The Science of Sales Negotiation starts with the golden principle of not starting the process of sales negotiation before time. It is important that the customer has first liked your product to the extent that he feels that your product or service is the best. Only once this point is reached, there is a need to start entertaining the process of Sales Negotiation.
At this juncture, it is important to answer the following questions to self:
Why negotiate if the customer does not like your product?
Why negotiate if the customer has already rated your product as the top choice?
Why negotiate if the customer has already rated your product as the top choice?
Am I trying to say that one should not negotiate?
No.
It is important to understand the concept behind negotiation. Negotiation is the act of fine tuning the customers exact requirements and terms and conditions under which the transaction will be accomplished.
Once the customer says that he agrees that your product or service is actually his top choice, it is important to find out whether what he is saying is true or not.
How do you do this?
Ask the customer the following questions:
- Why does he feel that your product is the best choice? What aspect of your product makes him feel so?
- What is the financial benefit of the advantage that your product / service provides to the customer?
- What will the customer lose if he does not buy your product or service?
By getting answers to these questions, you would have set the tone for negotiations to follow. Now when you are trying to probe the answers to the 3 questions posed above, you should yourself be very clear about the answers to the same. Let us try and answer them one by one.
Why does the customer feel that your product is the best choice? What aspect of your product makes him feel so?
- What aspect of your product feature sounds beneficial to the customer?
- What aspect of your product feature is the customer going to use more often?
What is the financial benefit to the customer if he uses your product or service?
- Monetary benefit in terms of manpower saving, if any
- Monetary benefit in terms of money saving, if any
- Monetary benefit in terms of material saving, if any
- Monetary benefit in terms of mindset saving, if any
What will the customer lose if he does not buy your product or service?
- Time
- Labour
- Waste control
- Interest cost
- Skill
So, next time you are sitting on the negotiation table, please understand that you must make a conscious choice to become the buyers top choice even before you think of entertaining a negotiation with the customer.
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