Hey readers, how is it going on with you? I am super-busy here what with having to write an article for the ICFAI Charter magazine, composing questions for FRM 2008 and simultaneously working on 2 top-secret (not defense level) projects! Besides, having to constantly go up against my IT team and the HR guys here at office and I got my hands full! And oh, I forgot to add the bit about me missing out on my reading and the arrival of my cousins, along with their daughters, for the summer vacations! All in all, life sure is super crazy / busy / fun at the moment!
I hope to share with you more on my secret projects in the days to come – provided my efforts bear fruit! Else, it will all go down the toilet with not even a trace left for you to ponder over! Meanwhile, work at office is exciting – got 2 downgrade/upgrade calls right on the button! But heck, this isn’t the place to discuss my work, is it? Oh, and are any of you wondering why I haven’t published any photos from Canon S5 camera that I dedicated so much space to a month back?
Well, frankly, though I do have a lot of photos on the camera, the net connection at home has been nothing short of pathetic – I am using Reliance’s NetConnect and man, the speed is not only super slow, but it also takes an eternity to open a page! I am super tired and fed up of the slow connection – I’ll upload a bevy of photos once I get a new connection – probably sometime next month.
By the way, I have finished reading James Patterson’s Hide and Seek – I might be tempted to write a review of this book sometime during the weekend! ‘Til next time, take care and play safe!
Showing posts with label FRM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FRM. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Nibblotiation -- The Secret Art of Negotiation!
Well before I start blabbering about the topic in the typical Indian-MBA style, let’s wish the proud owner of the blog Mr. Varun Parwal a very very special birth day and congratulate him for getting his FRM degree….Yes readers now he is a certified FRM degree holder.
Now getting back to the topic, Nibblotiation is word coined by yours truly so the pochemuchkas [meaning, those who ask a lot of questions .. Simply put, a person with an inquisitive bug up his/her ... errrrrrrr... spine!! Got the meaning?? If not, then check out the meaning @ http://pochemuchkas.wordpress.com/] don’t have to go back to their basics as you will not find it in any dictionary or in any general diction. Before I tell you all about the word and its importance in marketing, I'll like to illustrate how the word was actually derived:
Nibble + Negotiation = Nibblotiation
So you got it? While you negotiate, add a nibble to it and there you go -- voila, the word Nibblotiation is born. Ha ha, okay, so it wasn't even this simple and easy. Read further to actually learn how the word wasderived and a real life-time example of this tactic:
Nibble is a negotiation tactic that primarily deals with Sales Personnel's patience and perseverance and ther elative degree of the customer's success in affecting it. Now what is negotiation? Though I am not half as acclaimed an individual as the lot who have written numerous definitions of negotiation, I have defined the term as a use of information and power to affect someone's behavior off the job. It’s a common myth that negotiation is a mutually exclusive event where if 1 party wins other is bound to loose. I beg to differ for I believe that it’s a win-win situation for both parties!
Nibble is a technique of negotiation (Though not new but as a typical MBA I have to present it in a structured format). I will explain it using an example and I assume you to be a male customer for ease of reference, though same trick can be applied for female customers as well.
You enter into an exclusive men’s shop in the nearby area to buy a suit for yourself as one of your close friend is getting married. Because men’s lapel widths change from year to year (because of planned obsolescence ;) ), it’s obvious that you are concerned about style, its fall, the TASHAN and that’s the reason why you are carrying a tape measure with you. A salesman, eager to help and assist you, approaches eagerly.
“May I help you? “ Asks the salesman
“I think so” ….u reply, frowning thoughtfully.
So, for two and a half hour you shuffle from rack to rack, Brand to brand, solids to stripes, measuring lapels….always trailed by the salesman, who does not dare leave you because you keep asking him question regarding size, fit, shoulder widths, cuff, sleeves style and everything you know about the suit. You repeat, over and over again, how long this style gonna stay? When he offers his educated guess, you ask, “Are you sure?”
After you have examined 43 suits and checked the material of the entire lot and the salesman is ready to blow his cool, you mercifully declare, “I think I’ll take the so-and-so suit for Rs. 2000 ……the one over therein very subdued stripes”. The salesman sighs with (obvious) relief. Trying desperately his joy at being relieved of you (Stupid, not because you bought the suit but because you are finally getting off his case), he murmurs “would you follow me please?”. He leads you to the alteration section of the store and by the time the an elderly gentlemen tries to pin and chalk your suit for proper alteration, the salesman calculates his commission and generates the bill after a painstaking task of selling a suit to you.
At this juncture you twist your head towards the salesman and ask, matter of factly,”What kind of tie you will be throwing in as free?”
The sales man stops in his tracks, all mental calculations suspended for the moment. He looks at the old man on the floor. The old man raises his head not knowing whether to shove in another pin and make another chalk mark.
[This is what is known as “NIBBLE”!!]
What goes on in the salesman’s mind when the first wave of hatred subsides? He grunts inwardly: This surly faced customer has consumed my two and a half hour. I didn't have a coffee break, have strained my shoulders after putting 43 suits on his back and I have watched this nitwit trying all the shade and all that’s down the drain. ” What have I got here?” What can I assemble from this wreckage? My commission comes out to be Rs. 400. I suppose I can buy this clown a tie from my commission and hope I never see him again."
Will you get a tie? Of course. Will you win the love and admiration of the salesman? That’s something else again. He will give you free tie because of his emotional involvement and not cause of Love and Affection.
Would the Nibble have worked if he hadn’t invested an inordinate amount of time? The success of Nibble is directly proportionate to the time invested.
Final tip: Your initial approach should always be collaborative as if you are hungry for help. So keep Nibbling, its just another way of negotiation.
Authored by: Nitesh Kumar, MBA (IMT Nagpur), Syntel, Pune.
Edited By: None other than the B'Day boy, Varun Parwal, the recently crowned FRM
Now getting back to the topic, Nibblotiation is word coined by yours truly so the pochemuchkas [meaning, those who ask a lot of questions .. Simply put, a person with an inquisitive bug up his/her ... errrrrrrr... spine!! Got the meaning?? If not, then check out the meaning @ http://pochemuchkas.wordpress.com/] don’t have to go back to their basics as you will not find it in any dictionary or in any general diction. Before I tell you all about the word and its importance in marketing, I'll like to illustrate how the word was actually derived:
Nibble + Negotiation = Nibblotiation
So you got it? While you negotiate, add a nibble to it and there you go -- voila, the word Nibblotiation is born. Ha ha, okay, so it wasn't even this simple and easy. Read further to actually learn how the word wasderived and a real life-time example of this tactic:
Nibble is a negotiation tactic that primarily deals with Sales Personnel's patience and perseverance and ther elative degree of the customer's success in affecting it. Now what is negotiation? Though I am not half as acclaimed an individual as the lot who have written numerous definitions of negotiation, I have defined the term as a use of information and power to affect someone's behavior off the job. It’s a common myth that negotiation is a mutually exclusive event where if 1 party wins other is bound to loose. I beg to differ for I believe that it’s a win-win situation for both parties!
Nibble is a technique of negotiation (Though not new but as a typical MBA I have to present it in a structured format). I will explain it using an example and I assume you to be a male customer for ease of reference, though same trick can be applied for female customers as well.
You enter into an exclusive men’s shop in the nearby area to buy a suit for yourself as one of your close friend is getting married. Because men’s lapel widths change from year to year (because of planned obsolescence ;) ), it’s obvious that you are concerned about style, its fall, the TASHAN and that’s the reason why you are carrying a tape measure with you. A salesman, eager to help and assist you, approaches eagerly.
“May I help you? “ Asks the salesman
“I think so” ….u reply, frowning thoughtfully.
So, for two and a half hour you shuffle from rack to rack, Brand to brand, solids to stripes, measuring lapels….always trailed by the salesman, who does not dare leave you because you keep asking him question regarding size, fit, shoulder widths, cuff, sleeves style and everything you know about the suit. You repeat, over and over again, how long this style gonna stay? When he offers his educated guess, you ask, “Are you sure?”
After you have examined 43 suits and checked the material of the entire lot and the salesman is ready to blow his cool, you mercifully declare, “I think I’ll take the so-and-so suit for Rs. 2000 ……the one over therein very subdued stripes”. The salesman sighs with (obvious) relief. Trying desperately his joy at being relieved of you (Stupid, not because you bought the suit but because you are finally getting off his case), he murmurs “would you follow me please?”. He leads you to the alteration section of the store and by the time the an elderly gentlemen tries to pin and chalk your suit for proper alteration, the salesman calculates his commission and generates the bill after a painstaking task of selling a suit to you.
At this juncture you twist your head towards the salesman and ask, matter of factly,”What kind of tie you will be throwing in as free?”
The sales man stops in his tracks, all mental calculations suspended for the moment. He looks at the old man on the floor. The old man raises his head not knowing whether to shove in another pin and make another chalk mark.
[This is what is known as “NIBBLE”!!]
What goes on in the salesman’s mind when the first wave of hatred subsides? He grunts inwardly: This surly faced customer has consumed my two and a half hour. I didn't have a coffee break, have strained my shoulders after putting 43 suits on his back and I have watched this nitwit trying all the shade and all that’s down the drain. ” What have I got here?” What can I assemble from this wreckage? My commission comes out to be Rs. 400. I suppose I can buy this clown a tie from my commission and hope I never see him again."
Will you get a tie? Of course. Will you win the love and admiration of the salesman? That’s something else again. He will give you free tie because of his emotional involvement and not cause of Love and Affection.
Would the Nibble have worked if he hadn’t invested an inordinate amount of time? The success of Nibble is directly proportionate to the time invested.
Final tip: Your initial approach should always be collaborative as if you are hungry for help. So keep Nibbling, its just another way of negotiation.
Authored by: Nitesh Kumar, MBA (IMT Nagpur), Syntel, Pune.
Edited By: None other than the B'Day boy, Varun Parwal, the recently crowned FRM
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