Negotiation Skills for Sellers

by | For Salespeople, Sales Techniques

 

 

How many new sales do you need to recover the cash lost in just one poor negotiation? If your net margin is 10%, you would need $1,000 in new business just to cover the deficit from giving away a single $100 discount.

Every dollar that poor negotiating removes from your price is a dollar of pure profit lost; free cash flow you have utterly wasted.

The most shameful part is, because you failed to negotiate well, the customer didn’t even appreciate the bargain you gave away.

Everybody lost!

I have read a lot about negotiation and even written a little, but most of the literature is for buyers trying to get better price and terms. Advice for the other side of the table, the salesperson, is harder to find. My executive coaching client, Raj Khera, CEO of MailerMailer, has just put a superb, free guide for business owners on his blog. Titled Negotiating price: how to overcome price resistance, Raj’s post is concise and practical. Apply his simple advice and increase your profits.

Don’t confuse hard negotiating with heartless negotiating. A deal that doesn’t make sense for everyone makes sense for no one.

 

Always leave some money on the table.

Never spill blood on the floor.

 

 

 

You may need to return to that room again.

 

 

A fantastic book on negotiation

by | Communication, Conversation, & Confrontation, For Business Owners, For Salespeople, Recommended Books, Sales Techniques

 

 

Getting Past No: Negotiating Your Way from Confrontation to Cooperation by William L. Ury

A practical guidebook to “Win-Win” negotiation.William L. Ury

William Ury is not only an experienced high-level negotiator but an acute student of his art who can distill his wisdom into concise, memorable lessons. This book is indispensable for anyone who wants to do well in negotiations, formal or informal, without humiliating or destroying the other side. For Ury and his disciples, Win-Win is not a feel-good aspiration but a profitable practice. As a negotiation style that builds relationships while getting things done, Win-Win is a cornerstone of the “Sustainable Workstyles” we teach at MayoGenuine.

A key insight of his method is the possibility of being “soft on the people, hard on the problem.” Negotiation is so often associated with macho words like “bruising,” “hard-nosed,” and “marathon” that it is easy to forget negotiation is not war pursued by other means. We negotiate as an alternative to battle, not as another version of it. Everyone wants (more…)