Interview: Daniel Flores’s Take On Negotiating

     Daniel Flores is the co-founder of Maximum Entertainment Group located in Orlando, Florida. Maximum Entertainment Group specializes in sound recording, music lessons, and artist development. Daniel Flores is the son of an Army Veteran, born in Leominster, Massachusetts. Daniel grew up in Longwood, Florida where he graduated from Lyman High School and received a Business Degree specializing in Marketing from the University of Central Florida. Daniel’s passion for the art of recording and creating music is what inspired him to open up his own recording studio. Daniel says he wanted to, “create a facility where artist, musicians, and students could develop themselves to their fullest potential.” Daniel prides himself on doing just that; he shared with me that being a creative individual and business owner could be very challenging whenever “negotiations” enter the picture.

     Daniel says, “Negotiating with others can always be a tricky thing because in the back of everyone's mind, they either want a reasonable deal or a very reasonable deal.” When negotiating with others, Daniel tends to separate the people from the problem in his day-to-day business by focusing on what “the other side is offering and what I have to offer to them,” said by Daniel. He shared that to many times people get lost in things that do not matter once a deal is resolve. Keeping your eye on the ultimate prize (which is the problem) is what matters most in a negotiation.

     In addition to focusing on the problem in a negotiation, Daniel also talked about not doing business with others he feels wants to take advantage of him or frequently uses dirty tricks. “I do not do business with anyone who tries to take advantage of me, he says. Deal Making is all about trusting one another and fulfilling each other’s needs. If anyone tries to play a dirty trick in a negotiation, the trust has already been broken.” Daniel suggest that everyone stay away from making deals with others who is only out to “wring you dry.”

     Toward the end of my interview with Daniel Flores, he felt the need to elaborate on the importance of mutual gain. Daniel honestly believes in the term “win-win” and recommends that anyone entering a negotiation remember the term to. Daniel talked about how mutual gain is not when one person in the negotiation winds up with the short end of the stick. Mutual gain is based off a scale of “give and take.” What are both parties willing to sacrifice to meet each other’s needs? Daniel uses a strategy that would be best described as creating optimal solutions to evaluate mutual gain in a negotiation. This way both parties get a chance to understand each other’s needs.

     My negotiation interview with Maximum Entertainment Group’s co-founder Daniel Flores was very informing. I got a chance to see how Daniel separates people from the problem in his business, how he would react to dirty tricks in a negotiation, and I also learned how he implemented mutual gain in his negotiations. Some may agree with Daniel's skills and some may not. What I learned in my interview with Daniel is that different professions require different negotiating tactics and skills. No one can walk away from a negotiation with all of his or her proposals in tact. It is all about working together as a team to reach a fair resolution for both parties involved in a negotiation.