The professional that I chose to interview was Brian Burton, who is the owner of BBOYZZ Entertainment. The purpose of his company is to provide management, marketing and promotions for various music artists. He also provides marketing services to various products. He started his business back in 2008 and works with a team of individuals. The majority of his business is run in a similar fashion to being a record label. The main objective of BBOYZZ Entertainment is to bring successful shows to the area. He operates the majority of his business in Central Florida, Miami and Fort Lauderdale but he also has clients and partnerships all over the world.
Throughout our interview, we discussed various methods that he uses while conducting negotiations for his clients. Words of advice that he gave me was, "Never handle business unless you have contracts from both parties."
The first step that Brian recommended is to conduct a lot of research on the people and business that you are working with prior to ever agreeing to meet with them so make sure that they are someone that you want to become involved with.
One of Burton's #1 Rules is to never make an agreement without having some form of physical interaction with the other parties, whether it be face to face meeting or via Social Media such as Skype. He feels that this gives you a better understanding of the person that you are working with so that you can know exactly whom you are conducting business with. This is his way of falling for some others "Dirty Tricks" of concealing their identity behind the Internet.
When he gets to the negotiation process, he always prefers to allow other parties to throw out a price first. This allows him to see how serious the other parties are so that he can begin to negotiate and make the best deal for his business. In the end, this helps him to come to a mutual agreement with the other parties.
Burton's method of Separating the People from the Problem is to never consider a deal to be personal; work with a contract at all time. He also advised that you need to be able to understand the transaction and not allow friends and/or family to take advantage or not provide any benefit to you. By having confidence in the product/service, other will not be able to find a route to take advantage of you.
When determining the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement, Burton feels that it's crucial to persuade and be efficient to what you want and ensure that everyone understands the benefits of the deal. To avoid damaging the relationship, he advises to remain truthful at all times.
I truly enjoyed speaking with Brian Burton because he not only gave me advice to use when I begin making negotiations for my own business but he also provided me with real life examples to be aware of when I begin my deal making process.
--- Jackee Walker
