After being in sales for almost 20 years, it is my humble opinion that the most challenging phase of a sales process is the negotiation stage. No matter how many self-help books you read or how many hours of training you receive, trust and collaboration are absolutely essential to a win-win negotiation.
Detailed and thorough planning before the negotiation is a must. This will help reduce trading cycle time and result in better results.
Listed below are some of the key questions a seller should ask before coming to a negotiating table:
- Have I identified the right decision makers?
- Is each of the decision makers adequately convinced of my offer?
- Who will be at the negotiating table?
- Who should accompany me to the negotiating table?
- Do I have all the pertinent information regarding the other party?
- Have I developed specific objectives/strategies for each issue to be negotiated?
- List of concessions that can be given.
- List of concessions you would expect.
- Term within which an agreement could be reached.
- Have I rehearsed the negotiation conversation?
- When will I get out based on:
- Ethics
- service requests
- add value
- Price
- Negotiation tactics adopted
In the list mentioned above, most sellers do not consider when to walk away from a deal; but this can help close more sales. Here are some of the benefits of exercising the ability to back out of a deal:
- Show your conviction about what you believe: When you continue to stay at the negotiating table long after you’ve made your final concession, you’re letting the other side think you can offer more. On the other hand, if you politely show that you have achieved your ultimate goal by walking away, the other party will be convinced and believe what you say. I learned this as a sales executive selling timeshares. My manager walked away from the table saying “I’m afraid we may not be able to accommodate you” when the customer fancied too many extra offers. I was surprised by my manager’s response, but within minutes the customer had bought the membership and said, “I’m happy as long as you deliver what you promised.”
- Help clients loosen control over the “positions” they occupy: Arguing with people who are too stubborn to give up their position leads to a lose-lose or lose-win outcome. In any case it is a ‘loser’ for you. In such situations, it is better to walk away from a deal. During my days selling children’s books for one of India’s largest trading houses, a retailer insisted that he couldn’t fit book stalls in his store. Regardless of the concessions I gave, he just didn’t budget from his position. I just told him I’m not interested in doing business and started walking away. This unnerved the stubborn negotiator and gave me a position, albeit a smaller position.
- Empower the buyer to sell our position to their bosses: There are times when we cannot reach the top decision maker. In such cases, the intermediary, who following the instructions of his boss, tries to get the best out of the deal. These intermediaries do not give up their position or give concessions. But the tables turn when we start to walk away. They do this mainly to tell their bosses that if they hadn’t made the concession we would have gotten out of the deal.
These points just go to show that getting out of a deal also needs to have a strategy that you execute at the trading desk. In other words, be clear about when to walk away from the deal. I can already hear many sellers say that this is easier said than done; but trust me, this is easy if and only if you have a long list of prospects at any given time and you’re not too reliant on this one sale.
This is the reason why training in customer service and negotiation skills training are often recommended for dirty staff.
