Year of the Tiger – Happy Lunar New Year

Happy New Year of the Tiger – “Gong Xi Fa Cai” Chinese New Year is the longest and most important celebration in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese year 4708 begins on Feb. 14, 2010.

At Chinese New Year celebrations, people wear red clothes which is a symbol of good fortune and success. Houses are decorated with poems written on red paper, lots of potted flowering plants – a symbol of growth and children are given “lucky money” in red envelopes. Red symbolizes fire, which according to legend can drive away bad luck and bring you good fortune. Chinese New Year is a time of family reunion. Family members gather at each other’s homes, especially to the parent’s home for a shared meal, most significantly a reunion feast on New Year’s Eve. It is a time of family togetherness. On New Year’s Day, visitors will bring 2 oranges to wish their relatives and friends prosperity and success in their business, studies, career, etc.

For all my chinese clients, we wish you a Very Happy New Year of the Tiger – “Gong Xi Fa Cai”.

Thank you for the opportunity to work with you. “A victory begins with a vision. A vision of winning – a victory of going over the top. The people who constantly rise to the top are those who possess a vision even before the prize is won”. John Maxwell

Let the Year of the Tiger give us all the prowess to fulfill our dreams.

Best Wishes

Molli

Useful Tips 5 : Negotiation

“When a person with money meets a person with experience, the person with the experience winds up with the money and the person with money ends up with the experience.”  Harvey Mackay

We all negotiate because negotation is simply a very effective way of getting what we want.  We negotiate to settle our differences and we negotiate out of self-interest to satisfy our needs. You know you are in negotiation if you have the authority and ability to vary the terms – to give as well as take.  Negotiations in essence involve trading concessions.  I have found it an art and often very intense that it makes one feel drained after the whole negotiation.  It must end up as a win win situation, otherwise it makes the losing party feel deflated. That is not what we want to do in any business deals.

There are 7 steps to the art of negotiation.

R – Ready yourself. Set your objectives, list the issues, gather the information, plan your strategy.

E – Explore each others needs. Clarify and establish rapport and communicate.

S – Signal for movement. Negotiation begin with both  sides taking strong initial positions, to create momentum you have to be able to signal that you are prepared to move and respond to signals from the other side

P – Probe with proposals. Make tentative proposals in order to probe for points where the other side will make concessions. Repackage rejected proposals into a more acceptable form.

E – Exchange concessions. Trade by giving the other party some demands in exchange for receiving some of what you want.

C – Close the deal. Avoid giving away too many concessions. Make an acceptable close.

T – Tie-up the loose ends. Confirm what you agreed, summarise  the details, agree on a plan to settle possible future differences.

A good agreement is one that works. It leaves both parties satisfied.

Extract from NEGOTIATE by Harry Mills