Sales Negotiating Skills That Work
Do prospects and customers beat you up on price?
Are your margins being squeezed by people demanding discounts?
Is your sales team leaving money (and profits) on the bargaining table?
Smart buyers and decision makers know that sales people are under tremendous pressure to reach sales targets and quotas. As a result, they are often ruthless when it comes to negotiating the terms of an agreement.
That means sales people often resort to heavy discounting in an effort to close a sale.
Unfortunately, this approach costs you money in lost profits AND it conditions your customer to ask for higher discounts in the future.
The key is to improve your skill and ability at sales negotiating.
Our research has shown that most sales people do not negotiate as effectively as they could.
Negotiating is a skill. And like any other skill it requires constant practice and ongoing development.
Here’s what I mean…
Most people have some type of hobby. Playing a guitar or other musical instrument, playing a sport like golf or hockey, or doing something like woodworking, gardening, knitting, etc.
Regardless of the hobby (or hobbies) you enjoy, I suspect that it took you a while to master some of the basic fundamentals before you became competent at that hobby. In fact, it may have taken you a long time to become proficient at that particular hobby.
Sales negotiating is no different.
I once attended a sales conference and one of the breakout session focused on sales negotiating. The person I sat next to was a lead sales negotiator for a gravel company (a highly competitive industry) and had been in that position for more than 15 years. Needless to say I asked why he was attending this breakout session.
His answer?
“I can always learn something new.”
This guy knew how important it was to continue improving his skill even though he was very experienced. I suspect that he was very successful, too.
What about you?
Are you (or your team) negotiating as effectively as you could?
If not, here are a couple of things to consider…
I have written several articles on negotiating a sale. You can read them here.
If you’re the type of person that enjoys listening to information, I created a comprehensive sales negotiating audio program that might help. Get the details here.
Finally, if you manage a sales team, you might benefit from a sales negotiating training program. I can develop a sales negotiating course for your team that can be delivered in-house (at your sales meeting, conference or other sales related event) or via webinar or podcast.
Here are some of the key topics I typically discuss during my sales negotiating training programs:
Negotiate with Confidence and Power
- Negotiating blunders your team may be making without realizing it
- The most effective way to respond to, “Can you do better?” or “You’ll have to do better than that.”
- Negotiating tactics you need to watch for and how to respond effectively to each
- How to deal with aggressive price buyers
- Why price is seldom the primary motivator behind a buying decision
- How your pipeline affects your ability to negotiate
- Key strategies to handling concessions
- Elements of power and how they influence the sales negotiation
- What to say when you hear, “What’s your best price?”
These are just a few of the concepts Kelley presents in his sales negotiating training workshops and programs.
Tailored Sales Negotiating Program
When you contact Kelley to deliver a sales negotiating training program for you, he will discuss the specific challenges your team faces and he will tailor a program to address your individual situation.
We will use case studies and/or examples that directly relate to your business and/or industry.
We will create a step-by-step blueprint to help your team implement the concepts and strategies that are presented in the workshop.
We can even schedule a post-workshop conference call to discuss the progress your team is making.
Our goal is to help you get the most from your investment.
Contact Kelley to discuss a sales negotiating training program: 905-633-7750 or email.