This is tip #10 in my list of must haves for successful negotiations: Know the right way to leverage emotions!
First of all, never allow your emotions to enter into the process.
However, don’t hesitate to leverage the other person’s emotions right at the point of closing the sale. This sounds simple, and it really is, until you suddenly find yourself emotionally involved.
Once you become too emotional about the process, two things can happen:
First, you’re no longer intelligently in control of what you’re saying or agreeing to, which gives the other party a huge advantage.
Second, you will veer away from the negotiating strategy you intended to use.
In both cases, the result is disaster for you. The only solution should you find yourself emotionally engaged is to immediately disengage from the process and stop negotiating.
Conversely, as bad as it is for you to become overly emotional, it can be beneficial if the other person does become emotional. The reason is simple – now all of the power has shifted to you.
If you can leverage their emotion with the value of time, you can find yourself in complete control.
Now that I have shared with you how to leverage emotion, let me say that it is rarely a good idea to do it. The reason is simple – in the end, it doesn’t do you any good for the customer to agree to something in an emotional state, if you know they wouldn’t have done so when thinking more rationally.
Yes, leveraging emotion is good, but only if done at a low level.
The best way is if you’re in a negotiating situation where you are dealing with two people, one who is the decision maker and the other who is the influencer:
Allowing the emotions of the influencer to prod the decision maker along can and will work to your advantage. As I said earlier, this should only be done at a very low level to ensure all decisions made are rational and won’t create buyer’s remorse.
Want more negotiating strategies? Check out Breakthrough Sales University!
Copyright 2015, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
