Six strategies to negotiating successful sales

By Michael Caron, President, Northbound Learning   

Contrary to what some think, negotiating isn’t something that only takes place at the end of the selling process. We are actually negotiating and laying the groundwork for further negotiations throughout the sale. When the customer has agreed that your solution fits with their needs but there is not agreement on variables such as delivery, terms and, of course price, good negotiating skills will bring the sale to successful completion. Here are six essentials:

Plan: Never go into a negotiation without a plan. Do your homework. What do you know about the individual you are negotiating with? What is their personality style? How can you adjust your style to be more effective with them? What information do you want to disclose or keep confidential? What is the time frame for this negotiation? Go through some of the other points below and write this information down.

Have a collaboration mindset: Most negotiations involve parties with which you want to have a long term, mutually profitable relationship with. You will only be able to protect and nurture this relationship if an agreement is reached that is truly win win. Enter the negotiation with this in mind and test the commitment of the other party to a win win, collaborative solution. If both parties agree that an agreement will be easier to reach if creativity, openness and collaboration prevail, the negotiation will have a much greater chance of delivering a successful deal.

Make a concession list: Make a list of all the things that you could give up and all the things they could give up. Then put two columns beside each, one for cost and the for value. By doing this, you will be better able to give up concessions that cost you little (but have high value to the customer) while accepting concessions in return that have high value to you. Click here to download a free Concession Planner from our Win Win Negotiations program.

Uncover goals: Make a list of goals from your point of view and the other party’s point of view. These should include objective and subjective goals along with business and personal. If you’re not sure of some of the goals of the other party, make an educated guess for now and attempt to confirm them during the negotiation.

Don’t counter immediately: when an offer is made, resist the urge to make a counter offer immediately. A person’s resistance to another person’s idea is the greatest immediately after they’ve given their own. Instead, explore it with the other party. Ask questions like, “Why do you think this might make sense for both of us? How exactly would that work in this area?” Probe for this solution meeting the win win criteria and show that you are truly considering it. If it doesn’t meet win win, state why it doesn’t work and then slowly come back by saying something like, “Something such as (terms) might work because . . .”

Know your walk away point: The goal of the negotiation is not just to produce an agreement. It’s to produce an agreement that works for both parties and protects the relationship. Know what the minimum terms are for you to accept an agreement. Understand that no agreement might be the best alternative. We call this your “BATNA” or the Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. By knowing your BATNA, you will prevent being driven into a deal that works for the customer but not for you.

Click here to learn more about Northbound’s Win2Win Negotiations program

Add simple marketing prior to your prospecting calls and watch your results soar

By Michael Caron, President, Northbound Learning   

Would you like a simple, inexpensive way to increase the number of meetings booked from your prospecting call efforts by 50% or more? I know—that’s like asking if you’d like to pay less in taxes. Of course!

The secret is to get a “marketing letter” into your prospect’s hands prior to your first phone call. While this sounds incredibly simple, it’s rarely done and will raise your prospecting success dramatically. There are several reasons why this works far better than making your first point of contact a phone call by itself:

It gives you a better opportunity to create your C.B.R. (Compelling Business Reason). You must build a case for your prospect to give you a few minutes of their precious and limited time. A carefully written letter will lay the groundwork of reasons for your prospect to engage in a conversation with you when you connect by voice. Your letter should include the 3 major benefits you may be able to bring to their organization, a quantifiable testimonial of results from other customers and a request to have a brief conversation. When your prospect has time to consider what the benefits of the conversation might be in advance, your chances of engaging them when you call will jump.

It allows you to schedule the call. The biggest dislike of people on the receiving end of a prospecting call is that it interrupts whatever they were working on. One way of minimizing this frustration is to let them know in your letter what day and time you’re going to be calling. Something like, “I’ll call you on Tuesday, February 9 at 9:15 to get a better understanding of some of your goals and challenges.” Allow them the opportunity to choose a time that works better for them if necessary. “If this date or time doesn’t work, could you kindly leave a message with a better one?” This shows that you respect their time. I recently used this letter technique with a billion dollar IT company. I sent my letter to the C.E.O. and on the precise day and time noted in the marketing letter, I called. After a couple of rings, I was greeted with, “Good Morning Michael. I was expecting your call.” Although this kind of response is not common, what is very common with sales reps who adopt this system is that by the time they connect with the prospect, he or she is far more receptive than if a call were made without the marketing letter.

It’s best to send a letter by snail mail. I can hear the groans already. “Snail mail? We live in an instant message world. Why would I ever resort to communication technology that’s in the Dark Ages?” Because electronic communication is so prevalent today, receiving something by regular mail is in fact more impactful. Additionally, email addresses are often difficult to get while mailing addresses are easily available. It also gives you the opportunity to enclose something of value such as a ad specialty or as simple as a coffee card. You will be amazed at how many prospects will remember you and your letter at the time of the call because of an inexpensive token. If you do your math to determine your R.O.I., you’ll see that spending a little time and money on strategic marketing to your prospects pays huge dividends.