4/9/2024-On-demand negotiating.

The best way for sellers to gain negotiation leverage is to qualify the buyer on every sales interaction. You must quickly – and regularly – understand buying intent and fit.

You wish there was a designated time to negotiate your deals. Most often, your negotiations occur via email …and with a frequently disappearing buyer.

Is that an actual negotiation? Not really!

But deals still need to get closed, so you must learn to negotiate more fluidly.

To regain (some) control, proactively discuss key transaction points as soon as you get buying signs. If you discuss key deal points incrementally, you may not get trapped when the buyer jumps back into her/his black hole.

In upcoming meetings on your best opps, proactively qualify deal terms with your buyers; find out what they most care about.

Often unit price is key, but sometimes not. What about tech integration? Every prospect is different.

Don’t be apprehensive about introducing deal terms too early in the cycle; you can skillfully introduce these issues at the right time.

Negotiations will go better down the line if you first determine how desirable your offering is.

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.

Your negotiations don’t usually run like those you see on Shark Tank, but it’s still fun to watch ’em.

Check out this 6-minute clip starring a 14-year old CEO who has TWO sharks bidding for a piece.

What a composed kid…he’s got a future for sure!