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Negotiations 101
In order to master the art of negotiation, preparation and honing one’s listening skills are paramount.
G
R
rodrigo afanador is the publisher of Asheville Real Estate News and past president of Carolinas Real Estate Investors
Association.
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ROWING UP IN COLOMBIA WAS AN incredible experience—not only because I grew up speaking Spanish and was surrounded by a happy-go-lucky culture centered on soccer, family, and dancing, but because I also learned an important lesson: Everything is negotiable.
That might seem like hyperbole, but it was the reality within which I grew up. My dad was always reminding us, “You already have received ‘no’ as an answer, so go for the ‘yes’.” And yet, even with this mindset within the home as a child, negotiating in the real estate world refined my skills and opened my eyes to many things that I did not know. Looking back over the past seven years in the real estate world has made me reflect on what I have learned about negotiations. The most important lesson that I have come away with is that negotiating is a skill—a skill that can be learned, honed, and applied by anyone. I want you to picture this: You are driving down the road and you glance at the car beside you. You see a guy pumping his fist up and down and laughing maniacally. That is a perfect image of what I looked like as I headed home from my first successful
| August 2019
negotiation. At that moment, I recognized that I could survive in this business and that I could learn to negotiate. My first successful deal led me to my first coach, whose particular focus was on sales and negotiation. Teaching me, he would always emphasize “the tips, the tricks, and the things to say to get the contract signed when it matters the most.” He opened my eyes to the fact that negotiation is a skillset that needs to be sharpened consistently, or else we will inevitably lose our edge. And thanks to him, to this day, cold-calling is part of my weekly schedule because the importance of staying in front of prospective clients is instrumental to keep my skills honed. During my first few weeks of receiving coaching, I focused on learning scripts. However, I quickly learned that scripts are only good when they are coupled with preparation regarding the actual deal