When it comes to B2B sales negotiation training, the most important lesson to be learned is how to control one’s emotions and never appear frustrated or overwhelmed. Emotional control is essential in negotiation. Control of the negotiation process is rarely achieved by someone who appears demonstrative, combative, argumentative and or uses strong-armed tactics.
The most successful B2B sales negotiations occur when one party subtly takes control of the process and leads the other party to give concessions they might not otherwise concede. So, if emotional control is such an important aspect of sales negotiation training, what can one do to ensure they control their emotions and subtly take control of the negotiation?
Three Consequences of Losing Control in Negotiation
Before delving into the importance of remaining in control, it’s important to do away with the perception that using strong-armed tactics work. A negotiation is meant for two parties to come together, offer concessions and work out an agreement. If one party makes the negotiation a contentious affair, then the other side simply won’t abide by the rules and consequently, won’t offer any concessions. In fact, in most cases the process simply stops.
Unfortunately, a number of business professionals believe these strong-armed negotiation tactics work because of the tacit indifference of the other party. In their minds, they’ve won. In reality, nobody does. Therefore, do away with those approaches and concentrate on remaining in control of your emotions. Why is this important?
- Anger Leads to Threats
One of the issues with using threats in negotiation is that the party issuing the threat rarely follows through with action. Instead, one threat leads to another and each additional threat is often ignored by the other party. Once again, threats typically occur when one party refuses to make a concession that the other party deems important.
- Anger Exposes Weakness
One of the main reasons why you should never “lose your cool”, so to speak, is because once it happens it immediately exposes your position. Losing control typically coincides with refusal of the other party to concede a concession you’ve deemed important. Once you demonstrate your anger, the other party will immediately identify that concession as essential to the negotiation process and hold back on offering it. They may then decide to only offer it after you’ve offered additional concessions.
- Anger Leads to Loss of Focus
Perhaps the most important reason of all to remain in control of your emotions during a negotiation is that anger always forces one party to lose focus. Losing focus during a negotiation can have damaging effects. Typically, losing focus leads to frustration and frustration leads to more anger and veiled threats. In the end, the entire negotiation can become unhinged.
When it comes to B2B sales negotiation training, the best courses will always emphasize emotional control as pivotal to success. Remaining in control of one’s emotions is to remain in control of the negotiation.
Losing control leads to anger which then leads to using veiled threats and ultimately, to reverting to using those strong-armed negotiation tactics that force one party to abandon pursuit. Once that happens, the negotiation itself breaks down and the likelihood that the other party will offer concessions, decreases substantially. As such, it's essential to remain focused, committed to the task at hand, and never lose control of your emotions.
The above video outlines some simple strategies to protect your product's price, manage concessions and handle customer threats and scare tactics in negotiation. You can read more by going to: Five Sales Competencies Every B2B Salesperson Must Master
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