Month: January 2018

When Negotiating On Behalf of Your Company or Country, It’s Never Just “A” or “B”

This weekend the United States Government shut down. Everyone is pointing fingers at the other, and the impasse is focused on divisive talking points, name calling, and politics more than anything else.

Skilled negotiators know and understand that what America is watching has little to do with constructive negotiation and everything to do with positioning, talking points and politics. What’s happening isn’t right, but it does put the spotlight on a basic negotiation tactic that you’re watching on nonstop basis. What I’m talking about is the negotiation tactic of allowing the other side to frame something as either “A” or “B”.

Several years ago I uploaded to SlideShare my presentation, “A Trial Lawyer’s Negotiation Secrets- 30 Years of Tips and Approaches” to help people negotiate better (37,000 views). Slide #35 is particularly relevant to this weekend’s news. It reads, “Don’t fall into the trap of the either/or dichotomy. It’s never only A or B. There’s always C, D and E.”

I recommend everyone view this quick SlideShare and contrast the proven approaches I share with what you’re watching on television or social media. When done, ask yourself, “What’s really going on with the budget negotiations?”

Knowing what you now know about effective negotiation, what would you do differently to resolve the budget issue? What approach will you focus on in your next negotiation?

Here’s the full SlideShare presentation

When It Comes To Social Media, Just Do It!

When I was six years old, my parents put a tennis racket in my hand and told me to hit the ball over the net. For the next 12 months, that’s what I did.

It wasn’t until a year later that I had my first private lesson. Eight years later I was a nationally ranked high school freshman tennis player holding down the #1 spot on the varsity team.

Also during my freshman year in high school, a bunch of us showed up to play football. None of us had played before, but we put on the pads, hit people, and caught balls. By the time our senior season rolled around, we had a very good team.

I’ve had the same experience with motocross, hang gliding, scuba diving, windsurfing and even trying cases in court. The first step was always a bit scary but I just “did it,” and everything worked out. Over time and with the help of others, I always seemed to figure things out.

Without Taking Action, Nothing Happens

The same approach applies to social media and live video. Nothing happens until you jump on a platform and start engaging.

Get one of the books I mention below, or go to Google or Youtube and spend a few minutes studying up on the use and dynamics of a specific platform. If you’re a professional in my LegalMinds mastermind, go to our private resource page, select the platform you’re interested in, and follow the instructions. Regardless of how you go about it, the important thing is to take action and just do it.

Once you start using a social media or live video platform, you’ll learn more and figure things out as you go. As time goes by, you’ll get better at sharing your message and engaging with others.

The mistakes you make will be learning lessons. Just like I use to hit the ball into the net, run the wrong pass pattern, or crash my motocross bike in the whoops at high speed (hey, it’s hard), it’s doing the tasks, over and over, that makes us better.

Each week, add a new social media or live video platform to your efforts. Be real, consistent, and add value to the lives of your audience. Do this on a daily basis and by this time next year, you’ll be glad you decided to “just do it” and get on social media and live video.

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Resources:

“The New Rules of Marketing & PR” by David Meerman Scott

“Known” by Mark Schaefer

“Shareology: How Sharing Powers the Human Economy” by Bryan Kramer

“Leverage Livestreaming to Build Your Brand: Start, Master, and Monetize Live Video” by Jennifer Quinn

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Mitch Jackson enjoys combining law, social media, and technology to disrupt, hack, and improve his clients’ companies, causes, and professional relationships. Click here to get Mitch to speak at your event in 2018.

How To Stop Unsolicited Robo Calls

Very few things bother me as much as unsolicited calls also known as robo calls. Apparently, I’m not alone because the Federal Communications Commission reports robo and scam calls topping the list of consumer complaints.

As a lawyer, I’m here to tell you that most unsolicited robo calls to your smartphone are illegal and most to your home phone are illegal too. Robo calls like appointment reminders from your doctor’s office are usually legal and as such, not referenced in this post.

While you may have certain civil and criminal rights against robo callers, prosecuting those rights is expensive, timely and difficult. Detecting and blocking robo calls is an easier path to take and here are some of my favorite tools I share with clients to help them do just that.

Best Practices

Spoofing caller ID helps robo callers trick you into thinking long distance or foreign calls are local. As such, it’s best not to answer an incoming from an unknown number. Let it go to voice mail and check later. If you can, set up voice-mail transcription to save time.

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Build a Multifaceted and Multi-Product Business and Brand in 2018

In business, putting all your eggs in one basket looks nice and makes it easy to stay organized. The only problem is when your eggs crack (and they will), or if you lose your basket all together, bad stuff happens.

One way I’ve been able to avoid having disaster hit my professional life is to be multifaceted, offer multiple products and services, and be diversified. Changing with the times and keeping a close eye on future trends has helped me build, over the last 30 years, my businesses and the personal and professional brands I enjoy and am proud of today.

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