It sounds simple, but in reality, it’s very difficult.
Difficult, that is, to control what appears to be a built-in human nature: The impulse, when dealing with a potential deal partner, to have the mindset of a seller.
Let’s step back for a moment.
Note that I said “mindset” to distinguish the concept of inner talk and expectations from the fact of the matter that you will still engage in activities to, in essence, “sell” the deal, as you desire it, to the potential deal partner, whether we’re talking about a deal with a hospital, a hospital system, a referral source, or with anyone else.
It’s one thing to engage in activities to convince the opposite side to engage your services, or to acquire whatever it is that you’re selling or providing. However, and here’s the point, it is an entirely different thing to do so from the mindset that you are somehow less than, or will be lucky to be selected, or that you are some sort of a supplicant to the other side.
The best way to put this is that even when you are, in actuality, selling, your mindset should be that of a buyer. Would you buy what the other side is selling you?
Let’s put this into a very easy to understand context.
Even in the situation in which your entity is doing a deal, for example, with a hospital system, in which the system will be providing stipend support to you, don’t negotiate as if that stipend support is a gift or a handout or a “May we have more please?”. Instead, view the deal and evaluate it as if you are a buyer of that relationship, with something extremely valuable to offer.
Let your deal partner prove itself worthy of what you have to offer.
