This morning I attended the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce’s Business Leaders Breakfast. The panel discussion was the “Art of Negotiation” featuring Cliff Stein, Senior Director of Football Administration & General Counsel of the Chicago Bears and Dave Hanna, President of the Chicago Association of Realtors. Both are agents with fiduciary duties their client. Although one negotiates contracts for football players and the other for real estate, the message was the same. It is the skill that comes from experience and preparation resulting in a successful negotiation.
Both men articulated the same course of action in their own way. Stein’s process was identifying the parties, the goals, the rules of engagement, preparation and the how to structure the plan. Hanna said it this way: Identify the client, the goal, the process, expectations and the negotiating strategy.
What I walked away with was as an agent for my clients, I am an advocate. My advocacy comes from the skills I have learned through my experiences in the many transactions I have participated in, what I have learned from others in the Realtor© community and putting that game plan in place for each client I represent.