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How You Dress Can Impact Your Bargaining Power...

Having some bargaining power when you are involved in a sales negotiation is a good thing. Have super bargaining power is much, much better. Most of us do a few things to prepare for a negotiating session, but are we doing enough? The answer in most cases is no. Let me tell you what you can do to fix this…

The following tips for how to gain more power for your side of the table during a negotiation come from the professional negotiators who do this for a full time living and who have been doing it for many years. Read on and learn from their experiences.

Prepare To Hear A “Yes”

All too often as sales negotiators we can spend all of our time focused on the deal being negotiated. Since any agreement that we’ll be able to reach will be between two people, we need to spend some time focusing on making the other side of the table comfortable enough to say “yes”.

This has nothing to do with what’s being negotiated and has everything to do with the negotiating environment: is there plenty of food and drink? Have you taken the time to get to personally know the other side of the table? These things may seem small, but they can play a big role in making the other side more comfortable in saying “yes” to you.

Take Many Notes

If you’ve ever seen an expert negotiator working, you’ve seen a pen in their hand and a notepad in front of them. The reason for this is because they know that one of the unspoken secrets to doing a good job of negotiating is simply remembering what has already been discussed. Writing everything down will allow you to remember what concessions have been made by both sides and will allow you to move forward instead of just spending time chasing your tail.

Dress Appropriately

One point that is easily overlooked by most negotiators we prepare for a negotiation session, but not by the great negotiators, is that how we look will play a big role in determining how much power the other side will be willing to give us. Normally this means that we should try to dress like the people who are two or three levels higher in our organization than we are. However, if you are trying to convince the other side that your funding is limited, then “dressing down” would send the appropriate message.

Bring A Friend

Being the only person on your side of the table can not only be lonely, it can also be dangerous. Having another set of eyes and ears is invaluable in collecting information about how the other side is reacting and how things are going. Negotiations can move so fast at times that there is no way that a single person can stay on top of everything that is going on.

Fortify Yourself With Published Material

This is almost a variation of the “defer to a higher authority” tactic, but if you have well accepted external material that you can refer to during the negotiation, then issues that pop up can be quickly resolved (hopefully in your favor).

What All Of This Means For You

The difference between a good negotiator and a great negotiator is not that the great negotiators have access to some secret powers. Instead, it comes down to the simple fact that through experience they’ve learned lots of small details that when taken together serve to strengthen their bargaining position.

What this means for you is that you can move from being a good sales negotiator to being a great sales negotiator simply by taking the time to learn what these details are. Once you’ve mastered them, you’ll be that much closer to being unstoppable!

What is the one thing that you could do that would have the greatest impact on your bargaining power during your next negotiation?
Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Negotiator Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

At the end of the day, negotiating is all about power , who has it, who wants it, and what to do with it. You can read every book out there, you can attend every training class offered, you can even do your own field research, but ultimately what you will be trying to find out is how you can boost your power when you are in a negotiation.

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1. How To Play (& Win) When There’s Only One Game In Town Having a single supplier for something that you want is...
2. Power Loss In Sales Negotiations The single  most important factor in determining how a negotiation...
3. 6 Ways To Break A Negotiation Deadlock (Plus One More) So how many times has this happened to you: there...

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Sole-Source Suppliers Pose A Special Problem For Negotiators

Having a single supplier for something that you want is the best thing in the world. “What?” you say, they’ve got me over a barrel , they can dictate any price or any conditions on a deal that they want because I have no other alternative.

Well, ok, that’s one way to look at it if you want to be all negative and such. However, there’s a different way to see things and when you look at the situation this way you’ll see that it’s you who has them over a barrel. Let me explain.

How’d You Get Into This Situation?

When we are starting a project, creating a new product, or we just find something that we just HAVE TO have, we can suddenly discover a big BLAM! This occurs when there is some component of our plan that is controlled by someone else. When that thing is the ONE thing that we must have to make our plan succeed. They are a sole supplier. Sure looks like we’re in a bind here.

Options, Options, Options

The first thing that you need to realize is that you are only in a pickle if you think that you are. This type of situation calls for some problem solving. What’s the one thing that all sales negotiators know: it’s all about power , the more that you have, the better the outcome of the sales negotiation will be for you. Feeling powerless is not a good way to start any negotiating relationship!

You always have what I like to refer to as the “nuclear option”. What this means is that if you can’t reach an agreement with the person who has control over the one thing that you need, then you can always chose option B: “make” your own.

In business this could mean that you’d set up a factory to make your own version of whatever part the supplier is controlling. In your personal life, if the seller of the house that you just must have won’t sell to you at a reasonable price, then you can always go out and build your own house that looks just like his.

Build Your Own Competition

Although there may not be other sources for the thing that you want, another option that you can bring to the table is to create competition between the supplier and himself. You’ve got to realize that he’s got both short term and long term goals.

You’ve actually got a lot of control over the deal. You can control how much you are willing to buy, when you’ll take delivery of it, and (most importantly) when you’ll pay and in what amounts you’ll pay. Both pre-paying and delaying payments can have a significant impact on the other side’s tax situation, etc. and you hold the keys to when this will happen.

Creating A Second Source

Negotiation tactics can be used to give you more negotiating power in a single supplier situation like this. One such tactic is to actively create a second supplier. Even if such a supplier does not currently exist, you can approach a potential firm and find out if the offer of some or all of your business would motivate them to become a supplier of the needed item.

If you are able to convince them to do this, then you will have created true competition. However, you will need to make sure that you don’t get locked into this second supplier as your only source of the item!

What This All Means For You

The worst thing in the world that can happen to a sales negotiator is that you find yourself in a negotiation where you have no negotiating power. In a situation like this you’ll end up just having to agree to whatever the other side proposes.

However, you should realize that no negotiation ever has to be like this. Instead, you have to realize that you always have options. Even in a situation where you need to have something that someone else controls, you still have options. You can always choose to build your own option, you can cause the other side to compete with themselves, or you can go out and work with another supplier to create true competition.

No matter how you choose to handle it, you will have taken some of the power that seemed to all start on the other side of the table and then you were able to bring it over to your side. Now doesn’t that make you happier?

What do you think the best way to handle a sole source vendor is in order to prevent them from taking advantage of you?

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Negotiator Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Having some bargaining power when you are involved in a sales negotiation is a good thing. Have super bargaining power is much, much better. Most of us do a few things to prepare for a negotiating session, but are we doing enough? The answer in most cases is no. Let me tell you what you can do to fix this…

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You Can Still Win The Race Even When There Are Other Runners...

Sales negotiators are often our own worst enemies. So much of what it takes to have a successful negotiation depends on your mental state going into the negotiation that if you don’t believe that you can close this deal, then I’ve got some bad news for you – you probably won’t.

One situation that my students seem to struggle with over and over again is the case where it’s them and a whole bunch of other companies all trying to get the same deal. The other companies appear to be prettier, smarter, and all around better: what chance do any of us have against them?

The Many Going After One Challenge

This is arguably the classic negotiating challenge. We see this all the time in real life when we want to buy a house that someone else also wants to buy or we want something on eBay that lots of other people want (and are willing to pay more to get). When the other side of the table is a single party and our side of the table is packed with us and our competitors, it can get to be a little bit disheartening.

The thing that I tell my students to remember is that things are never as they look. When you are in a highly competitive situation, it’s all too easy to look around and start to lose hope because you see how many other people want the same thing that you do: there can only be one winner. What you are missing here is that no matter how shiny they all look on the outside, the number of parties that you are actually competing against is really very small.

Why You Actually Have A Good Chance Of Winning The Deal

So here’s the deal. When you are going after a deal and there are a lot of other firms doing the same thing, you should not worry too much about them. The reason is that despite their numbers, the actual number of firms that you’ll be competing against is relatively small. Here’s why:

• People at the other side of the table may not like a firm for some reason and so their offer won’t be considered.

• A firm’s past history with the other side of the table (missed deliveries, poor quality, etc.) may make its offer be rejected.

• Size of the firm: perhaps it’s too big for the job or maybe it’s too small to pull it off.

• Product Features: many times a competitor’s solution may do more than yours, but the other side of the tale doesn’t value those features so their price will be too high.

• No pricing: amazingly enough, sometimes a firm won’t be able to get through all of its internal hoops in time to be able to deliver a price.

• Unknown firm: if the other side of the table doesn’t know a firm, that is have an existing relationship with them, then they may reject doing business with them.

• Financial trouble: some competitors may be having money troubles that mean that nobody is going to risk doing business with them.

Final Thoughts

Having the confidence that you’ll be able to close a deal is critical to being a successful negotiator. Often it will be you against the world as you attempt to be the one that the other side of the table selects. In these cases it can be all too easy to lose heart, the other firms may look as though they are better positioned to win than you are.

However, you’ve got to realize that appearances can be deceiving. Many of the other firms will fall by the wayside for one or more reasons that may not be obvious to you. Once you realize this, you should become more confidant in your ability to strike a deal.

Having this knowledge will prevent you from automatically providing concessions to the other side during your negotiations. These concessions may not be needed because much of the competition will not truly be considered. Once you know this, you should be able to strike better deals and do it quicker.

What do you think is the best way to determine who your real competitors in a negotiation are?

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Negotiator Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Having a single supplier for something that you want is the best thing in the world. “What?” you say, they’ve got me over a barrel,  they can dictate any price or any conditions on a deal that they want because I have no other alternative…

Related posts:

1. How To Play (& Win) When There’s Only One Game In Town Having a single supplier for something that you want is...
2. 5 Ways The Great Sales Negotiators Build Super Bargaining Power Having some bargaining power when you are involved in a...
3. Haggling Is Becoming A Part Of Every Sales Deal Welcome to the new world order: consumers are learning...

Win-Win Negotiating Is The Wrong Way To Go

Quick: what’s the first thing that you think about when you picture your next negotiation in your mind? Unless you are Mother Teresa’s brother / sister I’ll bet that you saw yourself walking away from the bargaining table with the best deal in the world , you had gotten everything that you had wanted and more. Umm, what about the other side? That’s why win-win negotiating never works.

How Win-Win Negotiating Is Supposed To Work

Too many people have created in their minds a magical world where win-win negotiating (where lions lay down with lambs, money grows on trees, etc.) always works. Instead of worrying about things like price, delivery date, and quantities, you are expected to instead be worrying about how the other side “feels” and what kind of deal will make them “happy“. Balderdash.

I don’t know about you, but I am forced to live in the real world. Flat out I don’t have the time to spend trying to worry about how the other side of the table is feeling today. It may come as no surprise to you that in my experience the other side is not spending any time trying to decode what my lucky mood ring is telling them about my current feelings either.

This kind of Pollyanna approach to negotiating does not work and the folks who go around writing books about it and teaching negotiating courses based on it have created a generation of negotiators who are, dare I say it?, ineffective.

Win-Win In The Real World

I like the part about “win-win” where I win in a negotiation; however, I’m a bit leery about the other side winning also , doesn’t that mean that I lost something? It sure does if I’m sitting at table with you and  a stack of 100 $1 bills and you and I are negotiating about how much of the stack each of us gets. Every $1 bill that you get is one that I don’t get , and I want ‘em all. I’ve been in negotiations like this and they basically suck.

In the real world you and I are sitting at a table on which is a pile of eggs, a chicken, and a pig. Now let’s start negotiating. Maybe I run a restaurant and you run a grocery store. On the surface things look the same as the stack of $1 bills example. However, this time around we’ve each got different needs. We actually might be able to find some common ground.

If I’m running a restaurant, then I’ve got dinners that I’ve got to cook tonight. If you’re running a grocery story then you’ve got to stock your shelves for this week , we’re both trying to solve time related supply issues. Long after the eggs, chicken, and the pig are gone I’ll still need to get supplies for my restaurant and you would love to sell those to me.

For creating my dinners, the chicken and the pig are more valuable to me, for stocking shelves for a week, the eggs and the chicken are more valuable to you. I’d might be willing to give up on the eggs if you’d give up on the pig. In fact when it comes to that pig, I’m interested in using the ham for a dinner and you might be interested in the bacon to go with the eggs that you’ll be selling to people buying breakfast food.

What you’re seeing here is how our self-interests start to overlap. No Pollyanna “I want to hold your hand” stuff, instead I’m still just thinking about myself; however, as more of my drivers are put on the table we’re finding out that you have many of the same drivers. Negotiating a deal that solves more of our common drivers is what’s going to create the best long-term solution.

Final Thoughts

Ever since that dang Getting to Yes book came out, negotiators have been pursuing a mythical unicorn-like type of negotiation , one where everyone gets what they wants and walks away from the table happy.

In the real world, this just simply doesn’t exist. Instead, we find ourselves in a situation where we need to work very hard to make sure that our side of the table’s needs are taken care of because nobody else is looking out for us.

Where there is some hope comes from taking a close look at our self-interests and finding out if there is any overlap with the other side’s. Where we are able to find common ground, we’ve got an opportunity to create a deal that will benefit both of us at the same time. As long as I get my chicken and my part of the pig, I’ll be happy.

Do you think that win-win negotiating has any place in real-world negotiations?

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Negotiator Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

One situation that my students seem to struggle with over and over again is the case where it’s them and a whole bunch of other companies all trying to get the same deal. The other companies appear to be prettier, smarter, and all around better , what chance do any of us have against them?

Related posts:

1. He Who Works The Hardest, Wins The Negotiation What is the secret for walking away from your next...
2. The Power Of Time In A Sales Negotiation When I work with clients to improve their negotiating skills,...
3. Negotiators Know That Persistence (& Risk Taking) Pay Off In this world there are two types of negotiators: the...

Persistence And Risk Taking In Negotiations Can Pay Off

In this world there are two types of negotiators: the good ones and everyone else. The goal of any negotiator is to become a member of the group of good negotiators. The challenge is that the path to becoming a good negotiator is not always clear. However, there are two basic skills that lay on this path: persistence and the ability to take the right risks.

Persistence Pays Off For Negotiators

Persistence is another one of those skills that we all think should be obvious to ever negotiator; however, it’s very easy to not have it. When the other side of the table says “no” to one of our offers during a negotiation, it’s very easy to lose heart and give up.

However, the negotiator who treats every “no” as a step towards “yes” is the one who will be successful in the end. Realizing that there is a reason that the other side is saying no and then being persistent enough to continue talking until you uncover that reason is the key to success.

American negotiators have been confronted with negotiators from other countries who appeared to be unmovable in their positions. Day after day the negotiations would continue with no progress being made. In the case where the Americans would return to the table and not give up, eventually progress ended up being made. The other side’s unmovable position was just a ploy to see how committed the Americans were to the negotiations.

Risk Taking Has Its Rewards

Being persistent in a negotiation is a form of risk taking: you are risking continuing down a path that may not pan out for you. However, there are other forms of risk taking that can occur during a negotiation:

• Deadlock: The risk of encountering a deadlock faces every negotiator. The more you press a point, the greater the possibility that the other side will become unyielding. A skilled negotiator knows how to not force the other side into a position from which there is no way out.

• Losing Current Deals: Whenever a change to an existing deal is being negotiated, both parties realize that there is a risk that they could walk away from the table with no deal at all. Often it’s this fear of losing an existing deal that will keep both parties at the table. Sharp negotiators realize this and will be willing to push harder because they know the other side of the table won’t walk away.

• Losing Opportunities: Both buyers and sellers can potentially not realize that a deal is more important to the other side than it seems at first glance. Sellers may be trying to break into a new market or buyers may be trying to get additional suppliers. In situations like this, the other side of the table can press harder because the risk of reaching a deadlock is much less.

Final Thoughts

Successful negotiators aren’t that much different from everyone else. The things that distinguish them are actually very small details. Two of the most important features of a good negotiator are persistence and knowing when to take risks.

Persistence means knowing when to keep on even after you’ve been told “no” by the other side. Good risk taking is when you know that your persistence will pay off for you in the end. When you can combine these skills, you will have become a good negotiator and you will be able to close better deals and close them quicker.

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Negotiator Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Quick: what’s the first thing that you think about when you picture your next negotiation in your mind? Unless you are Mother Teresa’s brother / sister I’ll bet that you saw yourself walking away from the bargaining table with the best deal in the world , you had gotten everything that you had wanted and more. Umm, what about the other side? That’s why win-win negotiating never works.

Related posts:

1. He Who Works The Hardest, Wins The Negotiation What is the secret for walking away from your next...
2. Why Win-Win Sales Negotiating Never Works And What To Do About It Quick: what’s the first thing that you think about when...
3. The Power Of Time In A Sales Negotiation When I work with clients to improve their negotiating skills,...

Hard Work Pays Off In Negotiations

What is the secret for walking away from your next sales negotiation feeling satisfied? We all wish that there was some magic “silver bullet” technique that if we knew what it was we could use it every time we negotiate in order to be able to walk away feeling like our negotiating time was well spent. It turns out that there is such a technique, and it’s called doing your homework.

The Hard Work Theory

I don’t think that I’m going to be causing anyone to fall over in surprise when I tell you that it has been proven time after time that the harder that you work during a negotiation, the better the result that you’ll be able to achieve. This is what professional negotiators refer to as “the hard work theory“.

An interesting side benefit to the hard work theory is that during the negotiation, the harder that you make the other side of the table work, the greater will be their level of satisfaction with the final outcome. This of course means that they will be that much more likely to fully honor their side of the agreement.

It goes without saying that there is another side to the hard work theory. Simply put, lazy people make poor sales negotiators. What this means for you is that the next time that you are preparing for a negotiation and are assembling a team, you’re going to want to make sure that you have no lazy people on your team!

Using Work Power To Build Negotiating Power

Since the negotiator who works the hardest will generally come out of any negotiation ahead of the other side, this brings up the question of how we can use this “work power” to our best advantage. It turns out that there are three principles that can guide us in doing this:

• The Least Effort Principle , This principle states that most people would prefer to make their lives as easy as possible. This means that they really don’t want to negotiate , they’d rather just say “yes” to an offered deal instead of complicating their lives by having to negotiate for a better deal. What this means for you is that most people won’t want to walk away from a sales negotiation once its started because it would be too much effort to find someone else and restart negotiations.

• The Wasted Work Principle , This principle is exactly what it sounds like, nobody likes to waste their time and energy. What this means for you is that once a sales negotiation has been started, the other side wants to see it through to the end. In fact, the longer the negotiation goes on, the more the other side wants the deal to close.

• The Easy-Come-Easy-Go Principle , Simple put, nobody really wants anything for free. The other side will not appreciate anything that they get too easily. Instead, you need to make it at least somewhat difficult for the other side to get what they want. Only by doing this will you boost the other side of the table’s satisfaction with the final result of the negotiations.

Final Thoughts

The buyer who makes up his or her mind that “there’s always another deal” if this deal collapses is best able to show some resolve and obtain a better price. However, thankfully, most negotiators are too lazy and subscribe to the three work principles of negotiating: least effort, wasted work, and easy-come-easy-go.

What this means for you is that the more energy and effort that you put into a negotiation, then the better your odds of coming out of it with a deal that both sides are happy with.

If you can learn to do your homework better than the other side of the table before your next negotiation, then you will be able to close better deals and close them quicker.

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Negotiator Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

In this world there are two types of negotiators: the good ones and everyone else. The goal of any negotiator is to become a member of the group of good negotiators. The challenge is that the path to becoming a good negotiator is not always clear. However, there are two basic skills that lay on this path: persistence and the ability to take the right risks.

Related posts:

1. Why Win-Win Sales Negotiating Never Works And What To Do About It Quick: what’s the first thing that you think about when...
2. The Power Of Time In A Sales Negotiation When I work with clients to improve their negotiating skills,...
3. Negotiators Know That Persistence (& Risk Taking) Pay Off In this world there are two types of negotiators: the...

If You Control Time, Then You Control The Negotiation

When I work with clients to improve their negotiating skills, one of the first things that we do is to sit down and review their past experiences with negotiating situations. This generally produces a list of both good and bad experiences. The reason that I take the time to do this is because it shows me where things have gone wrong in the past and where my customers need to spend the most time developing their negotiating skills.

Time after time the same weakness shows up in my clients. No matter how confident they may feel about a negotiation or how much research they’ve done going in, the issue of available time seems to trip them up over and over again.

How The Japanese Used Time To Their Advantage

In the early 1980’s U.S. businesses “rediscovered” Japan and almost every business wanted to strike a deal with a Japanese business in order to get access to high quality, low cost goods. What this meant is that a lot of U.S. business men (and women) got on planes and flew over to Japan to do some sales negotiating.

It quickly became apparent that the Japanese were excellent negotiators. The Americans were coming home with signed business deals that were ok, but nothing close to what they had originally been hoping for.

It turns out that the Japanese were not only good negotiators, but they also knew how to read an airline’s flight schedule. The Japanese would find out when the Americans were scheduled to fly home and they would stall during the negotiations until it got close to the time for the Americans to leave for the airport.

The Americans would be desperate to close a deal and would end up giving too much away just to be able to make their flight. After this had been going on for awhile, one American took the time to step back and study how negotiations were going with the Japanese. He quickly discovered what they were doing and how they were doing it.

The next time that he was scheduled to negotiate in Japan with the Japanese, he found out when the Japanese that he would be negotiating with were scheduled to take the train home. He went ahead and made two flight reservations – one before their train left, and one afterwards. Once the negotiations started, he stalled and the Japanese couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t getting worried about missing his flight. After he had missed the window to leave the negotiations for his flight, he started to get serious about negotiating. Now it was time for the Japanese to start to get nervous , they were worried about missing their train back to Tokyo. In the end, they ended up making too many concessions.

Seven Ideas To Build Your Time Power

One of the fundamental lessons that I include in all of my training sessions with my clients is that time is a crucial element when it comes to bargaining power. What it all comes down to is one simple rule: the more time that I have, and the less time that you have, then the more negotiating power I will have.

Now of course, the key to making sure that you have more time during a negotiation is to take action to ensure that you have the time that you need. Here are seven ways that you can ensure that you’ll have the time that you need:

• Leave time to shop around , You may be negotiating with the wrong people sitting on the other side of the table. You may decide to go searching for someone else to do a deal with. If this happens, it’s going to take some time and so you’re going to need to have enough time to do that search.

• Be on time for the meeting , This seems like a silly thing to say, but you’d be amazed at how many people don’t do it. If you show up for a negotiation late, then you are going to be running behind during the entire discussion. Being there on time will help you get started in a relaxed way.

• Give yourself time to think , Don’t let the other side push you into making a decision that might be the wrong decision for you. Instead, call for periodic breaks and give yourself some thinking time in order to reassess where things stand and what your next steps should be.

• Avoid marathon talks , Death marches will only end up killing you. No matter how “cool” it might be to tell your boss that you were in negotiations for 8, 10, 12 hours straight the sad reality is that your performance drops off over time. The one exception to this rule is that if you are pleased with where things currently stand and you’d like to push on to the end in order to wrap things up.

• Pick the best time to negotiate , They always say that there is a time for everything and negotiating is no exception to this rule. Are you a morning person or an evening person? Know your preference and schedule your negotiating sessions accordingly.

• Leave time for things to go wrong , This one is huge. Things will never go according to your plan. You need to anticipate that things that you could never have counted on will happen, points that you though both sides agreed to before discussions stared will turn out to be significant issues, etc. Leave time to work all of these things out.

• Leave enough time to plan , So often my clients will think that planning is something that you only do before you start a negotiation. It turns out that you do do it before, but you also do it during the negotiation in order to adjust to events that unfold during the negotiation.

• Leave enough time to negotiate with your second choice – If things don’t go the way that you want them to with the other side of the table, make sure that you’ll still have enough time to negotiate with another partner. There is no worse feeling than knowing that you have to stick with a bad negotiation because you don’t have any other alternatives.

Final Thoughts

All too often time starts to cause you to make hurried decisions because you have a real or an imagined deadline looming. When that happens, stop, take a deep breath and then ask yourself the following three questions in order to find ways to relieve the pressure of that deadline:

1. What self-imposed or organization-imposed deadlines am I under?
2. Are the deadlines that I’m under real?
3. What deadlines are putting pressure on the other side?

One of the most important points to remember about time and deadlines in a negotiation is that you may not the only one under pressure, the other side may be under greater pressure than you.

If you can learn to make time work for you during your next negotiation, then you will be able to close better deals and close them quicker.

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Negotiator Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

What is the secret for walking away from your next sales negotiation feeling satisfied? We all wish that there was some magic “silver bullet” technique that if we knew what it was we could use it every time we negotiate in order to be able to walk away feeling like our negotiating time was well spent. It turns out that there is such a technique, and it’s called doing your homework.

Related posts:

1. Negotiators Know That Persistence (& Risk Taking) Pay Off In this world there are two types of negotiators: the...
2. Why Win-Win Sales Negotiating Never Works And What To Do About It Quick: what’s the first thing that you think about when...
3. He Who Works The Hardest, Wins The Negotiation What is the secret for walking away from your next...

Hidden Needs Can Get 'Ya In Sales Negotiations (c) - 2006

All sales negotiations are driven by both public and private needs. If you can understand and deal with the other side’s hidden needs, then you’ll have more power during the negotiation.

It’s What Lies Below The Surface That Really Matters

When we enter into a sales negotiation, we like to kid ourselves that we know what the other side is looking to get out of the negotiation. At least on the surface, all sales negotiations look the same.

The easy-to-see desires of the other side generally come down to one of three things: money, goods, and / or services. This is what we can see and this is what we spend our time preparing to negotiate. However, that’s really only part of the story.

Knowledge Of Hidden Needs Boosts Your Power

I’m sure that you’re probably already agreeing with me that knowing the other side of the table’s hidden needs would be advantageous when you are getting ready to negotiate. However, did you know that this knowledge will increase your negotiating power?

Remember that power in a sales negotiation is a difficult thing to nail down. However, the more that you know about the other side and their hidden needs, then the more negotiating power you’ll have.

The Search For Hidden Needs

If we can all agree that identifying the other side’s hidden needs is a good thing, than all that is left for us to talk about is just exactly HOW you can go about doing that. The key is to have a good set of questions.

These are the questions that you need to ask yourself BEFORE you enter into a sales negotiation. Not every question will pertain to this specific negotiation and your list will evolve over time. Here’s a good set of questions for you to start asking yourself:

• Do they want to make their lives easier?
• Do they want to appear to be competent?
• Do they want peace of mind?
• Do they want to be listened to?
• Do they want freedom of choice?
• Do they want to keep their job?
• Do they want recognition?
• Do they want to be liked?

Final Thoughts

As you enter into a sales negotiation, you need to realize that the other side of the table probably has more hidden needs than they have publicly known needs. What this means for you is that the other side of the table won’t say “yes” to your requests until after at least some of their hidden wants have been fulfilled.

In the end, all negotiating is about making sure that you have enough power to be successful. One of the most important keys is to realize that we need to also address the other side of the table’s hidden needs in order reach an agreement that both sides can live with.

If you can learn to spot these hidden needs before you enter into your next negotiation, then you will be able to close better deals and close them quicker.

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What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

Time after time the same weakness shows up in my clients. No matter how confident they may feel about a negotiation or how much research they’ve done going in, the issue of available time seems to trip them up over and over again.

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If There's A Parade, Then It Must Be Labor Day!

In the U.S. it’s the week of the Labor Day holiday (on Monday). Since a lot of you will be making the most of this last gasp of summer, I’m going to join you and take the week off.

Enjoy your holiday and we’ll pick our discussions up again next week, same place, same time!

- Dr. Jim Anderson

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Negotiators Have Both Positive And Negative Sources Of Power (C) - 2008

The single  most important factor in determining how a negotiation is going to turn out centers on a single question: who has the most power? The big problem that most of us have is that we don’t think that we have enough of it. Turns out, we’re generally wrong about this…

The Secret Of Negotiating Power

What is power in a sales negotiation? Simple – it’s the ability of one side of the table to control both the resources that are available to the other side as well as the benefits that they can get.

At all times during a sales negotiation it is your responsibility to be looking for ways to build up your power base while at the same time working to prevent the other side of the table from gaining leverage over you (and thereby causing you power loss).

Where Does Your Power Come From?

All too often when I’m talking with sales negotiators, they’ll tell me that they don’t feel as though they have enough negotiating power to be successful in an upcoming bargaining session. When we talk a bit more, it quickly becomes apparent that they are only seeing half the story. Specifically, they are only thinking about “positive power“.

Positive negotiating power comes from all of the things that put you in a good position to negotiate. Having plenty of time to make a deal, having attractive alternatives, having plenty of funding, etc. – these are all sources of positive power for you.

What my clients always seem to overlook is that they also have “negative power” working for them. Negative negotiating power comes from limitations and restrictions that the other side of the table is working under. These can include the need to reach a deal quickly, not having a good alternative to dealing with you, or even limited availability of funds.

Final Thoughts

The power that you have during a sales negotiation isn’t something that sits on the table next to you. Instead, it’s more like a feeling of confidence that you have when you sit down at the table.

Not only do you have the easily recognizable sources of positive power working for you, you also have the hidden sources of negative power on your side also. If you can learn to spot both of these power sources before you enter into your next negotiation, then you will be able to close better deals and close them quicker.

Click here to get automatic updates when The Accidental Negotiator Blog is updated.

What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

All sales negotiations are driven by both public and private needs. If you can understand and deal with the other side’s hidden needs, then you’ll have more power during the negotiation.

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