You've put in the work to find your prospect. You've spent some time pre-qualifying them,
you've gone through all of the steps, and all of a sudden they've got some objections. Now,
you're not gonna panic because you've watched my videos on how to respond to a
wide array of objections. But what if they wanna negotiate? What if they are actually interested,
but they want to change the price, they want to change the terms, they want to change delivery.
Now what? Well, that's what we're gonna cover off in this video, so stay tuned. Hi,
I'm Sean Casemore and I help you learn how to be a high performing sales professional
so that you can sell more in less time. So if that sounds good to you, make sure you click
the subscribe button so you can be notified each and every time I release a new video.
And if you click the like button on this video that tells me this is content you'd like to see
more of, and it's what I'll create for you. Now let's jump into it. I find a lot of the
sales professionals I deal with are a little bit unclear on how to deal with negotiations,
and unfortunately, in many cases, they jump to price. If you go back and watch some of my
videos on how to deal with different objections, you'll find the odd time. I mentioned price,
but it's rare. You see, negotiations is something that we need to be prepared for,
but we don't wanna default the price even if a prospect is asking for a reduction in price.
So we're gonna talk about some steps that you can take in order to be more effective
when negotiations comes up, or at least it seems like your prospect wants to negotiate.
So let's jump in to number one. Alright, first off, I don't want you to think about
negotiation as a step. I want you to think about the entire sales process as a negotiation. Think
about it. The very first time you connect with or talk to a prospect, the negotiations
begin. All right? What do you want? You're negotiating about when you'll wanna meet,
how long that meeting will be. You're asking questions and clarifying what you understand
and aligning that understanding with what you're able to offer, right? So there's
a negotiation that's happening all the time in the sales process. So change your mindset around
negotiation. Look at negotiation as the sales process itself. The reason I say that is it
tends to reduce the uncertainty or uneasiness or anxiety we get when we're thinking, okay,
I've given them the proposal, I gave them a quote. Now they're gonna want to negotiate.
We want to get outta that mindset. So think of the entire process as negotiation,
and what you'll find is it reduces that anxiety about the negotiation that might come,
but it also helps us to have the mindset around setting ourselves up for success when it comes to
reaching that point where there may be a request or an ask. Okay? Here's the second tip. When it
comes to negotiation, when you start your initial discussions or conversations with the prospect,
the first thing you wanna do is understand their objectives. Now, here's what I mean by that.
Whether they're buying a piece of equipment, maybe they're buying an engineering service,
maybe they're buying a financial service, whatever the case might be that you are selling, maybe
they're buying banking services for all I know. But the point is, why? Why are they doing this?
Why are they talking to you? Why are they talking to you right now? And really how we get to that
is we ask about their objectives. You know, when I used to sell cars years ago, somebody would start
looking at a red pickup truck. I wouldn't assume they, they wanted to buy a red pickup truck. I
would start with some small talk and I'd say, well, what brings you by today to the dealership
Anyway? Let's get serious. You wanna buy this car? What? Yay.
And me. But of course they would say, oh, we're looking at pickup trucks. And I'd say,
oh, really? Why is a pickup truck important to you? Now, that might seem like an odd question,
but you'd be shocked at the responses I get. Would it would tell me is that if a pickup truck
is something they currently have and they might want to trade in, they didn't bring it that day,
or it might tell me they've never had a pickup truck and they're currently driving a compact car,
which means stepping in a big, uh, pickup truck might actually not happen,
right? So uncovering objectives tells us why this is important to our prospect and
really allows us to set up or position what it is we're gonna share with them. And when
it comes to their wanting to negotiate, we just simply circle back to their objectives.
So let's use that scenario on wanting to buy a pickup truck. Somebody comes in, I say to them,
yeah, nice to meet you. How are things? Et cetera, et cetera. And then I ask them, well, what brings
you by today? They say, well, we're looking at pickup trucks. Oh really? Why is a pickup truck
something that's important to you? Or why are you looking for a pickup truck right now? They say,
well, we need one because ours is broke down. Uh, the mechanic city can't fix it. And I say,
oh, okay. So now I get a chance to follow up, but I'm setting up the positioning. I say, okay,
so are you thinking of trading that in? They say, no, no, we're just gonna keep it. Okay,
that's fair. Later on in the price negotiation or in some sort of negotiation, they say,
I need the truck tomorrow, or I need a better price, or I want a different color.
Now I can go back to say, well, I understand from our first conversation your current truck
broke down and you said you really need one. So I know this is important, but going back to what you
told me at the very beginning, is, having a truck is critical to you. And this is a truck we have
ready to go right now. You notice what I'm doing, I'm going back to their objectives. So one of the
ways that you downplay or minimize negotiations is by going back to objectives. But first you
have to find out what those objectives are when it comes to the sales process and preparing for
negotiations. Always make sure you get the buyer's objectives, what's important to them? Why are they
doing this? Get that information up front so when they start to negotiate with you, you can
bring that back and reinforce that which tends to deflate, which tends to deflate the negotiation.
If you've been enjoying these tips so far, make sure you click the light button,
which tells me that this is content you want to hear more of. You can also click the subscribe
button so that you get notified each and every time a release, a new video. Alright, this
third point I want you to consider is providing options. There's something out there called the
rule of three. And in psychology, the rule of three really suggests that when we give three,
when we give options to people, it tends to create more of a positive environment. From a
sales perspective, if I tell you, here's the thing I'm selling you and there's the price and there's,
when you get it, it kind of creates a yes or no answer, doesn't it? It's black and white,
it's this or it's not. And I'm really forcing my buyer, my prospect, into making that decision.
Do I go with this or do I go to somebody else? So instead, I want you to think about providing
options. So if you're providing services, can you add additional services on to create bigger,
better options? If you're selling products, can you add more volume, faster delivery,
different features that add more options? If you think about providing options,
it moves us from a yes no type of answer, right? To a, which option is best for me? Answer. And
what that tends to do is it reduces the tendency to negotiate. Because if somebody says to me,
well, I want these features, but I want that price, I can simply point to the options and say,
well, that's actually option three. Would you like to go ahead with that and get started? Now, that
Pretty much limits our options. I make my own option
Options allow me in a negotiation to simply point back to various options,
and they really remove that go, no go, or yes, no decision that's happening, which really means
we're having a better chance of closing the deal altogether. Alright, tip number four,
when it comes to negotiation, do not discount. Now, I know in some cases you will have to
make a price adjustment, I get it. But if you're following my previous steps on creating options,
what you can do instead is if they wanna lower price, you simply point to a different cheaper,
lower priced option. As soon as we go to discounting, especially if we go there quickly,
we really set the stage for them to wonder, huh, how low will they go? Or worse yet, if you're
selling them other products, are they overcharging me? That is not the message we want to send.
So if you use options and they ask for a price discount, now you're in the position to point to
cheaper options that will allow them to get the price they want, but maybe not get everything
they want as far as the value in what they see. That sets up an entirely different conversation,
and it avoids the discounting the questions that you're really raising in the minds of your buyer,
which is, hmm, how low will they go? Alright, it is a sales professional. There's one
thing you'll need to really take some of these strategies and put them into play,
and that is some method of planning them into your days, weeks, and months. For that reason,
I created what I call the 30 Day Sales Action Planner. You can grab your copy
below. There's no obligations, no price, it's free. Click the link,
grab your copy, put it into practice, try it out, and let me know how it works for you.
It's a gift, and I know if you'll use it, it's gonna help you integrate some of these steps
we've talked about today. Now, if you really want to improve your negotiation skills, I'd
suggest you learn how to be more influential. In the top corner, there's a video on how to be more
influential in sales. I'd suggest you watch that next and use that as a way to improve your skills
and ultimately reduce the number of negotiations that you get into. And until next time,
let's get out there and go sell something. We'll talk to you again soon. Take care.