A two-day workshop
The ‘golden rule’ of negotiation is simple – don’t!
But life’s rarely that simple and very often we do have to negotiate, particularly if we want to win the business and especially if we want to win it on our terms.
Such negotiations are crucial. We need to prepare for them. We need a strategy, and the skills to execute it.
Does your team have a structured approach? Is it flawlessly executed, every time? Or is there room for improvement?
This programme will help them master the six fundamentals of closing better business:
Position your product/service advantageously
Set high targets
Manage information skilfully
Know the full range and strength of your power
Satisfy customer needs over wants
Concede according to plan
Manage all these elements well and you will win more business, more profitably.
- Negotiate from a position of partnership, not competition
- Deal more effectively and profitably with price objections
- Identify and practise successful sales negotiating skills
- Identify their own strengths and weaknesses as a sales negotiator
- Understand different types of buyer behaviour
- Learn to recognise negotiating tactics and stances
- Apply a new and proven structure to their business negotiations
- Identify and adapt for different behavioural styles
- Be alert to unconscious (non-verbal) communication
- Prepare and present a proposal at a final business negotiation stage
- Project confidence and exercise assertiveness in all sales negotiations
Expert trainer
Graham specialises in providing high-quality consultancy, coaching and training in sales and business development, sales management, customer service and personal productivity. Over the last twenty years he has personally trained or coached over 30,000 business professionals. He is a member of the International Institute of Coaching and a qualified NLP Master Trainer.
Session outline
1. Planning for successful business negotiations
- What kind of a negotiator are you?
- Negotiation skills self-assessment and best practice
- How to establish roles and responsibilities for both parties
- How to identify and set objectives for both buyer and seller
- How to research and establish the other person’s position (business negotiation stance)
2. How to structure your negotiations
- Learn and apply a formal structure to use when negotiating
- How to establish short- and longer-term objectives and opportunities
- How best to plan, prepare and co-ordinate a major business negotiation meeting, or on-going negotiations
- Understanding of basic legal and organisational requirements
3. Verbal negotiation skills
- How to fully ‘qualify’ the other party’s needs, requirements and constraints during the negotiation process, by using advanced questioning and listening skills
- How to pre-empt negotiation objections by promoting and gaining commitment to options, benefits, value and solutions
- How best to propose and suggest ideas, using drawing-out skills
4. Non-verbal negotiation skills
- Gaining rapport and influencing unconsciously
- Understanding the importance of non-verbal communication; reading other people’s meaning and communicating effectively as a result.
- Ensuring that non-verbal behaviour is fully utilised and observed to create maximum impact and monitor progress (eg, buying signals)
- Recognising that business negotiations are precisely structured and agreements gained incrementally
5. Proposing and ‘packaging’
- How to identify the key variables that can be negotiated
- The power and use of ‘authority’ within your negotiations
- How to structure and present your proposals, ideas or quotations to best effect
- The importance of when and how to identify and influence buyer’s objections
6. Dealing with price
- The three reasons that people will pay your asking price
- How to set price in a competitive market
- The key differences between selling and negotiating
- Ten ways to present price more effectively and persuasively
7. Getting to ‘yes’: tactics and strategies
- How to negotiate price and reduce discounting early in the process
- How to recognise negotiating tactics and strategies in your customer or supplier
- Key strategies, techniques and tactics to use in negotiation
- The importance of follow-through and watching the details
- How to deal with stalled business negotiations or competitor ‘lock-out’
8. Case studies and review
- Case studies
- Question and answer
- Planning worksheet
- Negotiation ‘toolkit’ and check-list
9. Personal action plans
- Identify the most important personal learning points from the programme
- Highlight specific actions and goals
- Flag topics for future personal development and improvement
