Your wife is a great businesswoman…
..the trader in the El Had Souk in Agadir in Morocco said to me. I grinned. I’d been sitting on a stool, in the leather shop paying an awful lot of attention to what was going on, but pretending to be engrossed in the cup of mint tea he’d given me.
It was a great cup of tea but watching the scene play out in front of me was holding my attention.
My business partner and wife, Michaela is a bit of a shopaholic. And I when I mean `a bit’ I mean…she’d be a gold medallist if it were an Olympic sport. Sitting outside changing rooms while she tries things on may be a real husband-wife stereotype. but…well – let’s just say a WiFi signal to let me surf between a dozen `What do you think of this?‘s helps wile away the hours. 😉
I almost felt sorry for the man who’d just told her that the bag (and the coat she wanted) were just 5,000 dirham. I surpressed a grin and saw the look on Michaela’s face
Nice try, I thought.
But I wasn’t surprised.
A born natural
Michaela is great at haggling (or `negotiating’ as it’s more likely to be called in a court case). It’s a skill she learned in her childhood: The Middle East. She may be Welsh through and through (or more accurately English, since she got the DNA test results in…) but it’s something she’s done for as long as she can remember. Talk to her long enough and she’ll tell you about Abu Dhabi, shawarmas, the call to prayer, women in abayas and hijabs.
I’m not that much of a slouch, myself (any haggling I did took place in the less romantic environs of Essex…) and I’ve done my fair share in places like Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia…but Michaela? It’s natural to her.
I always think of it as a little like learning to play a musical instrument (something she’s also pretty good at – you should hear her on the oboe):
You can be taught the principles, you can see others going it, you can take into account everything that needs doing…but it’s something you’re either a natural at…or not.
It’s the different between walking away thinking you’ve managed to get a great result…or wondering why your wallet is empty and if you’d have been better off not having even tried. Or…if you’re in court, you’ve just agreed to something you really shouldn’t have.
Imagine her helping you in court…
And here’s the point of this post.
Michaela can help you negotiate. You’re representing yourself, of course. She had make a huge difference between you agreeing to something that you felt forced and one that leaves thinking `Did I just hear that right? That’s amazing!’
But she’s going to be beside you (with the metaphorical glass of mint tea?) who will be able to tell you if what is being offered is something to shake on or walk away from. Or whether you should propose something entirely different.
She’s focused, sensitive, creative and…when it comes to this sort of thing – well, a little bit of humanity and humour can go a long way.
Negotiation is the nice way of reaching a decision. One that everyone can live with, one that everyone can agree to and one that is more likely to work because it’s not been landed on everyone on high by a judge who is probably going to disappoint someone with the order he/she is going to make.
Over the years. I’ve seen her help clients in courts from magistrates to the Royal Courts of Justice, helping in negotiations headed up by other people representing themselves, all the way to Oxbridge – graduated barristers who will make the average litigant in person want to run for the hills.
You really need her on your team. And with the fact that her assistance is less than half the price of a solicitor you’ve got a real bargain too.
So…want to find out how she can help you and get some advice from an expert? Just click here to get the ball rolling!
