I had the
privilege of interviewing one of my good friends Darnell Davis, who is the
owner and President of Evolution Magazine. Evolution Magazine is an online and quarterly limited print magazine. With
the power of the Internet we are able to reach professional and savvy readers
everywhere.
Darnell
is positioning Evolution Magazine to be a business and industry resource for
all from start-up business owners to CEOs. Evolution helps navigate and prepare
for growth through in-depth content on leadership and management, technology,
finance, sales and marketing, human resources and communications.
Darnell
spends a lot of time negotiating in many aspects of his businesses and he took
the time to explain how he handles the negotiating process.
TT: How do
you separate the people from the problem when you are negotiating?
Darnell: I
endeavor to level the playing field in some fashion. This allows me not to see
someone bigger or more experience than me which can often times come out as
inferiority and you cannot ever begin to negotiate from that position. From
there I begin to seek common goals and objective which in some form brings me
up to their level if there happens to be a gap there. Once I feel we have made
the experience level, I can then separate the problem from the people. We are
the same at that point and our objective is to find a solution to the problem
together.
TT: How do
you handle positional bargaining tactics?
Darnell:
Kind of answered this one in the first one. However, I look for common
strengths and weaknesses and create a situation where we are all planning from
the same level. It does not matter from which position I am bargaining from, I
seek to level the playing field and negotiate from a common place.
TT: Can you
give me an example of how you worked toward mutual benefit when you were
negotiating a deal?
Darnell:
Recently, I assisted a
company in creating an affiliate marketing program. Knowing my network and my
ability to speak to it effectively I position myself into a partnership with
this company. What he did not know is that I had recently started a PR company
and I really wanted to get his marketing dollars. Knowing my value I position
Evolution Magazine and our outlets to be of great value to his company. He
realized that we were actually bringing his brand up to our planning field and
we began to negotiate from that point. I lowered my income expectation from the
affiliate program; however, at the same time I sold him on using the PR Company
to assist with his marketing efforts.
Follow Darnell on the following networks to learn more about Evolution Magazine and his business projects:
Click here to read the Evolution Magazine blog.
Click here for LinkedIn.
