Negotiating Skills: Sales Strategy

When you are looking to sell something, it is important to possess strong negotiation skills.  Not everyone is good at negotiating—many are intimidated.  For those who do not like to negotiate, but find themselves frequently in situations that require basic negotiation sales skills (i.e. selling a car, or a home), here are some ideas to help you overcome your fears and become a successful negotiator:

Sellers

Understand your product/service value.  Before you try to sell anything, it is critical that you know and understand your product line and its inherent value to your customers and prospects.  Interview current and previous customers to determine the marketplace viewpoint of your product/service.

Your previous customers will give you quite a bit of ammunition for fending off your competitors’ products and services, as they will be able to tell you your weak points and your competitors’ strong points (in their eyes).  You have to be open-minded and willing to accept the criticism, and use that criticism to develop stronger value for your product/service line in order to gain the advantage in selling to potential customers.

Know your competition.  Research and study your competition.  Know what they are selling and how it is working for them.  Understand their price points and their perceived advantages to your prospect base.  Also—know that some of your current customers are likely shopping around.  Keeping your competition in your hip pocket will help you continue to develop products and services that provide value to your customers, and will keep you strong at the negotiating table.

Know your sales strategy.  How will you sell your products and services effectively?  Know your strategy before you begin negotiating.  You don’t know how well your purchasers will have done their homework in advance, so have backup plans for your backup plans.  Make sure you put your strategy to paper and put it into action with each opportunity to negotiate a sale.  The better and stronger your strategy for selling your products/services, the better positioned you will be to come out ahead when negotiating with a prospect.

Understand your buyer and their motivation.  Know your niche market so well that you understand a buyer’s motivation before they come to you.  Each buyer will be different in what motivates them to buy—but based on past experience in selling your product or service, you will have a general idea of their motivation.  Ask key questions to further draw that out, and make sure you pay close attention to how they answer your questions.  Their answers will always determine your next steps in the negotiation process.

Don’t talk price—talk value.  The buyer may bring up price right away.  You need to talk value.  Make sure you point out the value of your services/products without mentioning price, especially if you are a price leader.  It is very important that the customer understand the value of your products/services if you intend to negotiate to the point of sale.

Whether you are a buyer or seller, you view the ultimate sales transaction from a different vantage point.  Oddly enough, both are trying to achieve the same end result—purchase of a product or service that will fulfill the needs of both the buyer and the seller.  Remember that the key to a successful sale is in the negotiation.  The better negotiator you are, the better your chances for a good purchase or sale, and both parties will walk away from the transaction feeling good about the outcome.  Good luck!

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