best Acting”. Axiom 8: The most skilled negotiator never loses control.

(9) Do not be afraid to be self-deprecating, if that’s what it takes to get the job done. There is an old story about the fur salesman who came to work one day, only to find that, during the night, the cat had peed on the furs. Later, when a customer was trying on a coat, she told the salesman that the coat smelled like pee. The salesman responded that it was not the coat she that smelled; but that a cat had peed on his jacket. Axiom 9: Sometimes you have to pee on yourself to get the job done.

(10) Every deal has key elements (such as the offer, acceptance, consideration, and time of performance), have your checklist and be sure to cover all of the elements. Do not walk away thinking you have an agreement when in fact you do not. Axiom 10: A sale is completed only after the check clears and the buyer has legal title to the assets.

(11) Do not lie. Axiom 11: It is better to say nothing, than to lie.

(12) Do not make concessions unless you have thought them through while away from the pressures of the negotiating table. There is nothing wrong with saying: “That sounds reasonable; let me check one thing.” or “That sounds reasonable, let’s take a break for a few minutes and mull it over.”

(13) No matter how ridiculous other party’s arguments may be, put your self in their shoes and walk them through. At best, you might find their arguments have some merit and at worse you will better understand what drives the other person.

(14) Always conduct yourself as a gentleman, or a lady. The loud mouth may dominate the conversation, but the gentleman or lady, controls it. Axiom 12: The most proficient negotiator is not the loud mouth.

(15) When negotiations are finished and you going home do not be tempted to pat yourself on the back; try to think of what you gave away. Axiom 13: Even a dunderhead gets lucky sometimes.

(16) There is nothing the other person can say which is binding without your consent. Axiom 14: if you hear something outrageous do not attack, negotiate.

(17) If you make someone want to do something for you, they will help you find a way.

(18) The “Real Buyer” calls nearly every day. The prospect that creates more than two unwarranted delays is probably not a real prospect. Axiom 15: Do not confuse sincerity with a “soft touch.”

(19) Negotiating with one prospect at a time is a mistake. Axiom 16: The first real buyer to the table with a contract and a check wins. Axiom 16a: The “real” buyer isn’t always the one with the highest bid.

(20) Real buyers have monetary limits on the amount of money they will commit to a deal. Axiom 17: People who say they have no monetary limit are almost always not serious buyers.

(21) To succeed, keep the initiative. Negotiation is a business, not a game. Axiom 18: Due diligence is a sign of professionalism, not of weakness.

(22) Be as careful near completion, as you were at the beginning. Axiom 19: Many a race was lost near the finish line.

(23) Take a break during the negotiations and re-read rules one through twenty-three.

Birthday Present

It was my birthday and as expected I got a call from Ashay saying Happy Birthday to me. I always wonder how he can remember so many birthdays. Everyone receives his phone call for birthdays and anniversaries.

I must accept that I cannot remember birthdays of people except some near and dear ones. How can somebody remember all the birthdays of all the people you meet? This was a mystery for me for many years, until this year. This year I decided to ask Ashay the secret of his memory.

“Hello Ashay,” I called him, “Can I ask you one question?”

“Yes why not?” said he.

“How can you remember so many dates so perfectly?” I asked, “I have heard many people say that Ashay wished me, and he almost remembers all the dates for his friends and family.” My curiosity was pouring out of my words.

“Friend, you will have to come down to my place to know the secret,” he said.

“Do you mean you have a secret?” I was amazed with the answer and also got relieved that Ashay must have something which I can also acquire. “Are you free now? Can I come right away?” I couldn’t stop but to ask him this with impatience.

“Certainly friend, come over, we will have a cup of coffee while I show you my secret,” Ashay said and we hung the phone.

I was more than happy as I finally asked him how he manages remembering so many dates. Now I was on my way to learn something, or maybe get something by which he does this fabulous thing.

I rang the door bell to find Ashay opening the front door. “So where is the magic lamp you posses, which gave you so much magical powers Ashay?” I asked with curiosity.

“This is no magic friend,” he said smiling mischievously and took me to the wall where a calendar was hung. He pointed towards that calendar and asked me to observe it.

It was a calendar dated 1998. Old calendar indeed. It was having current month set. I could see all the dates with names on them. There was today’s date with my name on it. Wow Ashay had maintained a calendar since 1998 with names on the birthday dates. What a simple journal to maintain. I was really amazed with the trick he was following since so many years. There were almost most of the dates filled with names. Some dates were having two names joined with equal to symbol.

“What is the equal to symbol Ashay?” I asked.

“Simple”, said he, “Those are the anniversary dates with two names joined with an equal sign.”

“One question?” I interrupted him.

“Yes.”

“There are too many names on this calendar. Do you really call all of them?”

“No, man,” he explained, “Some are very far now, some have lost the contact. This journal just reminds me of the birthdays and anniversaries of current month. I choose who to call. So the names still in contact and in good faith are chosen to be called.”

“And you know what”, he continued with enthusiasm, “This journal also reminds me all the names I was in contact with some day or other and also helps me remember and find our past friendships.”

What a simple thing to do and yet so powerful I thought after seeing this. The coffee was good. I was imagining the power I will possess just by maintaining such a calendar journal with me. All my friends and relatives will be so happy when I will call them on their important dates. The thought itself made me happy and this was a great birthday present for me from Ashay this year.