Every day of our life, as we move around, and interact with people, we conduct one form of negotiation or the other. Negotiation is such an integral part of our life that we have even failed to realize we are engaged in it on a continuum – while boarding a bus, while buying at the market, while speaking with our children, and while talking with our boss. Indeed, we negotiate every day long. But how can we master this art better? How can we become more artful? How can we ensure we get the maximum benefit from a deal? These and many more related questions are worth pondering on if we all agree that negotiation is an everyday art for us.

When negotiating a condition, the major mistake we make is over-fixation on ourselves, what can I get from this situation? How can I get 100% of my request? How can I get this deal for the least possible price? We ask these questions continually and it is the bane of bad deals.

What our focus should be on is a win-win situation. To get a win-win deal, we cannot afford not to have an answer for the unselfish painstaking question that all counterparties always ask: What’s In It For Me?

What’s In It For Me (WIIFM)?

If you are entering a negotiation arena without having the answer to this question, you have most likely lost your strength even before the beginning of the negotiation. For every deal, there must be something for all parties, and if something you highlighted is valuable enough to the counterparty, then you know what area of ‘weakness’ to harness for your benefit.

WIIFM works in two powerful ways while negotiating

1. If you are proposing/leading a deal, knowing what’s in it for the counterparty will help you in weighing your options if you are willing to offer the value or it will be a bad deal if you offer such value.
   • For example, Dave is willing to buy a plot of land from Jenny for N200k, a land which will ordinarily go for N120K. It behoves Jenny to answer the question, what’s in it for me Dave? Is he seeing something about the land that I can’t see yet? Is there a treasure hidden on the land? Are Dave’s ancestors buried on the land and Dave will pay any amount to make sure he gets the land? These and many more questions will help you to know what’s in it for me Dave and why he is ready to accept your offer. It can then inform your decision about closing the deal (if the piece of land is precious enough to Dave as to pay any amount) or cut the deal (if valuable treasures are hidden on the piece of land that is worth more than any amount Dave can pay).
2. If the other party is proposing the deal, it will be nice if you know what’s in it not just for yourself, but for the other party as well. While the other party might be proposing a juicy offer, you should understand that ‘it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest.’ This realization should push you to know what’s in it for such party beyond what’s written in black and white.
   • For example, Jenny is proposing to employ Dave for wages of N200k. If Dave considers this offer either too good to be true or too low to accept, then it behoves Dave to find the answer to the question, what’s in it for Jenny? What is the work culture like? Will Jenny take all my time and I won’t have time for other parts of my life? Does Jenny have a history of offering so much and defaulting? Does Jenny think lowly of my value to have offered such low wages? Answering these and many more questions will help you to understand why Jenny is offering so much or so little and in effect inform your decision.

You see the question WIIFM is a universal one, and it can remove a lot of hurdles and make negotiation position clear, if you are diligent and painstaking enough to find the answer(s) to the question.

Introducing BATNA – A Powerful Negotiation Tool

Whenever I talk about negotiation, another powerful tool I always like to mention is BATNA – Best Alternative To A Negotiated Agreement. While WIIFM will help you to remain critical about your negotiation, BATNA will help you know when it’s time to walk away, when it’s time to raise the bar, and more. Importantly, BATNA helps you to set a ‘price’ floor for your deal. 

How does BATNA work?

When you are about to negotiate a deal, more often than not, you tend to have more than one option. Say you can do any of the following: sell your car or continue using it, or give it to your sister or donate it to charity, or more. You see options abound with corresponding benefits. Of all these, your BATNA will be the one you derive maximum value from (say giving it to charity) before going to negotiate the next one (say selling the car). When you set your price for sale, the minimum you will be ready to accept must be either equal to the benefit you will derive from the next best alternative or more than it, nothing less.

Understanding this will help you to know what price the buyer will mention that will make you say “I will rather give this to charity than sell it to you,” and there lies your power. If you don’t know your BATNA before going to a negotiation table, you might end up with a bad deal for your car. 

If you enjoy reading this, I have also written a couple of Goodreads:

1. Becoming a victim of exposure
2. Balancing the need for internet privacy and human advancement

Digital marketing is the process of promoting and showcasing your products to people mainly through the internet. Digital marketing expands to also include display advertising and any other digital medium.

Digital marketing channels are all based on the internet or any other digital platforms.

Digital marketing is the catalyst that moves product acceptability, increase sales and creates awareness about the product especially if your consumers/customers are technologically aware and internet users.

Digital marketing methods include these methods  or mediums Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Content Marketing, Influencer Marketing, Content Automation, Campaign Marketing, Display advertising, and more.

Digital marketing now extends to non-Internet channels that provide digital media, such as mobile phones (SMS and MMS or Bulk SMS), Callback, and on-hold mobile ring tones and voice notes. 

It is of great importance to find out where your customers are, as it will help you in determining which of the medium is suitable to be used in getting their attention, and capturing their interests. In local parlance, think of what your customers fancy and apply them.

If you are into fashion and trendy things, you should know that the best medium to use in capturing your targeted audience is primarily Social Media Marketing (SMM). Inside the social media marketing, you are also to determine which of the social media are your targeted audience or prospective customers are. Instagram and Twitter are the best mediums for you to use if you are marketing anything that centres on youth or youngins while LinkedIn is the best platform for you if you are marketing professional material or anything that has to do with professional materials.

No money invested in digital marketing is a waste as far as you are marketing in the right direction.

You might not increase sales instantly. You should know that the reason for digital marketing is not just for instant sales but to create awareness and register the product in the mind of individuals. With over 3.2 billion users of internet around the world, digital marketing is the easiest way to expose your product in different countries and locations even at the comfort of your house or office.

It is estimated in 2018, Nigeria had 92.3 million internet users. This figure is projected to grow to 187.8 million internet users in 2023. The internet penetration amounted to 47.1 percent of the population in 2018 and is set to reach 84.5 percent in 2023. These internet users are scattered around popular social media, popular blogs and online news media; they visit popular online sites and use different search engines and apps.

It will be at your best interest and the best interest of your product to find out where your prospective customers/clients are, and then channel your marketing energy towards it.

Due to the fact that the information you want to pass across is digital, it has to be a catchy phrase, direct and captivating to individuals. Use high quality videos and pictures – great ways to get attention.

Benefits of digital marketing are numerous and cannot be overemphasized; digital marketing makes marketing and advertising easier. The information you provide about your product can be accessible to anyone in any part of the world. Deploy it in your business as you pursue growth.

Enough of the stereotypes. Not all Africans are murderers, dubious or thieves.

It’s disheartening to see how our media present Africans out there. Of course, every country has problems, but it makes no sense when all we read on papers, hear on the radio and see on television is the bad side of Africa.

I spoke with an American guy who said that the only thing he knows about Nigeria is scams. I was gutted.
Why would you assume or conclude like that?
We see American action movies and read their books, does that make Americans murderer?
We read American books and hear the news about the country, does that change anything about them?

Other countries will never come out to tarnish their own image. Only Africans would do that. Africans are always the first to wash their dirty underwear in public. It makes me wonder what we stand to gain from doing that.
Perhaps, Africans love to appear like victims. No wonder leaving the country is the dream of every African youth. They’d say they are in search of greener pastures.

I am not against anyone leaving if they see a brighter picture elsewhere, but do it respectfully. Don’t make it look like you were dying here. I spoke with a Nigerian lady in Dublin, Ireland, she told me she would never come back to Nigeria again. Her only reason was because of rats, cockroaches and lizards in the African surroundings.
I couldn’t stop laughing. Africans are the problem of Africa.

Let me ask some questions from all Africans reading this:

• Since we’ve been badmouthing our own Africa, what changes has it brought?
• Has it made the visa processing easy for us?
• Has it given us bigger opportunities out there?

Break out from the poor thinking and victim mentality. You’ll always remain a second or third citizen in another man’s country. Let’s grow our own Africa.

As Africans, we need to do more. Enough of the stereotype caused by us. We made everyone sees Africa as a delicate place to visit. The news on the radio and television is appalling. You can barely hear anything positive about Africa. They are either attacking the Buhari administration or religious conflicts.

How do we attain greater heights when Africans don’t believe in Africa?
Recently, Samuel L. Jackson, an American actor, traced his origins back to Africa and obtained his Gabonese passport. Even Anthony Joshua, a British boxer still claims Nigeria.
It makes you see how people outside the country see our own Africa.

The human race is one. We Africans need to start seeing ourselves as one. No White man will come to your rescue. We are our own Messiah. Let’s stand up and fight corruption, inequality and killings in Africa.

Africa must be great again.