When you watch someone with strong negotiation skills, what kind of negotiation strategies do they adopt? Think about if for a moment. Do they haggle, argue and act demonstrative? Do they raise their voice in anger? Do they use intimidation in order to influence a decision in their favor? While some of these might work with some people, they don’t work on everyone and in fact, rarely work at all. When it comes to B2B sales negotiation training, one of the greatest negotiation strategies to use is silence. You read it correctly, being silent or not saying anything at all, is one of the most impactful ways to negotiate. However, there are other, simple negotiation strategies that speak volumes about your position and ultimately put the odds in your favor. Interested in knowing what these are?
Why Yelling, Screaming & Veiled Threats Won't Work
Before discussing the greatest negotiation strategies, it’s important to do away with those aforementioned, strong-armed tactics used by people who think they’re negotiating, but who are doing nothing more than alienating the opposing party. This will definitely be an eye-opener for those people who think that raising their voice, or acting big, affords them a position of power. It doesn’t!
In B2B sales negotiation, motivating with fear rarely works. Trying to strong-arm the opposing party might work once or twice, but over time the opposing party will simply hold back on key concessions that would otherwise make the negotiation more reasonable. Instead, the opposing party will enter each and every negotiation unwilling to offer any concession to move the process along. After all, why should they? If these individuals continually make the negotiation process such a contentious affair, the other party will never be willing to offer anything in return. Why do some believe these are such good tactics?
The above video shows how to defend your product's price in your market while dissarming customers who use threats as part of their negotiation process. To read more, please go to: Five Sales Competencies Every B2B Salesperson Must Master
A. Perception of Victory: One of the main reasons people employ such a confrontational negotiation tactic is the perception of victory. To these individuals, someone who shuts down is someone who is giving in. When the other side simply refuses to take part, these individuals believe they have imparted their will.
B. Ignorance: Unfortunately, people who employ such dogmatic tactics simply do so because they are not properly trained in negotiation. Simply put, they know no other way and because they have never done a proper negotiation, they tend to become focused solely on this antiquated and outdated approach.
C. Learned Behavior: In most cases, these individuals employ these tactics because it’s either something they’ve learned or because it’s used by those above them. In most cases, it becomes learned and over time, the tactic consumes the individual.
B2B sales negotiation is never a one-sided affair. People believe these tactics work because they never see the outcome of using proper negotiation strategies. Instead, they use the same tired approach and the resulting indifference from the other party just feeds these individual’s perception of being in control. So, if negotiation is meant to get both parties playing a role, what are the greatest negotiation strategies?
Improving your negotiation skills will help you defend business from overseas competitors. Learn how to maintain that top position as the incumbent supplier by going to: Defeat Overseas Competitors With Three Simple Steps
1. Silence Speaks Volumes
Ever notice how silence makes people feel uncomfortable? People just feel that something must be said. When you use silence, or pauses in the conversation, the other party inevitably feels uncomfortable and you appear as if you’re mulling over their offer, their point or are contemplating coming back with an offer of your own. Either way, the other party doesn’t know what you’re thinking, and sometimes not knowing is enough for them to make assumptions. Once they assume what you’re thinking they’ll often interrupt the silence by offering a concession. Silence is an excellent negotiation strategy in that it’s not confrontational. However, it accomplishes far more than using fear or intimidation. Instead, it appears innocent and allows you to assume control by leaving the other party mulling over all the myriad of possible thoughts you have.
2. Reading the Offer to the Other Party
Another simple and effective strategy is to read aloud what the other party is offering. Doing this allows you to subtly take control of the negotiation by allowing the other party to interject with a concession. The best negotiators use this tactic along with glances over to the other party, and facial expressions that impart unease, or indifference to the offer. It works because it forces the other party to contemplate the offer while listening to you read it aloud.
One of the best examples of this approach was adopted by my wife when she was buying our son’s crib. She carried with her a clip board and summary of all the offers she had received from various stores. She had taken meticulous notes, and had properly separated all offers as to whether or not they included taxes & delivery. In front of a sales person, she would read them their offer, take additional notes, and then compare them to the other offers she received.
All this time, the sales person would be left to sit and listen while she made these comparisons. Suffice it to say, the sales person often interjected and offered one concession after another! To her, it was natural to do the comparison. She was simply being diligent and she wasn’t being rude or loud. She was simply employing a tactic that works and one that doesn’t appear confrontational.
3. Offer Your Own Concessions
Sometimes the only way to move the negotiation forward is to offer your own concessions in return for another concession from the other party. This is an especially effective tactic if you value the relationship. Sometimes individuals are bound by prior agreements or instructions and this can often inhibit their ability to move the negotiation forward. If you adopt this negotiation strategy, make sure the first concession offered is a minor one. All that’s needed is to get the negotiation moving in the right direction and this should never be seen as a sign of weakness. You’re still in control and offering up the initial concession may allow the other party to offer an even larger one of their own. You might say something like the following:
“If we agree to a higher volume per order, what will you offer in return?”
When thinking of concessions, think of a "what if" scenario. It's the simplest way to maintain focus in a negotiation. What if I ask for this? What if they ask for that? Develop answers to both these questions by matching a high value concession with one of equal value. To read about managing concessions in negotiation, please read: B2B Negotiation - Preparing Your List of Concessions
When it comes B2B sales negotiation training, keep the approaches simple. Avoid the temptation to use threats or intimidation. These tactics rarely work because the other party becomes accustomed to the approaches. If you use a threat, and don’t follow through with action, then the other party will rarely take these threats seriously.
Those who aren’t aware of how to negotiate, often use threats frequently throughout the process, never knowing that each time they use them they set a precedent for the other party not to take them seriously. Consider these three as the greatest negotiation strategies and most simple ones to use. These are the simple strategies the best business-to-business (B2B) sales professionals employ. In fact, the best negotiators are naturals: They may not even know they use these three aforementioned approaches.
The above video explains how you can expose your overseas competitor's offer and is from the post: Stop Losing Business to Overseas Competitors: Define Your Customer’s True Purchasing Costs
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