Negotiating is definitely the hardest skill for any seller to develop because of situational variations and consequences… i.e. pressure! Egos and emotions add gas to the fire and make negotiating the most stressful of all selling activities.

However, one thing that makes negotiating in today’s competitive arena exceptionally difficult is email. Buyers hide behind it and use it to make you nervous.

The best way for sellers to gain negotiation leverage is to qualify the buyer on every sales interaction.

You must determine how the buyer thinks about your offering to understand whether buying intent is real. Understanding the seriousness of their desire to do a deal will help you learn when to start talking about deal points.

If there are certain "no deal" terms you wish to establish, introduce those early into the conversation. In turn, probe to learn about the buyer’s "no deal" terms.

Perhaps this convo thread might work for you, "There are a few deal elements we need to stick with, but before I present them, what are your must-haves that we should talk about now?" Once you hear their terms, it’s now appropriate to introduce your "must haves;" for example, "We cannot bend on the contract term…it has to be six months and the reason is X." (And then, explain why your minimum term is six months.)

The best approach to negotiating is to address the hard stuff first. The hard part is to figure out if the terms the buyer presents as "non starters" are truly deal breakers.