What do best sales negotiators do differently to close deals?

Negotiation is something not every sales rep can excel in. Your prospect is sitting in front of you, the deal is just one step away from closure, and how you act will either make or break the deal. And few sales reps have aced the technique of negotiating. 

Have you ever wondered why the other sales rep manages to close every single deal? What is s/he doing that you’re not aware of?

Well, you need to gear up if you want to be the next best sales negotiator. Up your game of negotiation so even you can say that – 

Be the best negotiator and win every prospect. Moreover, now you don’t have to worry about remembering meetings and tracking your prospects. 

A good negotiator uses contact management tool to keep all the data of all his prospects organized in one place. It helps a sales rep to work more productively and win more deals. 

Want to know what more you can do to close deals? Then read on to find out the traits of the best sales negotiators! 

Traits of best sales negotiators

Now, the best sales negotiators always pay heed to minute details, which others often overlook. They thoroughly study their prospects and then radiate confidence to charm the prospect. So, find out how the best sales negotiators put extra effort to make sure they close every deal. 

Prospect’s background check

Before any negotiation, make sure you’ve done your homework i.e., performing a thorough customer background check. In order to close the deal seamlessly, you need to first learn about the intent of your prospect. Follow them on various platforms, get insights on their personality, and note down points that can convince them.

The negotiation part isn’t tricky; it’s how you build the conversation before leading it to the negotiation. Therefore, it’s imperative to know every detail about the prospect before negotiating with them.

Pricing difference from competitors

You must be offering the best rates; however, have you checked what your competitor is offering?  You don’t want your prospect to come up and say they found a more affordable offer. Thus, ensure you are well aware of the price difference between you and your competitor.

There shouldn’t be a vast difference at the same time the price shouldn’t be too close. Always see that you’re offering more than the client is expecting because that’s capable of closing the deal quicker. 

Deciding the offer price

When a sales negotiator is knowledgeable about the market, he will offer the best price there is for the deal. Don’t think that you will go with the flow and finalize the price when the time comes.

Finalize the price you’re going to offer and don’t get distracted from it. Prospects can sense when you’re unsure, so never give away your cards. 

Justifying the product or service value

Now that you’ve finalized the price, you must justify it. Whether you’re offering a service or a product, it must be value for money. Your prospect is smart enough to know how beneficial the product/service is for their company; however, they would expect you to justify the price.

So, avoid assuming that stating facts will get your work done. You need to remain on the same page as your client. 

Storytelling helps win more negotiations

This must be surprising, right?

Well, we did tell you that playing by the rules won’t get you anywhere. You need to stand out in order to get that deal. And storytelling is a proven way of winning negotiations.

“People retain 65 to 70 percent of information shared via a story versus only 5 to 10 percent of the information conveyed through statistics.”

(source – Aeroleads)

Add in some situations and stories to intrigue and engage your prospect. When you’ve gotten them convinced, you can rest assured that you have won a client for a long time. 

Types of negotiation styles 

Along with an excellent negotiating instinct, there are five main types of negotiation styles in business. Each style has its pros and con, which we are going to discuss. Let’s take a glance at different types of negotiation styles so you can decide which one will work best for you.

1. Avoid the confrontation

This style is used by prospect or sales agents that want to end the discussion without any negotiation or confrontation. 

A prospect may become disinterested due to many reasons and therefore, they take the support of avoiding technique to prevent any kind of conflict. In these kinds of situations, both the sales agent and prospect lose something on the way.

2. Accommodate to retain the customer

Sometimes, giving priority to customer relationships become essential to retain them for a long time. In this scenario, even if you’re losing something, you have won your client’s loyalty. 

From accommodating them to giving some discount or providing customer support after purchase, it will have a positive impact on your relationship with a client. 

3. Compete to win

When you’re resilient about negotiation, you want to win it by any means. Being competitive is good, but don’t take it to an extreme level to drive your prospect away. 

In fact, some clients can easily get offended when you use a competing technique. Therefore, be wary of using this if you want to win more clients.

4. Compromise and rise together

The best way to negotiate a deal is when both parties win something and lose something to come to a conclusion. Finding a middle ground is essential when you’re negotiating. So, when your prospect is ready to make some adjustments, you can also comply and reach an acceptable decision.

5. Collaborate

Now, this is the highly recommended way of negotiating when both parties get their desired results. It’s quite common because to win more deals, you need a prospect who’s as interested in your offer as you are. 

Collaborative relationships are known to last longer and have proven more effective for business. 

Proven techniques for closing more deals 

Your search for the perfect closing technique ends here! Read the below points and see for yourself how even a minute detail can have a great impact on your negotiation.

Listen closely and then put your point across

“Nobody is more persuasive than a good listener” – Dale Carnegie

Every person wants to be heard; but who’s ready to listen? Well, in the era of chaos, you need to be a good listener if you’re going to convert that prospect into a customer. 

Listen to every word he’s saying and try to decipher the meaning behind it. When you put forth an offer without listening to the need of your prospect, the effort will go in vain. Therefore, your first instinct must be to listen and then make an offer. 

Unnecessary delays can make closing deals difficult

Even a minute of delay and you could lose your prospect. No one likes to work with a person that doesn’t value their time. Whether it’s being late to the meeting or not having prepared the documents; anything that causes a delay is harmful to your business.

Therefore, ensure you are always prepared beforehand to answer every query your prospect might have. 

Be open to discussions and negotiations

“If You Want To Reach An Agreement, Move From a Competitive Mindset to A Cooperative One” ― Ludovic Tendron

Don’t go into a negotiation with a rigid mindset. Keep it open to discussions, offers, and negotiations. To win a prospect, you must think from their angle. 

If your prospect is proposing something beneficial to both of you, listen to it, consider it, and see whether it adds value to your company. After all, you both want something out of this negotiation, so you might as well go with the flow and reach a middle ground.

Offer them to try your products/services

This is a widely used tactic in business. When a prospect is offered a free demo, they can get acquainted with the product/service. It gives them an insight into how it will help their company if they accept your proposal. 

Therefore, before you start negotiating, ensure you have asked your prospect to try the product or service so they’ll be clear whether they’d like to go ahead with it or not. You can learn more about effective sales negotiation tactics to win more deals and stay on top of your game.

Hard selling vs. soft selling technique

Hard selling is an aggressive approach by sales reps where they try to close deals as quickly as they can. On the other hand, soft selling is an approach that is created around building value and nurturing relationships.

How does hard-selling aim to create immediate sales?

Hard selling technique is picked up by the sales reps that are bold and know how to use aggression in the right way. Hard selling is mainly preferred by new firms that want to gain more clients. Frequent call-to-actions, solid sales pitch, and closing deal on the spot is what a sales rep would do.

As you must have guessed, it does put pressure on the client. Your prospect is in a tough spot when you’re aggressively explaining the sales pitch to them. However, if this reaction is focused towards benefiting the prospect, you might just win your deal! Therefore, if you think direct communication will work with your client, then go for hard selling. 

What is the soft-selling approach?

Soft selling has become a hit in today’s time. People who soft sell are known to be more intuitive and knowledgeable about their products and services. 

These sales reps are inclined to build value for their brand, which will bring them long-lasting customers. The soft selling method is for companies that want to grow their brand name and create customer loyalty. 

So, if your aim is to gain more customers and quickly, hard selling is the way to go. And if you want to build a loyal customer base, take a soft selling approach. 

Conclusion

Whether you’ve been in the market for a long time or you’ve just started working in the field, for a sales rep, the trick is to connect with prospects and convey the value-addition you can bring.

Sales negotiation is as tricky as you make it, so just have a clear aim, keep a few points in mind, and just go seal the deal!