Too many negotiations wind up being one-sided, because the salesperson offers up something to the other party, thinking if they’re nice then the other person will be nice and offer something in return.
Sorry, this isn’t the case in the vast majority of negotiations.
Key is to make sure whatever you offer up is matched with something of equal or greater value to you from the other party.
The way this works is when you have something you are ready to put on the table, you do so in a manner that you will be able to get something in return.
You can increase the potential of getting something of equal or greater value to you by linking what you’re going to provide to something you expect to receive in return.
By linking both together, the other party will also see value and hopefully will genuinely see that the two are tied together.
Let me give you an example:
You might be looking to secure an order before the end of the month, while the other party is not looking to have the goods arrive until the middle of the following month. In discussions, the customer has said they simply do not want to order so soon. The way you might approach this is by saying, “If you will order now, then I can assure you delivery on the exact date you want.”
You can then add to it the element of time by saying, “If we don’t get the order in now, it will be hard to guarantee your arrival date.”
Using “if you will…then I can…” as a strategy is really quite simple, as long as you take the time to think through in advance what variables or needs the customer has that you can link to items you can offer them.
I strongly recommend doing this in advance, because too many times a negotiation process can become too intense to allow for this level of thinking to be done on the fly.
Try this technique the next time you negotiate, and drop me a line and let me know how it goes. “If you will try this technique, then I can most likely assure you of a better outcome.”
Copyright 2012, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog.
