Sales negotiation: mistakes that lose you business

Aaaaaah, sales negotiation. That moment when all your efforts (finding the right contact, researching useful information, creating a bond with the prospect...) can suddenly fail. All because of a number of...

Let's face it: for salespeople, it's the equivalent of a penalty kick in the Champions League final. A decisive and stressful moment.

Fortunately, there are a few good practices that can be put in place to manage this moment with a light touch...

But above all, there's ONE big mistake to avoid (easily).

Follow the guide.

The golden rule of commercial negotiation: never negotiate by e-mail!

A few days ago, one of my best friends told me an interesting story. A nasty story that happened to her while she was working for one of France's largest SAAS (software-as-a-service) companies.

She learned a lesson from it that inspired me a lot, so I thought it was worth writing an article about it.

She was dealing with a very promising prospect (the kind of big opportunity you get once a year and don't want to miss), but it was painfully slow to seize.

The people she was in contact with answered the phone one week out of three, asked the same question thirty times, raised objections that made no sense whatsoever. Despite all these weak signals (several times she hesitated to close them), they continued to show interest. In short, she was going crazy. She was going crazy.

One morning, she received the following e-mail from the prospect: "Could you make us your best offer?"

She thought about it. It's quite unusual to publish a figure in an e-mail without the next step being clearly defined in a business negotiation. Except that she'd been rushed for several weeks, the end of the quarter was approaching and she wanted to finish.

So she sent the figure.

As a result, the prospect never showed up again. Later, she learned that the prospect had presented his offer to a competitor in order to negotiate a better deal. She bit her fingers off for several weeks.

Once she'd recovered (well, I assure you it didn't last long), she learned a good practice from it that she gladly shares with her peers (thanks to her). And I'm sharing it with you today

DO. DO. NEVER. OFFER. BY. MAIL.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't give an idea of your prices. On the contrary: it's in the sales team's interest to communicate a price offer early in the process. It saves everyone time. BUT the actual offer, which is the result of a commercial negotiation, should never be included in an e-mail.

Why?

• Because your prospect can use it against you, as happened to my friend
• Because writing is a risky way to communicate. Misunderstood writing can lose you the business.
• Because you DON'T KNOW when the prospect is going to respond. Now that they have the offer, they can put you on hold for several weeks, to see if the urge to close the deal pushes you to lower the price.
  

My advice: make your offers ORALLY only.

Golden rule #2 of commercial negotiation: don't negotiate by e-mail

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Golden rule #3 of sales negotiation: you must prepare each negotiation as if it were a one-off!

Creating the right sales negotiation framework

1/ A sales negotiation requires preparation. Before starting the conversation, make sure you've clearly defined your objective, your arguments, your possible fallback positions and your red lines.

Spend a little time putting yourself in your prospect's shoes. What objections might they have? How can you overcome them?

In short, prepare your exchange and your negotiation method by considering all possible scenarios for each phase of the conversation.

2/ Then make sure you're talking to the right people. In other words, the decision-makers. Don't waste your time talking to people who will say after thirty minutes, "OK, thanks for the information, I'll talk to my manager". This will lead to depression.

On the other hand, be aware of your own control. Your prospect can play on your nerves by creating imaginary deadlines or asking you the same question three times. Think Zen, think yoga, think Buddha.

3/ Finally, avoid lies and dishonesty. Don't slander your competitors. Your reputation depends on it. In the short term, it might work, but it would be a one-off offer... You're a good person, right?

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And above all... the right frame of mind

One of the reasons why negotiation arouses so much anxiety is that we often tend to define it as a boxing match where we put on our gloves, step into the ring and have to take out our opponent.

There's also a misconception that negotiation is all about using unstoppable arguments and mastering pressure tactics to get the other party to give in.

The aim is not to have a winner and a loser. Quite the contrary, in fact.

When negotiating: both parties need to come to an agreement. So to get there: simply listen to what your prospect wants. Think of it as a time to reflect and work out a solution with your counterpart. In the end, a good negotiation can even strengthen your bond with your prospect.

In short: forget your old-fashioned Manichaeism and adopt a Taoist attitude.

"We all have an interest in signing this agreement... So what do we do?"

At Modjo, we like to ask ourselves the following question: how can we create win-win situations with our customers?

It's a question that drives us to innovate in our commercial negotiations. Our aim is to bring them to a satisfactory conclusion for both parties. For example, we may be prepared to grant a 10% discount if the prospect commits to a longer term or recommends interesting companies to us.

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Conclusion: How to manage a sales negotiation?

💎 A golden rule. Email is a good tool for communicating your price ranges, but NOT for making an offer.

📝 A negotiation needs to be prepared: define your objectives, your red lines, script your responses to the prospect's objections.

👌 Don't get carried away by stress: we often feel that our customer is going to turn his back on us. In reality, this almost never happens.

🚀 And above all, get into the habit of seeing commercial negotiation as a great opportunity to create healthy, productive business relationships. It's not a fight. It's a collaboration.

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Better.

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