"Deals are my art form. Other people paint beautifully on canvas or write wonderful poetry. I like making deals, preferably big deals. That's how I get my kicks."

- Donald Trump

Finally, after weeks of your planning and a grueling four hours of drafting, you have your fantasy football franchise all set for the season. Barring injuries, coaching decisions, players not meeting expectations, or other players bursting on to the scene, you have nothing to worry about with the stable of talent you acquired in the draft.

Sound likely? That's what I thought.

For the rest of the season, you will be active in looking for any glimmer of talent to improve your team. It is also rather likely that one or more of your players are going to lose time to an injury. So what can you do to better your team, week after week?

Most leagues have waiver wires and free agency, which are either a free-for-all or a bidding process with transactions occurring at set times each week between games. Those decisions can be made in a vacuum - meaning that you can decide what to do to hopefully better your ballclub by yourself and without anyone else's involvement.

There is another way that most leagues allow an owner to improve their team, but it is the most complicated method of all. This technique requires time and patience, and most of all interpersonal relations, which is a fancy way of saying "people skills". As you may have guessed already, I'm talking about trading players.

The Art of the Deal

What makes trading so difficult? First of all, it is the only method of improving your team that requires another team to be involved. It takes (at least) two owners to come to an agreement for a trade to happen, and that reason alone is responsible for many trades never coming to fruition. While you may think that you are offering a fair and reasonable trade, the other owner may think that you are way off in your valuation of talent, or simply may not want to help you improve your team.

There are ways that a good owner can improve his (or her) chances of making a deal. While there are more than just five things to keep in mind when working on a trade, remembering these will help you complete a deal that might lead you to a championship. We will use the word "TRADE" as a handy pneumonic to remember these five concepts.

• "T" is for Timing - Timing can be interpreted a few ways. First, you may be running up against your league's trade deadline. That event in itself may force a few deals to happen, as contending teams will look to sure up their rosters and push for a championship. Other timely issues are trades before a weekly kickoff or a big game - the pressure of the clock often guides dealmakers to a decision.

There is another definition of timing that should be mentioned. This speaks more towards when to make an offer to another owner. For example, if the Deuce McAllister owner last season suddenly needed a running back, being the first owner to send him an e-mail and an offer may get a nice value for a spare running back on your team.

"R" is for Rapport - Rapport can be built a number of ways. Just talking and interacting with other league members builds a social bridge between owners that can later be crossed if a trade needs to happen. Also, being active in the league builds a presence for an owner that you are around and happy to entertain trade offers.

While everyone enjoys a good bout of "Smack Talk", reminding some owners that it is all in good fun can bring things back in line just in case things get a little too heated. The last thing a needy owner needs when trying to make a deal is a resentful trade partner.

• "A" is for Availability - This ties in well to the timing mentioned above. When working on a deal, letting others know that you will make yourself available to go over trade offers lets everyone know that you will give them the courtesy of your time to take a look at a possible trade. Whether using e-mail, a phone call, or an online chat to hammer out a deal, let everyone know that you will listen, talk and respond in a reasonable (or even better, fast) way.

  There are times when you aren't going to be available. On the same train of thought, make a mention of this to other owners and what they can do if they really need to get a hold of you. Again, these seemingly small gestures can go a long way to building a nice network of trade partners.

• "D" is for Determination - Sometimes there is just a player that you simply must have. Making an initial offer may not get it done, but you are convinced that the player will make your franchise so much better that you are willing to overpay for his services. Sometimes multiple offers over a period of days or even weeks will wear down the other side of the table and turn a "No" to a "Maybe", and then hopefully to a "Yes".
  
  
• "E" is for Empathy - Every team is susceptible to injuries and misfortune. Your team may be lucky, but others may be affected by more than their fair share of issues. By talking to that owner and expressing that you understand their problems, you may be able to work out a deal that helps them in the near term but also helps yours in the long run.

The "T.R.A.D.E." ideas listed above are just some of the concepts that are needed to negotiate a successful fantasy football deal. Hopefully you can refer back to these as you learn to incorporate them into your interactions with other league owners and get more trades to come (and go) your way.