“I think those questions help us clarify what we want, why we want it, can we live with the result positive or negative, and also what value do we bring to the table to the people that we’re negotiating with.” – Mandy Sullivan in today’s Tip 1466
Do you negotiate with clarity?
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today’s tip comes from Mandy Sullivan. Mandy is a certified graduate of GirlzWhoSell and #GirlsClub with over 20 years as a customer advocate. She’s a supporter of all things Women in Sales and is focused on customer-centric communication and relationship building. Here she is:
Mandy Sullivan: Hi, fellow readers. Today’s sales tip is a book recommendation. Recently, I was reading Finding Confidence and Conflict by Kwame Christian. And I really like this book because it focuses on getting clear on your why before having difficult conversations. It provides a list of some questions that we can ask ourselves before we ever start a conversation or a negotiation.
I think by asking ourselves these questions, it puts us in a much clearer state of what we want our outcome to be? What’s going to happen if the conversation doesn’t go our way? And are we okay either way? Are we in a safe place? A place of strength and confidence before we start our conversation.
One of the questions, why do I care about the outcome of the conversation? Another one is what’s the impact of a successful outcome? I think a lot of us think about that one before we get into negotiation. But another question is, what are the ramifications of an unsuccessful outcome? How do we juxtapose those? If the ramifications of an unsuccessful outcome are strong, maybe we don’t enter into the negotiation. However, if the unsuccessful ramifications are livable, but the impact of a successful outcome is life-changing, definitely want to move forward and have the negotiation.
Another question is, what is the value to me and to the other person? I think a lot of times before we get into negotiations, we think about what the value is to us, like why we want to have the conversation, but aren’t necessarily thinking about the other person and why the same conversation would be of value to them. The clearer we are on both sides of that equation, the better off we are for having a successful conversation and a positive outcome.
I would suggest we also add two more questions. Who else will be impacted by the results of this conversation? For example, if you’re in a sales conversation, perhaps a negotiation might also impact other people that are part of revenue generation. Maybe your customer success folks or your marketing team might also be impacted by the conversation that you’re having. You might want to talk with those people or those teams before you have the negotiation so you have their feedback, so you’re better armed before you get into it.
Another question is, is having the conversation regardless of outcome. More satisfying or impactful than remaining in the status quo? I think we come up with this one a lot when we’re dealing with customers, because when we’re trying to get them to try our product or try our service, we want to understand what their pain point is, and we want to get to a point where we have explained successfully that staying with the status quo is actually more painful long term than it is to take a risk and try something new.
I think those questions help us clarify what we want, why we want it, can we live with the result positive or negative, and also what value do we bring to the table to the people that we’re negotiating with. I think getting clear on those helps us negotiate from a point of win-win versus win-lose. And especially when we’re dealing with customers, that’s pretty much always where I feel we want to be as customer advocates.
So I’ll end this sales tip with a quote from the book. “Your confidence will be bolstered by the strength of your convictions. The clearer your purpose, the more confidence you will have in yourself and your actions.” Happy selling.
Scott Ingram: For a link to connect with Mandy on LinkedIn, and a link to pick up her book recommendation, just click over to DailySales.Tips/1466. Once you’ve done that, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!