"Loose Lips" Sink Ships and Companies - New Seminar Designed to Protect Negotiating Leverage and Intellectual Property

— Manufacturers benefit from avoiding costly single-source situations —

TAMPA, Fla., Nov. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "Loose Lips Sink Companies!™" is a new seminar available from Benedict Negotiating Seminars that helps companies protect themselves from the loss of negotiating leverage, proprietary information and intellectual properties.

The seminar is especially beneficial to manufacturing companies, where engineering or IT professionals may unintentionally give away "the negotiating store" by answering salespeople's questions with too much information. Often, this outflow of information creates costly single-source situations - leaving little or no room for negotiation. The session also helps employees in new product development who may unknowingly give away confidential information or intellectual property.

The seminar is appropriately named to mirror a popular World War II poster slogan — "Loose Lips Sink Ships" — that increased awareness of how information given away carelessly or unknowingly could help the enemy literally sink ships.

In addition to engineering, IT and new product development professionals, the new workshop trains anyone who talks with outside suppliers on how to deal with "back-door selling," a method that salespeople use to gain valuable information before formal negotiations begin. Their targets also include receptionists, manufacturing and warehouse employees, HR, program and project managers, and upper management.

"Back-door selling costs many companies millions of dollars annually – and the loss of valuable intellectual property," according to Bob Benedict, president of Benedict Negotiating Seminars and author of the book "The Negotiation is Won (or Lost) Before it Ever Starts."

"Every time employees talk with suppliers, they need to be aware they are involved in the negotiation process," says Benedict. The company has trained more than 200,000 purchasing, supply chain, engineering and IT professionals around the world in how to negotiate with suppliers. 

The four-hour "Loose Lips Sink Companies!" seminar uses DVD scenarios, group discussions and workbook to help sensitize employees to the dangers of loose lips by:

• recognizing back-door selling questions;
• understanding why they are being asked these questions; and,
• knowing how to respond in a way that protects the company's negotiating leverage.

Benedict Negotiating Seminars offers a 28-year track record of helping companies to significantly improve profitability through more effective, cost-saving negotiations.  For more information, visit www.looselipssinkcompanies.com.

SOURCE Benedict Negotiating Seminars