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Weekly Sales Training Tips From Greg Bennett of Altitude Premium Consulting 
a Kroenke Sports Enterprises 
Partner Organization 

Negotiation Strategies That Win

Negotiation Strategies That Win
-By Greg Bennett

Winning While Being Respected and Liked

Week 4:   Coming to a Win-Win Conclusion

This is the final part of our four-part series on Negotiation Strategies That Win, and thus a perfect time to review the closing stage of the process or what I call....Coming to a Win-Win Conclusion.

If we've done an effective job in the early stages of the process, we should:

• Know what's going on beneath the surface with the client, what are the reasons driving their positions...

• Have established a fair platform for making a decision...

• Have developed several options and ideas on our side for satisfying the underlying needs of the client. 

Now it's time to bring the situation to a conclusion.

  We Need to Come to a Conclusion That Is "Fair" (Based on Objective Criteria) and Allows Both Sides to Feel They've Won On Certain Points, As Well As Feeling "Okay" About Giving Away Certain Points If We Must...

Some Points To Keep In Mind About Presenting Your Solution and Coming to a Conclusion:

• When giving your position and/or price, you want to do the following:

  • Give your reasons BEFORE the price or offer...

    • You:  "Tom...here is where we are in this...we're going to give you X, Y, and Z...and the total investment is $45,000..."

    • THEN SILENCE........................
       

  • If you give the price FIRST two bad things can happen...

    • If the price shocks the client, he or she won't hear anything after that...so they won't hear the reasoning or features you're offering...
       

    • If you give your reasons after the price we may sound like we're justifying a price you think is high
       

• We need to come up with MORE THAN ONE CONCLUSION OR OPTION...if there is just one option someone is going to win and someone is going to lose...

  • Just one option sounds like, "Take it or leave it"
     

  • Question:  How do you come up with other options if you have just one position?

    • Even if you have one option or offer, can you add a few options the client can choose from?
       

    • Example -- you are an NBA team and you only have one luxury party suite available at a set price -- $3,500 for one game...the client has offered $2,500 as the total amount they can go...
       

    • How can you come up with more than one option?

      • ONE-OPTION WOULD SOUND LIKE: 

        • "Well, that's the deal Tom...$3,500 for one game...take it or leave it?
           

      • TWO-OPTIONS WOULD SOUND LIKE:

        • "Well...here are a few options for you to consider, Tom...the one time party suite for $3,500...or we can do two suite nights and offer the discounted price of $3,000 each...which would you prefer?

         

• Asking the client to take action on one of the options...

  • YOU:  "Which of those two options would work better for you?"
     

Some Other Things to Keep In Mind at Conclusion:

• Understanding the other side's N.B.A. -- Next Best Alternative to doing a deal

  • In other words, do I have someone else to take this client's place if we don't do a deal?  How about the client, what is their next best alternative to doing a deal?
     

  • In sales, the best way to build your N.B.A. is to get more prospects in the pipeline!

  The best negotiation strategy you could ever have is 5 other people to take this guy's place if he says NO...
   

• Watch for "THE FLINCH" -- the flinch is something clients do when they see your price or offer.  A flinch may be a sudden intake of air...a whistle (like "wow")...a shaking of the head..etc.  It's a strategy used by good negotiators to send the signal that your price was HIGH and you'd better start coming off of it or adding more "stuff"...

  • Flinching works so well we should all use it when buying something...
     

  • The best way to deal with a flinch when a client gives you one is SILENCE...SHORT ANSWERS...MORE SILENCE...

  • YOU:  "So the total prices is $53,460....

  • CLIENT:  (flinch)....Wow...that much?

  • YOU:  SILENCE...."yes"....SILENCE...

• .What if you get an outrageous offer from the client?  For instance, you were offering $5,000...and the client comes back with $1,000...

  • NOW YOU MAY FLINCH (Ha)...pause for a moment and ask how the client came to their offer, since you've explained how you got to where you were...
     

• Don't come off your position too quickly...it will look like you were making up fluff just to build the price...

• YOU:  "So the total prices is $53,460....

• CLIENT:  (flinch)....Wow...that much?  I would do it for $30,000

• YOU:  "Sounds good...30 it is..." 

• You don't want to drop quickly...you need to first ask "How did you arrive at that number?" 

  • The client has to know that our recommendation is based on THEIR situation...we didn't make it up...so for us to cut, what part of the program do they want to cut

THERE ARE RAMIFICATIONS FOR CUTTING BACK ON YOUR OFFER!

There is SO much to cover in closing and negotiating we can't possibly get to all of it...or even a good portion of it in this little space.  I strongly recommend you study Negotiation strategies at length...there are tons of books and on-line resources for you to check out...SO GET INTO IT...IT'S GOOD FOR YOU.

Exercises for the Week:

• The next time you get the chance give your reasons first and the price last...

• Watch for "the flinch"...and try using "the flinch" when you buy something

• Try adding more than one option when trying to close the client... 

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Greg Bennett, a partner in the innovative brand expansion and consulting organization, Altitude Premium Consulting,  LLC, has been one of the top sales and sales management trainers in professional sports and entertainment since 1988.  He has created and delivered training programs for over 80+ professional sports teams and leagues, along with several Fortune 500 companies.   Altitude Premium Consulting provides training as well as the creation of premium-branded goods for pro sports teams, entertainment companies and corporate sponsors, and is in a partnership relationship with Kroenke Sports Enterprises, owners of the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche, Pepsi Center, the Colorado Mammoth and several other sports and entertainment entities throughout the United States.  Bennett can be reached at (303) 405-6110, or you can email Greg directly at gbennett@pepsicenter.com .