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Mayday Mayday! Time to Abort the Negotiating Mission, Or is It?

Should you walk away from the negotiating table? If so, when? According to Jim Camp, expert negotiator, you should walk way when the negotiation is no longer in line with your mission and purpose.

In Camp’s opinion, simply walking away as a tactic to get the other party to capitulate is not an effective way of negotiating. It falls under the category of “tactic” or “technique” and thus is not principle-driven and therefore vulnerable.

First, you must start with a mission and purpose to your negotiation. If you are aiming to gain a client for your consulting service and you have a set amount that you want to receive as payment for these services, then your mission is to complete the negotiation with the purpose of helping the other party see the value of what you are offering.

As long as things are moving forward, then there is no reason to walk away or to threaten to walk away.

However, if things get to a point where you don’t think there is any chance of continuing toward the accomplishment of the mission, you can at that point abort the negotiation.

How can you tell the difference between a simple roadblock that can be overcome and a real deal-breaker?

You must have a very clear idea of what it is that you are willing to be flexible with and what it is that you will not negotiate. For example, you may have a certain price that you are sticking to, but you may be flexible with how the payment is made, whether at one time or over a course of installments.

If you come across an issue that asks you to compromise on your original mission and there is no way around it, you may walk away.

In this case, something strange may happen. Since you are walking away on principle and not as a tactic, the walk-away may actually work as intended to by those using it as a tactic. The other party will see that this is a part of your mission that really is non-negotiable and if they find value in what you are offering, they may re-evaluate their own mission and find that the amount that you are asking is in fact worth paying.

The difference here is honesty. Don’t try to circumvent honesty by trying to walk away as a tactic. The opposition will see this and you will not achieve what it is that you are trying to achieve.

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Essentials of Negotiation

Factors that affect your ability to negotiate

Most people who are successful are masters in the art of negotiating. There are many factors that could affect a person’s ability to negotiate. You may have all the means at your disposable but if you lack these basic abilities you may not be able to negotiate the right deal. Here are a few important factors that are considered to be essential if you want to master the art of negotiation.

a) Your negotiating skills are affected by your ability to get things done. For instance when you generate competition you have better negotiating power. You ability to get things done will be affected by your attitude, expertise, persistence and persuasion. When negotiating it is important that you get many people agree to you. When you have majority with you, it is easier to negotiate. When negotiating it is important that you take calculated risks but avoid taking stupid risk. When you take calculated risks you gain power to negotiate a better deal.

b) The time you have also plays an important role when negotiating. Usually, the party that has more time in hand has an advantage when negotiating. When negotiating never let the other party how important and urgent the matter is. You have to maintain you’re cool and always appear to be calm. You may have a deadline but never let the other person know your deadline.

c) When negotiating it is important that you have all the possible information. Do your research before you begin the negotiations. When you get any new information, make sure you act on information you receive. Keep your eyes and ears open as it will help you pick up some clues from the behaviour of the other party. There response to a situation will help you get valuable information.

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Consultative Selling – Make Your Presentation Unique

In today’s new economy you as a sales professional undoubtedly have hundreds if not thousands of competitors selling a similar product or service. This can be the most difficult problem that sales professionals face. How do you persuade your prospects to buy from you and in turn send you referrals. From a consultative selling position the best way to present your product or service is to differentiate yourself from other sales professionals in your field.

The benefits of differentiating yourself are enormous. Anything you can do to differentiate yourself from all the other sales people out there is going to help. First of all a sale is much easier when you make the purchase unique. Secondly, your customers will refer hordes of qualified prospects to you. And third you can typically charge higher prices than your competitors. Using a consultative selling approach and the unique positioning tends to attract a much more affluent crowd. To get these affluent customers who are not concerned so much about price you have to make sure you get referrals.

So what you need to do is decide on a way of representing yourself and your product or service as incredibly special. From a consultative selling approach you can find out what it is your customers are generally looking for and then use that to differentiate yourself. For instance, in my area we have a plumbing company that is marketed as the smell good plumbers. So we have a choice. I can choose any of the great plumbers in the area or I can choose the plumber that does great work and makes it a point to smell good. Now some customers are not going to be persuaded by the additional benefit. The affluent customers tend to use this service. Why, because the plumbing service is probably just as good as many other plumbers but this company has decided to take the extra step and say that the plumber will not only get the job done, he will also show up on time smelling good. They are not selling themselves as the cheapest but having these other benefits. What additional benefits can you claim to your customers?

How do you apply this to your sales? You need to make yourself and your sales experience unique, interesting and fun. Just think about how much your prospects pay for entertainment monthly. TV, cable or satellite, Internet, movies, magazines, books, music and the list goes on. Its a safe bet that if you can make your sales presentation more interactive and entertaining you will sell more.

Probably the simplest means of making a sales presentation more entertaining is to tell a story that is designed to emotionally involve the prospect. This is an NLP sales tactic that works extremely well for a consultative selling approach. Be sure to structure the story just like a good movie or book. The character is first clueless that there is a problem, then some tragic event takes place, the character lives with the pain for a while, then finally decides to do something about it. Through trial and error the character finds the answer he’s been searching for, finally the end where all is happily ever after the problem is solved. Obviously make the story very much like your own product or service or use the story of some of your other happy clients that are as similar as possible to your prospect.

There are many ways of linking the various emotions brought up in such a story to you and your product and service. Making your story even more unique and your product or service that much different than the other sales professionals.

Ryan Camana is the lead trainer of NLP and Hypnosis for Dynamic Breakthroughs. He specializes in helping sales people and entrepreneurs learn the most effective forms of persuasive communication. Dynamic Breakthroughs mission is to empower people to take control of the unlimited potential of their minds. We improve the world by training people to be leaders in their field with the most advanced self development techniques available.

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