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Essential Tips for your Sales Negotiations

The Rain Group found the number one factor that separates top-performing sales negotiators from the rest is that they understand the power and leverage that each side holds during the negotiation. This will allow your sales representatives to be strategic with offers they put forward to win a sale. In this article, we will look at how to negotiate in sales to get the best results and make the most sales.

What are sales negotiations?

A sales negotiation is a strategic discussion that a seller and buyer will have that will lead to a deal being agreed upon or lost. The main objective in a sales negotiation is for both parties to agree on a deal.. Sales negotiations can sometimes be completed in one meeting, but commonly will carry over into multiple meetings. Furthermore, they can take place over a face-to-face meeting, or a meeting on a phone or video call. Discover how to get your sales meetings right.

Win your negotiations with these tips

This section will look at the essential steps you must ensure your sales team take to have successful sales negotiations to boost your sales.

Conduct client research beforehand

Being prepared when going to a sales negotiation is a critical factor that can determine the success of your sales negotiation. You must enter a negotiation with knowledge about:

• Your customer’s pain points
• Your customer’s budget
• The number of decision-makers
• The number of stakeholders

As well as this, your sales representatives should have an idea of the alternative products or services that your customer may be considering. This will give your team members leverage in the negotiation as they will be able to better express your unique selling proposition compared to competitors. Find out why a unique selling proposition is key for sales.

Come in at a slightly high price

The Rain Group shares that the top sales negotiators come in at a high price and then negotiate it down with the customer. This is a great way to satisfy the customer as they will be happy that they have worked the price down. However, do not work the price down to a point where it becomes a term your business can not or should not accept. Identify your minimum negotiation price beforehand.  

Let your customers speak first

Many sales representatives may be eager to speak first to try to accommodate their customers. However, the best way to accommodate your customers is by listening first and speaking second. Let your customer tell you their thoughts and feelings to get a better understanding of how the deal will progress. This will help you build trust with your customer and not seem over-eager to sell to them.

Be specific with your discounts

You want to avoid using ranges for how much you can discount a customer. Ranges are when your sales representatives will say, “we can lower the price by 10%-15%”. You run the risk of offering a discount that is too big, as customers will always pick the higher range for a discount to save money. Instead, be specific with how much you can discount your customer.

Reiterate the value and benefits of your offering

During negotiations, it can be common for sales representatives to focus too much on the price of the offering. But the price of your offering will be tied to its value of it, so you must make sure you consistently remind your customers of how your product will be able to benefit their pain points during a negotiation. This will help create more urgency for a deal to be agreed upon at a fair price for both parties.

Keep calm and in control

It is important that during negotiations with a customer, you keep a cool head to have a positive environment in which the negotiations take place. As a result, whether a deal is agreed upon or not, the experience will stay a positive one for both you and your client, helping you keep a great brand image.

Opportunity management to assist negotiations

Opportunity management is a big factor in being able to streamline your negotiations and strategize how to win deals. Opportunity management is the process of monitoring possible deals that will be made to get a good understanding of your sales pipeline and see how they progress. Many businesses implement opportunity management software in their business to automatically track data in their sales pipeline. Opportunity management will help you:

• Prioritise the right deals – Identity the deals that are “hot” to know whom your sales team should prioritise.
• Better understand your customers – Get a better idea of who your customers are, and their needs and requirements to have more successful negotiations.
• Track how your deals are progressing – Keep track of how many negotiation meetings take place and how they progress.

Understand your customers better to improve negotiations with TEB

Get a better understanding of your customers, track your meetings and win your negotiations with TEB, the sales automation CRM software. TEB will streamline your sales process and improve your data visibility to help your business have successful sales negotiation meetings to boost your sales. Here are some stand-out features of TEB:

• Meeting tracker – Track how many meetings you have with your customers to stay up to date on how negotiations are progressing.
• Customer storyboard – View your customer’s buyer journey in the form of a storyboard to get a better understanding of their wants and needs.
• Kan-ban style pipeline management – Update your customer’s status with easy drag-and-drop management to keep your pipelines up to date.
• TEBs opportunity management – View information on which deals are “hot” and “cold” to prioritise the deals you can win.
• Track your team’s performance – See how your sales representatives are performing by tracking how many deals they are winning and losing during negotiations.

Start your journey to winning negotiations and growing your business by booking a quick demo. In just a short amount of your time, you can see how TEB will transform your business.

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