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Street Smart: Exploring the Depths of Modern Negotiation Challenges
26 Plays8 days ago
In this episode, Brian Dietmeyer talks with Carrie Welles, Vice President and co-founder of Think Inc., about modern challenges and strategies in B2B negotiation. They explore the inadequacies of traditional negotiation training and introduce a more practical, street-smart approach that aligns with today's data-driven market dynamics. This discussion is crucial for anyone looking to enhance their negotiation skills and adapt to the evolving demands of sales and procurement environments.
To request soft copy of the B2B Street Fighting book, please send an email to info@think5600.com
Timestamps:
00:02 Introduction to the "Street Smart" podcast and hosts.
00:42 Discussion on the motivation behind starting the podcast.
02:16 Simplifying negotiation processes for effectiveness.
04:15 Insight into Brian's book "B2B Street Fighting" and its relevance.
06:34 Explaining the concept of "street fighting" in business negotiations.
07:37 Overview of the principles in "B2B Street Fighting" and addressing modern sales challenges.
09:05 Preview of future episodes and the focus on practical negotiation solutions.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Street Smart negotiation podcast
00:00:01
Brian
Welcome to the very first edition of Street Smart, the negotiation podcast. I'm Brian Dietmeyer CEO of Think Inc.
00:00:09
Carrie Welles
Brian, this is so exciting. And I'm Carrie Welles vice president and co-founder of Think Inc.
00:00:15
Brian
Nice to meet you.
00:00:18
Carrie Welles
Yeah. Nice to meet you too. Brian, how long we had a working relationship?
The 30-year partnership of Brian and Kerry
00:00:23
Brian
I would say 30 years across three companies.
00:00:26
Carrie Welles
30 years ago. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So this is really fun. that This is our first podcast together. So I'm really looking forward to diving into it. Okay. So
The need for modern negotiation solutions
00:00:34
Carrie Welles
let's start with why did we think this was a good idea to start this podcast?
00:00:40
Brian
Uh, just because I'm very frustrated. We'll talk about this throughout this episode, but I'm really frustrated with the negotiation solutions that are out there provided today. They're all the same. They all showed up in the mid eighties with, with getting TS and are all versions of that. And, and, and look.
00:00:59
Brian
There's, we wanted to have something that, that's more street level and more modern and immediately accessible and usable for people and, and easily scaled and recreated. Uh, most sellers today are dealing with two X versus six X pipe. So it's like we've we've got to close and negotiate a higher percentage of deals. Buyers have got a ton more data. We all know that procurements showing up. So we we need an approach that fits the reality of today's marketplace, not something that was, that was.
00:01:27
Brian
built and shoved out there in 1985.
00:01:31
Carrie Welles
And I'll add, so for those of you who might be new to sales or might be really seasoned in sales, what we know is is that likely you have had a negotiation class somewhere in your career.
00:01:43
Carrie Welles
And what
Practical negotiation ideas for all professionals
00:01:43
Carrie Welles
we hope to do is bring a really practical approach with some very usable ideas that we have been implementing for over 30 years. So we know this.
00:01:53
Brian
but Well, it's scary. It's had a class or multiple classes over your career and read Getting to Yes and and and all kinds of other books. And it's like the question is, what impact did it have, right? is Has it taken the pressure off your negotiations? Probably not.
00:02:10
Carrie Welles
It's true. It's true. And we tend to complicate it. So that's what we want to do is bring it down to a really simplified level.
00:02:14
Brian
Yep.
00:02:18
Carrie Welles
But even for the most experienced, even for the most seasoned salespeople out there. OK, so give us some background on you and on thinking.
00:02:25
Brian
so
Brian's background and negotiation expertise
00:02:25
Brian
yeah, very, very quickly. I was a a VP of national sales at Marriott international where you and I met, uh, during that time I was getting my MBA. I took a negotiation class from Max Bazerman at Northwestern, who is now, uh, uh, a negotiation professor at Harvard. And I approached him and said, wow, this stuff is really good. I want to bring it to my merit sales team. And that evolved into a conversation about he and I initially co-founding, this company together. And since then.
00:02:53
Brian
You know, I've written B2B street fighting, strategic negotiation, and also negotiation books for buyers. And that insight I think that we have into buying organizations really will help sellers to understand how procurement actually negotiates. We've worked in, I think it's been like 20 years, we've worked across 47 countries on about 20,000 deals. That's what I estimate you and I and the team have consulted on is about 20,000 deals.
00:03:18
Brian
with companies like Microsoft, FedEx, Lucent, Honeywell, Google. So anyway, that that's our our bona fides. But yeah, let's let's talk about negotiation.
00:03:28
Carrie Welles
Yeah, yeah. Well, and I, like you, have been around the globe teaching this for lots of different companies and lots of different countries. Now, we, as you and I know, we don't teach cultural negotiations, but what we do teach is a really straightforward, common, practical framework.
00:03:46
Carrie Welles
of how to sort your thinking. And so that's what I'm most excited to get into.
00:03:48
Brian
Yeah.
00:03:50
Brian
Well, and I think, Kerry, just to to that point, I think what gives us and our consultants more chops is the deal coaching we've done. So it's one thing to teach classes and a lot of our classes, everyone's bringing live deals and they're focusing on them.
00:03:50
Carrie Welles
So
00:04:03
Brian
But I think the experience we have to share is what we've learned coaching on billions of deals, you know, all over the world. so
00:04:11
Carrie Welles
right right, right. Okay, okay, good. So
Writing 'B2B Street Fighting': Motivation and goals
00:04:14
Carrie Welles
so let's zoom in on the book that you wrote, which is B2B's Street Fighting, and give us a background on why you wanted to write that book.
00:04:23
Carrie Welles
What inspired you?
00:04:23
Brian
Yeah, I mean, yeah, it it was it was my third book and it was what you said earlier about, like my, father used to say, taking something complicated and simplicating it. So I did want to take something complicated and simplified it.
00:04:38
Brian
And, and we had some research that, that, you know, had like exploded our brains in terms of what really happens in B2B negotiating. And I contrasted that with, you know, uh, uh, uh, Kellogg professor who, who I know who wrote a book called the 53 truths of negotiating, uh, another book out there called 101 tips. and And it's frustrating to me because you read that or you sit in a class and you go, Oh, I took away two or three cool things. It was worth it. No, it's not. It's absolutely not.
00:05:05
Brian
Like we, we've got to fundamentally change the way we prepare for and execute negotiation. And I think the the reason people write the books of 53 truths and 101 tips is they have diagnosed the problem of negotiation is unpredictable. You never know what's going to happen. So then therefore I'm going to prescribe a solution that has you prepare for everything.
00:05:27
Brian
And, and you know what, what you and I will talk about, especially in the next ah ah episode is the, the highly predictable nature of B2B negotiations. We know what the conversation is going to be six months from now.
00:05:39
Carrie Welles
Yeah, yeah. And Brian, you may not even know this, but I call our book a handbook. Now, this podcast is not here to sell the book. So all of you out there, we are not here to sell these books. It is available, of course, but that's not the whole idea. it's It's really to get you closer to what's inside the book. I call it a handbook because it is so practical. So literally the way that it's laid out. And that's how we're going to run this podcast is to is to move through the different chapters of the book, bringing you really practical information.
00:06:06
Brian
Yeah, and well and and by the way, the the point about the book is a good one and we'll put I'll put a link and send send an email and we'll send you soft copies for you or your sales team. Yeah, we are not here to sell books.
00:06:21
Carrie Welles
sure Okay, so so explain the concept. So can you
Negotiation as street fighting: The disciplined approach
00:06:24
Carrie Welles
just get us closer and summarize the concept of street fighting?
00:06:29
Brian
the The reason I chose the street fighting name is when you think of a street fight, and and I often go back to the Sharks and the Jets and West Side Story when I think about. Like what a street fight looks like, right? And someone's got, someone's got a pipe, someone's got a chain, someone's got a knife. And you never know what's going to happen in street fights. You're like this free for all. And, and many years ago, uh, my nephew Chad lived with me and he's an MMA fighter and he's a modern street fighter. Chad is trained in jujitsu, boxing, wrestling. He's got, ah ah you know, an unbelievably dialed in diet, you know, and, and works on his head space and everything he does is moves and counter moves. And that's how I think about modern.
00:07:08
Brian
business street fighting and modern negotiation is it's not a free for all. It's a series of very predictable moves and counter moves and you've got to be prepared.
00:07:17
Carrie Welles
Oh, interesting. And I love the idea of discipline. That is so important and in discipline and how you're organizing your thinking around a negotiation and how you're organizing your internal customer and your external customers thinking.
00:07:21
Brian
Yep.
00:07:29
Brian
Yep.
00:07:30
Carrie Welles
All of those customers.
00:07:30
Brian
Yep.
00:07:32
Carrie Welles
Okay, so so let's talk a little bit about the principles outlined in the book and and address the challenges in today's world with sales professionals in 2025.
00:07:44
Brian
Yeah. So we,
Simplifying negotiation with data
00:07:45
Brian
I joke in the book about a modern street fighter is a geek. He he or she is street fighting with data. And so that's our entire approach to negotiation, especially I can't wait to get into subsequent episodes where we start dealing with real life problems of negotiators, but we can anticipate.
00:08:02
Brian
And we can be prepared for almost anything that's gonna happen in negotiation without looking at 53 truths. We can do it with two or three moving parts, quite frankly. And so that that's what, when we think about modern sales professionals, that you don't have time to stack 53 truths on top of your sales methodology training and and and all the tools that you have to go use.
00:08:20
Carrie Welles
Thank you.
00:08:23
Brian
You know you need a simple, clean approach. So that's really what we're gonna do is is say, what what Where's the negotiation conversation most likely to end up and what data do we need to begin changing that conversation prior to the negotiation?
00:08:38
Carrie Welles
Yeah, but you know, that's so true about the resources and tools that salespeople are completely overloaded with.
00:08:43
Brian
Yeah.
00:08:43
Carrie Welles
And we want to just cut through the clutter of ah of a lot of it and just totally simplify a strategy. So it's not that it's not strategic. It's just going to be really simplified. Okay, so let's as we bring this to a close, then let's talk about what's next for for Street Smart and this podcast.
00:09:00
Brian
Yeah, that
Future episodes: Addressing practical problems
00:09:00
Brian
well all the all the episodes are going to focus on... ah ah here's a street level problem, and here's a street level solution. right And it's all going to be within this framework that 97% of what a buyer does is is it is can be anticipated and falls into two categories. And we only need to do three things to prepare for 97%. So I mean, that's the good news. It's quite simple. bad The bad news is it's you know there's there's a quote in a book I read that life is simple. It's just not easy. And it's the same thing here. right but But it is. It's a different way of thinking in all of the next
00:09:33
Brian
episodes, we're going to talk about what is this 97% pattern? What are the three things we need to do? How do we do it? You know, that sort of thing.
00:09:41
Carrie Welles
Great. Okay. Well, I'm excited. I know you're excited. So that's a wrap for our first session, our first podcast, and we'll see you back for another episode.
00:09:50
Brian
Thank you.
00:09:52
Carrie Welles
Thank you.