No more "What I Should've Said ..."

Have you ever found yourself at a loss for the right words in a business conversation? And then kicked yourself a few hours later when you realize what you should have said?


In my PROFIT column this month I look at a new book by two Canadian entrepreneurs that will arm you with the right thing to say: Perfect Phrases for Managing Your Small Business, by Robert Bacal and Nancy Moore.


An excerpt from the column:


“The right words let you wiggle out of tight corners and regain the high ground...


Say you’re in a taut negotiation. She has just delivered her final offer. How do you get more? Saying “That’s not good enough” could jeopardize the deal.


Bacal and Moore offer multiple suggestions for pushing back:


* “I think your proposal is a good one, but here’s what I think we need to do as well.”

* “I feel that your solution won’t address all of our problems.”

* “I want to agree with you on this, but there’s an important aspect of the issue that I don’t feel we’ve addressed yet.”


What's particularly cool is that Bacal and Moore are Canadians, a husband and wife consulting team living just outside Ottawa.

In my interview with Bacal, he said his idea of a perfect phrase offers more than simple solutions: “A perfect phrase helps you get your point across, but it also stimulates your own thinking on these issues.”

Click here to read the full story.