Negotiation Skills Training Classes

Our public Negotiation classes and in house Negotiations classes are enlightening, educational, measurable and fun. Negotiation training classes can be scheduled at your offices or through our open enrollment classes. We do offer negotiation skills training classes to the general public.

Contact us today to discuss your specific Negotiation training needs or to sign up for one of our public negotiations classes. 

Participants in the Win- Win Negotiations class will learn to:

• Develop an effective plan and strategy for any negotiation
  
• Know when and when not to negotiate
  
• Negotiate face-to-face, on the phone, and through e-mail
  
• Learn to become a more persuasive negotiator
  
• Develop a common negotiating language with the other parties
  
• Use negotiation techniques that pull information from the other parties
  
• Read client and employee behaviors styles to maximize closure
  
• Recognize interests and issues and avoid unnecessary positions
  
• Neutralize manipulative negotiation tactics
  
• Minimize negotiation conflicts and deadlocks both internally and externally
  
• Coordinate negotiations within client organization
  
• Meet business objectives by focusing on planning rather than on tactics

Myth #1: Your Customers Have Been to a Negotiation Course

Surprisingly enough, this is one I tend to hear a lot. For whatever reason, salespeople aren't just convinced that their customers are great negotiators, but that they've all had professional negotiation course training. Or, at the very least, that those who work with salespeople the most - purchasing agents, departmental managers, etc. - have gone to a negotiation course or two.

The reality, however, is that they haven't taken a negotiation course. In fact, most of them haven't even ever cracked a book on the topic. So where do our customers learn all of these mind tricks and hard-nosed tactics that we're giving them negotiation course credit for?

I had a chance to ask that very question not too long ago. I was speaking to an industry group that had within it a large percentage of purchasing agents in attendance. During one of the breaks, I pulled a few of them aside and asked where they learned to negotiate. Surely, they'd gone to see a trainer or taken a negotiation course as part of their jobs?

"We don't have to take any negotiation course," the man standing closest answered. "The salespeople teach us how."

You are the negotiation course instructor! Think about that the next time a customer asks you to cut your price. The only reason they know to do it is that so many of the salespeople they've worked within the past (and maybe even you) have caved in, or even offered a discount outright to seal the deal. Our customers have become great negotiators not because they took a negotiation course but because we've acted like poor salespeople; we've provided the opening, and so they've taken it.

Stop treating the men and women you work with as if they were master negotiators, cum laude graduates of some prestigious negotiation course, because they aren't. They're just professionals who buy on a regular basis. If they sense from you that they can get any price they want, they're going to ask for it. But if you lead the way, you can make sure that you come to an agreement that leaves them with the solution they need, and at the price you want.

Myth #2: Customers Are Always Asking for Discounts

You might have given away discounts with out even being asked. Why would you do that? Because it's easy to misinterpret what our prospects and customers want.

For a classic example of what I mean, consider this situation: a young salesperson moves through their presentation, finally to ask for the order. Rather than responding with an agreement or an objection, however, the customer asks what other colors are available.

Immediately, the salesperson assumes that the customer would prefer another color, which might not be available, and offers a discount on the unit that's in stock. The reality, though, is that the customer never asked for a discount.

They might not have even wanted a different color. It could be that they were just asking the question to understand their options. This is obviously a straightforward example, but situations just like it play out every single day. As salespeople, we've become so accustomed to expect price objections that we sometimes pull them out of thin air. In the same way, we often cave without enough thought.

Lots of buyers, driven by years of experience, will always ask at the close "is there anything we can do about the price?" Again, they might not even really care; it could be, especially if you've made a strong presentation, that they're more than happy to pay the price you're asking for it. So why do they bring it up? They've learned that, nine times out often, they'll save money just by speaking up.

As you close your sales, remember that not every question or objection is about price - even though some of them seem to be. Often, price becomes an issue because we expect it to be, or because we let it go without a second thought. Be on the lookout for your buyer's true motivations, and you'll have an easier time holding onto your margins.

Myth #3: Negotiation Begins With the Close

In most sales books, negotiation is discussed along with the close, because this is the point in the process where prices usually become a concern. This makes perfect sense, on printed-paper, but the reality of negotiating is that it begins from your first contact with the customer. By the time you're actually going back and forth with figures, much of your price has already been won and lost.

To see what I mean, consider the selling process in a nutshell. How did you handle yourself when you first met the prospect? Did you come across as a professional, or someone desperately needing to make a sale? Did you take the time to find out exactly what their needs were and put together a proposal that addressed their specific situation?

The answers to these questions say a lot about your bargaining position going into the close. Everything you've done has created an impression - either of someone who has a solution that's worth the money it costs, or a vendor who can be pushed around.

Likewise, your customers will sometimes attempt to posture themselves into a stronger position from the beginning. Usually, this will become apparent when they tell you that they're "just comparing proposals," or "already have some strong options from other vendors." Whether they actually do or not isn't the point; it's all about creating the image that they'll walk away if they don't get the price or offer they want to see.

Regardless of what tactics your customer uses, however, your approach should be the same. You simply carry on like a professional, deliver a proposal with the most value, and then expect to get top prices for your goods and services. When a customer tells you that your price is too high, what they're really saying is that the value they're expecting for their money is too low. That's a problem that usually lingers all the way through the sales process, not one that just shows up at the end.

Myth #4: You Need the Customer More Than They Need You

In the last myth, I explained how many customers would mention up front that they're working with one of your competitors. The idea, obviously, is to make you feel like they could walk at any moment, and that it's up to you to make them stay by cutting your prices or otherwise giving them a great deal. While this might sometimes be the case, you should know that the customer often needs you just as much as you need them.

This is one that a lot of salespeople have trouble understanding. After all, there might be dozens of companies to buy from, and even other salespeople within your own company and territory. But that's not to say that what they offer is identical to what you offer. It might be that your company has a specific product, warranty, or set of shipment or payment terms that's especially important to them, and one that they can't get anywhere else. In other words, if they don't buy from you, they can't get what they need to keep their home, business, or department running.

Besides, what you sell only amounts to part of the equation. For most goods and services, even those that are very similar to one another, the salesperson is an important part of the process. The value that you add by knowing all about your customer and industry might make working with you an easy choice for your customers.

Despite what they tell you, switching vendors (or even investing a great deal of time in gathering more proposals) might represent a lot of time that they don't have to throw away. It goes without saying that you need your customers, and you shouldn't lose sight of that. But the chances are good that they need you just as much, and the more you know about your products, your industry, and the people that buy from you, the more indispensable you become.

Carl Henry: http://www.carlhenrywebinars.com

Notes: Negotiation Course

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