I met with an HR executive at the beginning of the year who wanted to know how we trained salespeople in “negotiation.” After a little questioning, I was really struck by his misconception that their salespeople SHOULD be negotiating, which in layman’s terms is lowering price or offering some concession in exchange for a promise to buy.
Trusted advisors and top salespeople do everything they can to AVOID negotiating. Their job is to uncover the costs of the prospect’s problem and then to determine what budget is available to solve it BEFORE they propose a solution. The predominant problem many sales people have is that they simply aren’t comfortable talking about budget and cost impacts until the end of the sale. So they are forced to negotiate at the end, attempting to close the sale in spite of inadequate financial information.
Salespeople who rely on negotiation at the end of the sale usually exhibit these symptoms:
• Think that buying is primarily an intellectual process, not an emotional process
• Don’t understand the costs associated with the problem or what’s at stake financially (early in the sales process)
• Feel the product or service they sell is extremely expensive
• Are uncomfortable talking about other people’s finances
If you have salespeople that regularly require permission for a reduced price to get the sale or blame the competition’s price after losing the deal, look to the symptoms above to gain insight into the attitudes that drive these behaviors and outcomes. Understand, I’m not suggesting that top salespeople NEVER need to negotiate. The key is to differentiate the strong salespeople who rarely need to negotiate from the weak ones that must negotiate almost every time to close a sale.
Examine the beliefs and behaviors of your salespeople when dealing with money issues, so they can minimize the need to negotiate at the end and sell more, more often!
Good Selling!
Chip Doyle
Copyright 2004 Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
To learn more, send an email to Chip Doyle with your sales problem and company address/phone to: info@train2improvesales.com
If you don’t sell for a living or manage salespeople and you really have no idea why you are receiving this email, then click on the words “Take me off this list” below. Please accept our apologies. If you know another executive who should receive this monthly email, please forward it. They will be added to our mailing list with their permission only. Take me off this list <http://unsub.vresp.com/u.html?156062e2ab/2427c641ee/87d9f91>
This message was sent by Chip Doyle using VerticalResponse's iBuilder <http://www.verticalresponse.com/landing/?mm/156062e2ab> ®
<http://www.verticalresponse.com/landing/?mm/156062e2ab>
Sandler Sales Institute
Chip Doyle
3478 Buskirk #1000
Pleasant Hill CA 94523 Read <http://www.verticalresponse.com/content/pm_policy.html> the VerticalResponse marketing policy.
------ End of Forwarded Message
