Combative buyers are quite difficult to handle without provoking them further, but many sellers unwittingly enrage buyers to the point of total exasperation. Worse, the two most common errors appear most often in times of disagreement, exactly when the poking stick on the client should be the last item on your priority list. This way, you can tackle the problems that arise without damaging your relationship. Before negotiating with customers, be sure to respond to all the emotions charged and try to discover their source. Try to see the other side of things and aim to be empathetic. In your attempt to reach consensus, you may be tempted to use desired language. The word “in between” is a certain culprit. You could say, for example, “We`re going to install the software for between $5,000 and $7,000.” Find your best alternative to a negotiated deal Consider a cup of coffee before negotiations if you want to stay calm and persevering with your demands. The win-win approach requires mutual understanding and the rebate is a way to reach an agreement. But, according to Deepak Malhotra of Harvard Business School, “concessions often go unnoticed and unre replicated.” If you are willing to give a discount to your customer, you offer it in installments. Suppose you can offer a maximum concession of $10,000 to a customer. If you are going to offer it, the customer might want to reduce the price even further and then underestimate it.
This can be avoided if you divide the total amount into two concessions: a $6,000, followed by $4,000. In this case, you seem flexible to the customer when trading, which creates a positive perspective. During this planning phase, you want to create as many options as possible so that you are ready when you are negotiating with the client. Don`t make the most common mistake of looking at negotiations first as an exercise in persuading the other side to do what you expect them to do. With this way of thinking, you will focus so much on your conversation points that you will not listen carefully enough to what your opponent has to say. On the other hand, active listening and setting up many questions will help you gather the information you need to develop a mutually beneficial agreement. Imagine, for example, this response to a customer having a seizure: “This attack is not constructive. [Great eye contact, a powerful tone.] We spent three hours solving the problems and finding a fair and reasonable solution. Now, I propose that we go back to the question of payment terms and look at whether we can finalize them. The best response to aggressive but important clients is a kind of powerful pacifism. Refuse to fight, but refuse to let the customer benefit from you. Don`t give in, don`t fight back.
Duck, dodge, parse, but keep your floor. Never close a door; Again and again to open more. Try to lure the customer into a creative partnership in which you will work together for inventive solutions that none of your competitors have found.