On this episode, we discuss how to respond when a prospect asks for a discount. Our Chief Customer Officer Ray Makela takes a deeper look about why the prospect may request a discount in the first place, and key questions to consider for selling value instead of price.

In the Star Wars saga, “The Force” can be used for good or evil, depending on who’s wielding the power and how it's utilized. While types of negotiation tactics may not have the power to move heavy objects or control the mind, they can be instrumental in achieving a mutually beneficial outcome to a business to business transaction. They can mean the difference between successfully moving a deal forward and getting taken advantage of from a manipulative buyer.

"Begin with the End in Mind"

Over 35 years ago, Steven Covey identified this as one of the Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. First create a vision of where you want to end up, then develop the steps needed to get there.

In the “Art of War,” Sun Tzu stressed the importance of planning when he wrote, “Every battle is won or lost before it is ever fought.”

Preparation and planning have been shown to increase your chance of success – whether on the battle field, in a sporting competition or in a sales negotiation. In discussions during our sales negotiation workshops, we find that many sales professionals spend a significant amount of time selling and preparing the details around their pitch and proposal, but unfortunately they fail to develop the strategy and tactics needed to use that information to negotiate with their customer.

Does negotiating with Procurement always need to be a struggle? Negotiating with Procurement is a topic that has received a significant amount of interest from our readers – from sales and procurement professionals alike.

One frequently discussed issue by negotiation experts is when should you make the first offer in a negotiation? Conventional wisdom is never make the first offer in a negotiation. After all, by making the first offer you risk “showing your cards” too early and leaving money on the table. On the other hand, there are many cases where it is to your advantage to make the first offer. So how do you know?  This answer depends on information.

Discounting is expensive, yet in many sales transactions today it’s still the norm. All too often, sales people give discounts as a matter of course or they offer discounts as a last ditch effort to win the business. In either case, they destroy profit margins and, moreover, typically are not necessary to close the business.

We often hear the complaint in our sales training workshops that the customer has all the power and they really only care about price. Really? If that’s what you believe then your only option is to lower your prices, and you’d better be the cheapest option or you’ll lose. The other option is to work hard to develop a stronger value proposition than the competition and convince yourself that you have a unique offering that solves the customer’s problem in ways that no other solution can. Why else would the customer choose your product or solution? 

Much of the advice on how to conduct effective sales negotiations counsels you to use a collaborative sales negotiation style to achieve a "win-win" outcome, but there are situations where you are better off to be competitive in your negotiating style.