Negotiating in Sales: What You Need to Know

Mastering negotiating in sales is one of the most important things you can do as a salesperson. If you want to win more deals, you need to know how to approach buyers, respond to their objections, and nudge them towards a conversion.

With the right sales negotiation techniques, it’s possible to transform a lost opportunity into a powerful win. Here’s your guide to the concept of sales negotiation.

What is a sales negotiation?

Before you can be a pro at negotiating in sales, you first need to understand what a sales negotiation involves. Essentially, a sales negotiation is a discussion, or series of conversations between a buyer and a seller. The goal is to reach an agreement everyone is happy with.

In a typical sales negotiation:

• Buyers communicate what they need or the problems they’re trying to solve
• Sellers introduce potential solutions or the values they can offer
• Discussions are held about pricing and deal structure
• Buyers and sellers reach a compromise on a finished contract

Many experts consider negotiating in sales to be an ongoing strategic process, which starts from the moment you begin your lead generation strategy. This negotiation continues throughout the lead qualification journey, through the nurturing strategy, and ends with a successful deal.

Key sales negotiation skills

To succeed in sales negotiation, experts need a variety of specific skills. Serious buyers enter the discussion armed with research, knowledge, and specific expectations. The more sales negotiating skills you have, the more likely you are to end up with a win.

Some of the most important sales negotiation skills include:

• Preparation: Sales professionals can perform better when they do their research and ensure they’re adequately prepared for a deal. Before beginning the conversation, try to figure out what your customer needs, the financial and emotional costs they’re dealing with at the moment, and what kind of budget they’re working with.
• Listening: To adapt and negotiate effectively, salespeople need to be able to listen to their customers and collect valuable information. Listening to your prospect doesn’t just mean hearing their words, it means understanding what they’re trying to say. For instance, if a customer says they’re worried about the price, they may actually be unsure of the value your product can offer, and what it can do for them.
• Persuasion: As a sales professional dealing with negotiations, you need to be able to convince customers to think your way. This means understanding their objections, and offering counterpoints or arguments. Rather than simply accepting what your prospect says when they argue they can’t afford your solution, you persuade them to look at the potential losses of not closing a deal with you.
• Emotional control: Emotional control is important as a negotiator. It’s easy for an unskilled salesperson to allow a discussion to deteriorate into an argument when they’re not careful. However, you don’t want to start a battle with your customers. Instead, you want to clearly make your point to help them see things from your perspective.
• Clarity: As a negotiator, you need clarity not just on your products and services, and the deals you can offer, but also on when it might be time to walk away. If you can’t reach an agreement with your prospect because they make unreasonable demands, there will be situations when walking away is the best option.

How to Negotiate in Sales: Sales Negotiation Techniques

There are various strategies companies can use for negotiating in sales. In almost all cases, the best results come from collecting as much information as possible, and using what you learn to guide your conversations with your customers. When you’re starting a sales negotiation:

1. Prime your customers

Start by priming your customers for a negotiation. This basically involves trying to convince your customers to look at a concept a specific way. “Priming” could involve highlighting the value of your products to your prospects with case studies relevant to their situation.

You could also talk to your customers about their pain points, and highlight the specific issues they’re currently facing.

One of the best sales negotiation techniques involves leveraging “loss aversion”. This means you emphasize what your customer stands to lose if they choose not to do business with you. Framing your sales opportunity as a chance to avoid losing something, like revenue, can be a great way to prime your customer for a conversation.

2. Open the negotiation on your side

Some sellers assume it’s up to the buyer to start a negotiation by suggesting what they might be willing to purchase or pay. However, it can be much easier for the salesperson to open the conversation, highlighting what they’re willing to compromise on.

When sellers make the initial offer in sales negotiation, they create an anchor for customers to consider. You can avoid allowing your customer to start the conversation by requesting a price that’s so much lower than anything you can reasonably offer.

3. Mirror your prospect

One of the most common sales negotiation techniques used by experts involves a psychological prospect called “mirroring”. This involves mimicking your prospect’s speech, physical gestures, or simply repeating their concerns to show clarity.

Mirroring helps to build rapport and empathy when done carefully, and helps your buyer to feel as though you’re on common ground.

4. Convert demands into needs

Once you’ve made an offer as a seller, you need to control and protect your position as much as possible. Investigating your buyer’s demands can help with this process. Usually, demands made by a buyer an insight into underlying needs or requirements.

For instance, if your customer can’t pay a certain price straight away, you can find out whether they’d prefer to pay your price in instalments, rather than immediately offering a discount. This stops you from trading away valuable deals.

5. Seek a commitment to close

The ultimate goal of negotiating in sales is getting your customer to a point when they’re ready to buy something. The conversation isn’t fully over until you’ve made sure your customer is committed to making the purchase. If you feel all of the points of your deal have been properly discussed, the next step is asking your customer when they’re ready to close the deal or sign a contract.

Once you know your customer is willing to convert, you can pass them immediately onto the next person in the buying journey to maintain sales momentum.

How to Improve Negotiating in Sales

For a lot of salespeople, creating an effective sales negotiation requires practice and time. The more you get to know your customers and their common objections, the more effectively you can respond to their needs. Negotiation sales training is an excellent way for business leaders to ensure their sales professionals have the skills required to close deals.

During these training sessions, employees should learn how to:

• Create mutual value: Focus on showing your customer you want them to succeed as much as you want the sale. They know what’s in it for you if they say yes, but they want to be able to see there’s value for them as well.
• Speak like a partner: Build rapport with your customer and show you understand their needs and expectations throughout the sales journey. Avoiding words like “I” in your sales pitch helps to make it less about you, and draw the attention back to the customers.
• Use empathy: Empathy is crucial in any sales negotiation. Customers don’t just want to hear you argue against all of their points. They want you to understand their concerns and respond accordingly. Demonstrate your understanding.

Sales negotiation can be tricky, but with the right strategy, it can help you to close more deals.

Read also:

Your Guide to Tonality in Sales: The Basics

How to Improve Sales Performance: 7 Quick Tips