Sales negotiation tactics that will put you ahead of the competition
Sales negotiation is a terrifying task for many sales professionals. The good news is that you can improve your profits and commission checks with effective sales negotiation techniques, no matter how experienced you are.
Individual salespeople have different skills, strategies, and attitudes toward sales negotiation, which makes it difficult to dictate what works for everyone. But, with the right strategy and sales negotiation skills training, all parties can maintain a good relationship and achieve a mutually beneficial outcome.
Here are five sales negotiation tactics that will put you ahead of the competition!
What is a sales negotiation?
A sales negotiation is a conversation between a buyer and seller, ideally leading to a mutually beneficial agreement. The process often involves back-and-forth discussions involving buyer concerns, concessions, established value, and, eventually, compromise.
The goal of any sales negotiation is closing the deal while both sides are satisfied, but unfortunately, a negotiation doesn’t always result in a sale. In those situations, buyers and sellers disagree with the terms and part ways.
Sales negotiation training
To put it simply, sales negotiation is two people trying to decide whether to do business with each other. No matter what price is offered, nor even what agreement is reached, the purpose of the sales negotiation is to determine whether both parties are satisfied with the terms.
To be able to reach that point of agreement, salespeople need exceptional skills and training. Such training is called Sales Negotiation Training and is led by a sales coach. It aims to teach participants how to handle sales negotiations constructively and reach that ‘win-win’ outcome. Participants develop their negotiation skills as part of the training; they learn how to handle objection situations and are equipped with special tools and techniques to scale up their sales game to the highest level.
Top 5 sales negotiation tactics
Just like you use sales templates for your email tactics, there are a few sales negotiating strategies that will help you handle any given situation!
1. Be prepared
If you want to settle a negotiation, careful planning is essential. Knowing your product and target market is the first step to develop a winning sales plan. To get the right sales pitch, learn what your buyer desires and what you can provide them before you even start negotiating.
Ask yourself a few questions, such as: Why do they need your product/service? Are there any pain points they face, and if so, what are they? What is their budget proposal, and how do they participate in decision-making? What alternative choices are there if your agreement doesn’t work out? These questions need to be thoroughly studied to be answered.
2. Build trust
Buyers are much less likely to play hard to get during negotiations when they are negotiating with a partner they see as a trustworthy one. Establishing trust and understanding customer feelings early in the sales process reduces negotiation friction later.
Let’s say you are selling a solution for the easy onboarding of new employees. When you’ve identified the need within your client’s company, one of the best ways to present the sales is to show how your solution has served you. If you are not using your own product, why would the buyer trust its value?
3. Handle objections
Handling objections requires a combination of skills, including:
- Active listening
- Problem-solving
- Handling objections effectively
With an understanding of your products, rivals, and prospects, you can counter any objection.
4. Build the value
When buyers voice concerns, sellers are all too frequently persuaded to give in. Don’t yield to that pressure. Instead, concentrate on the buyer’s goals—the reasons they’re resisting or demanding a concession—and attempt to demonstrate how your product or service will help them reach those goals.
Pay close attention to the buyer’s problems and make an effort to understand where they are coming from. Then, without instantly eliminating a portion of the proposed contract or altering the price, try to meet their wants and expectations. Prospective customers are considerably more likely to be willing to pay what a solution is worth when they grasp its value explicitly.
For instance, if you offer life insurance, ensure your buyer knows exactly what benefits they have for the price you offer and what costs are covered in any given situation.
5. Know your bottom line and when to leave
When the sale goes through the negotiation process, train your reps on how to succeed by being aware of the lowest price they can go to while still achieving a win-win outcome. A crucial ability to develop is knowing when a deal is no longer worthwhile.
For example, if the customer is interested in your product, but you cannot offer the best eCommerce shipping solution, then the value you offer just got reduced.
You may want to call off the meeting if the prospect:
- Demands the impossible or seeks unprofitable concessions
- Expresses requirements that even your generous terms are unable to meet
- Refuses to cooperate and make compromises