How to Give a Buyer the Advantage in One Simple Move
Do you like doing lots of work for nothing?
I’m guessing that you probably prefer not to do work pointlessly. If you are negotiating with a buyer you’ll have spent time on your preparation. Then you’ll have set out your negotiation goals. And afterwards you’ll have set up the opening of the negotiation. Closely followed by the investigative stage.
To get to this point of a negotiation takes time and commitment
But now I want you to imagine that you’ve spent all this time and commitment for nothing. I want you to imagine gathering up all your notes and throwing them in the bin. And throwing away all the good foundations that you laid in the opening and investigative stages.
Does that make sense to you? Of course not!
But many negotiators throw away everything at this very point in a negotiation
And they throw it all away for one reason: they let the other party make a proposal before them.
And that’s a big mistake.
The best negotiators make sure that they make a proposal first
Negotiators who let the other party propose first often think that they are being clever.
After all, the other party might give something away if they propose first. But, in reality, this rarely happens. Even so, many negotiators let the other party propose first. They hope the other party will give something away. They will hope that they will be offered more than they ever dreamed off.
But what often happens is the reverse. The negotiator who lets the other party propose first often finds that they are offered much less than they hoped for. And then they have to work hard to try and make up lost ground.
But they wouldn’t have had to make up this lost ground if they’d made their proposal first.
P.S. Find out more ideas on how to engage with today’s buyers: download my free e-book “Ten Common Print Selling Errors and What To Do About Them” right now. You’ll also receive my regular “Views from the print buyer” bulletin, full of ideas on how to sell print effectively. Also, check out “How to Make Print More Profitable: The Print Industry Negotiation Handbook” where I share a seven stage negotiation process that stops you giving way on price.
- Categories:
- Business Management - Marketing/Sales
Many printing companies are frustrated how hard it is to engage buyers in today’s world. That’s where Matthew Parker can help. He is a gamekeeper turned poacher. Parker has bought print for more than 20 years and received over 1,400 print sales pitches. He now uses his buyer’s point of view to give practical advice to printers. He helps them engage with prospects and customers to create profitable relationships.
Download his free e-book, "Ten Common Print Selling Errors And What To Do About Them" and check out his recently launched book, "How To Succeed At Print Sales: Setting targets, planning the right activities and making sure goals are met."
