Negotiation

Negotiation is a dialogue intended to resolve disputes, to produce an agreement upon courses of action, to bargain for individual or collective advantage, or to craft outcomes to satisfy various interests. It is the primary method of alternative dispute resolution.
Negotiation occurs in business, non-profit organizations, government branches, legal proceedings, among nations and in personal situations such as marriage, divorce, parenting, and everyday life. The study of the subject is called negotiation theory. Professional negotiators are often specialized, such as union negotiators, leverage buyout negotiators, peace negotiators, hostage negotiators, or may work under other titles, such as diplomats, legislators or brokers

Rules and Principles for Sales Negotiation
Every salesperson understands the importance of the sales negotiating process. If done effectively, it can lead to closing big sales. Any slip in this process can scare the prospect away.
Before going further, we have to clearly outline the process. In a sales negotiating process, the participants are the buyer and the seller. They negotiate with each other over a particular service or a product to reach a mutually beneficial decision. In this process, both the parties will try for the best they can get out of the deal. Sales negotiations may occur at various points during the sales process. Such negotiations can make or break a deal.

Research says that a good sales negotiation can add almost 10 percent to the total sales revenue of an organization. A sales negotiation starts when both the seller and the customer are committed to the sale. A seller always starts with the highest price and the buyer usually tries to reduce the price to them. So, a negotiation is based on price compromises (negotiations). However, it is not true that the negotiations occur only over the cost of the product. They could occur over the entire sales process. For example delivery times..etc.
The closing of a sales process greatly depends on how well the various sales techniques such as negotiations are handled by the seller. There are certain tips for successful sales negotiations, which the seller can use to succeed in difficult situations. These are mentioned below.

•Never try and force the buyer to buy the product or the service. This can and will irritate the prospect. A good negotiator must always keep this aspect in his mind, no matter how important it is for him to close the deal.
•Never let the buyer know anything negative about the deal. The seller is required to sound positive till the end of the sales process, no matter whether the deal will work or not.
•In the beginning, never disclose to the buyer any type of concession schemes that the seller is carrying along with the sales proposal. If this is disclosed in the beginning of the negotiation process itself, then the buyer will always have a feeling that there is something more for him in the form of concessions.
•Give the buyer the fear of loss in case he is constantly demanding to cut down the prices. He should be given the fear of loss in such a way that he should feel that a further cut in the price will make him lose some features or facility provided by the product. This ways, they will demand less cut in price.

Keys of Sales Negotiation Skills
There are certain keys to learning sales negotiation skills. But before getting into the details of sales negotiating skills we must first understand what sales negotiation is and what skills does it require to generate successful sales.
Sales negotiation is an important aspect of a sales process. Wherein, active participation of both the buyer and the seller is required to carry out sales negotiation. Both the parties want to negotiate in a way that they can work out a mutually beneficial deal out of the negotiations. After being satisfied on terms and conditions, they end up signing a contract or bill of sale with each other.

A sales negotiation process can be defined as a formal event that occurs at different points of the sales process. Thus acquiring good sales negotiation skills becomes a necessity for salespeople. The better sales negotiation skills definitely lead to better business opportunities for the organization.

Sales negotiating skills are not only required to negotiate over the price of the product but the entire value proposition of the product. The skills require a lot of practice to end up negotiating successfully. A sales person with good negotiating skills can increase the trust of the customers in the company. In fact a properly carried out presentation of the product can help the buyer gain faith in what the seller is saying about the product
But then, the success of a negotiation depends on the pre-negotiation practice. Thus, it is required by the seller to learn these skills before he actually enters a sales process.

How many times have you heard?
1."You've got to drop your price by 10% or we will have no choice but to go with your competition."
2."You will have to make an exception to your policy if you want our business."
3."I know that you have good quality and service, but so do your competitors. What we need to focus on here is your pricing."
4."I agree that those special services you keep bringing up would be nice, but we simply don't have the funds to purchase them. Could you include them at no additional cost?"

Every time you hear statements like these, you're in the middle of a difficult sales negotiation. How you handle that negotiation will determine whether or not you close the sale and how profitable that sale will be. In order to give you a real edge every time,

Below are some key points

•Don't Believe Everything You See and Hear
Part of a good salesperson's skill is to learn to read people and situations very quickly. However, when it gets down to negotiating, you have to take everything you see and hear with a grain of salt. Buyers are good negotiators, and thus they are good actors. You may be the only person who has what she needs, but everything she does and says, from body language to the words she uses, will be designed to lead you to believe that unless she gets an extra 10% off, she's going with the competition. Be skeptical. Be suspicious. Test, probe, and see what happens.
•Don't Offer Your Bottom Line Early in the Negotiation
How many times have you been asked to "give me your best price"? Have you ever given your best price only to discover that the buyer still wanted more? You have to play the game. It's expected. If you could drop your price by 10%, start out with 0%, or 2%, or 4%. Leave yourself room to negotiate some more. Who knows - you may get it for a 2% reduction. You might have to go all the way to 10%, but often you won't. A little stubbornness pays big dividends.
•Get Something in Return for Your Added Value
What if you discover that the buyer wants to be able to track his expenditures for your products or services in a way that is far more detailed and complex than is standard for your industry? What if your account tracking system is set up in a way that you can provide that information at essentially no cost to you? Often the salesperson's overwhelming temptation is to jump in and say, "Oh, we can do that. That's no problem." Before you do, however, think about your options. You could throw it in as part of the package and try to build good will. Or you could take a deep breath and try something like, "That's a difficult problem that will require some effort on our part, but it's doable." In the second case, without committing, you've told the buyer it is possible. You may not be able to get him to pay extra for it but you may be able to use it as a bargaining chip in resisting price concessions. Which way you choose to go will depend on who your customer is and on the situation. However, you do have options.
•Sell and Negotiate Simultaneously
Think of selling and negotiating as two sides of the same coin. Sometimes one side is face up, and sometimes the other side, but they are always both there. This is particularly true in your earliest contacts with the buyer. The face the buyer sees is that of a salesperson demonstrating features and benefits. The hidden face is that of a negotiator probing and seeking out information that may be invaluable later should issues like price, terms, quality, delivery, etc. have to be negotiated.
•Be Patient
Finally, and most important, be patient. Sales is a high energy, fast moving business. Patience is one commodity that is in relatively short supply, but if you're impatient in a negotiation, you'll lose your shirt. If I'm negotiating with you and I know that you're impatient, I will hold out just a little longer, no matter how desperate I am to make a deal with you. As long as I know you're in a hurry, I'll wait. So be patient. Take the time that you need, don't rush to give in, don't show your anxiety, stay cool and don't panic. Negotiation is a process and a game. Use the process and play the game. And you'll be surprise at the difference that it makes!

Types of Sales Closing Techniques

Many inexperienced sales people think that a deal is over as soon as the customer makes a commitment to make a purchase of the product or service that the company offers to him. They don't realize how important is it to exactly close and cement the deal. Some sales person are so bad in closing the deal that they turn a positive customer into a negative one.
Closing is a critical stage in a sales deal. It involves skill and techniques to master properly.

Some of the sales closing techniques are as below:
•1-2-3 Closing Technique. A customer evaluates the benefits of the product in terms of cost of the product, quality of the product and the time of availability of the product. 1-2-3 closing technique accounts for all of these parameters at the time of closing so that the customer at the time of drawing conclusions is certain about what he is getting in terms of these parameters.
•Adjournment Closing Technique. This technique says not to close the deal now. It gives a chance to the customer to think over the deal. But such a technique should be employed only in the most adverse situations like if the customer is not able to decide now, he is a bit confused over what package to decide up on or the customer needs to decide over the number of packages he needs to buy. Such a technique should be employed only when the seller finds a possibility of a possible gain while devoting his time to the customer.
•Affordable Closing Technique. This technique is employed at the time when the customer has certain doubts about the product's price. Here the seller has to act really smart and make the customer understand that they are actually watching the price only from one angle but there is also another view on the deal that makes the price very much affordable to them. The seller over here can highlight the advantages over the price the customer has to pay for the product.
•Alternative Closing Technique This type of closing takes place when the customer is exactly in the right mood to buy the package or product and now he has to decide on just the number of options available with the package. For example the number of packages to buy, and what plan out of the two to buy etc. The salesperson gives the customer a choice of options, both of which lead to a commitment.
•Assumptive Closing Technique An assumptive close is made in a situation where the seller has a feeling that though the customer is tempted to purchase the product, but if still allow time for the customer to think it over, chances are that the customer will refuse the proposal. In such a situation the customer's mind is diverted by taking the topic to another more positive point, that can help close the deal, like when the customer wants the delivery, how many packages to go for, what plan to go for etc.
Similarly there are many more closing techniques that can be employed by the seller after carefully analyzing the situation and then smartly applying one of those closing techniques with the sole aim in mind to close the deal.

How to Prepare a Sales Presentation

Effective sales presentations can heavily boost the sales of your company. In fact your sales presentation determines if the client would make a purchase from you or your competitor. So, it is must to put in a right blend of knowledge and skills to create a sales presentation that will generate business leads for you.

While making the presentation, the presenter needs to be aware of the all the dos and don’ts of making a presentation. He should absolutely know how to make a sales presentation.
He should be a well skilled person.

•A good presentation regards the client's level of understanding and what the client actually needs from you. In order to achieve this, the presenter should be able to relate the product for the needs of client and should certainly be familiar with the business jargon. This is true to making a whole sales process a success indeed!
•A good presenter never tries to answer those questions which he cannot answer with conviction.
• A good presenter should present the whole presentation in a single go. It should be categorized in defined or structured sections such as the introduction section, body of the presentation, drawn conclusions and the question and answer section. This helps the clients understand the presentation in a better manner.
The introduction section should include a formal introduction of the presenter to the client and the desire to develop a kind of rapport with the clients. To do this the presenter may thank them and be grateful to them. The introduction should also involve a brief overview of the company. The presenter represents the company and he must thank all those who have helped to make the product and presentation a reality.
The body section should contain all the relevant information about the product. It should be as concise and clear as possible. The body should highlight the important facts and the benefits of the product.
The conclusion section should be a summary of all the facts related to the product. Here the presenter needs to study the demand of his clients after the presentation has enabled them to gain enough information about the product.
The last section of a sales presentation should be the question and answer round. Herein, clients would put forward their queries about the product and you would get an opportunity to clear up their doubts regarding the product.