“The one who’s under the most pressure loses the negotiation because they are more likely to give in.” – Mark Schenkius in today’s Tip 667
Do you feel pressured to meet your sales targets?
Join the conversation below and share your thoughts!
ROI 10
The Other Side of Sales
Mark Schenkius on LinkedIn
619. Quarter End & The “Expiring Discount” – Todd Caponi
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Transcript
Scott Ingram: You’re listening to the Daily Sales Tips podcast and I’m your host, Scott Ingram. Today Mark Schenkius is back to add some additional perspective to a previous tip from Todd Caponi. Mark is the founder of ROI 10 where he helps sales professionals get better at dealing with buyers, and he’s also the author of “The Other Side of Sales,” where he shares his perspective after 15 years in procurement. Here he is:
Mark Schenkius: Hi everyone, I was recently listening to Daily Sales Tip #619 by Todd Caponi where he talks about companies offering time-bound discounts to their consumers or customers. He mentions a lot of valid points and considering the fact that year-end is approaching, I thought I’d add an additional buyer’s perspective here.
Buyers know that sellers are under pressure to meet their targets by year-end and that sellers are willing to offer discounts to make that happen.
Negotiations are often about pressure. The one who’s under the most pressure loses the negotiation because they are more likely to give in. And one of the most common used pressure tools is time.
“You only have 2 days before the offer expires”
“If we can’t get to a deal now, I am going to check other options”
The big question here is: what pressure is the buyer under? What are their deadlines?
Finding out helps you in removing your own pressures and allows you to focus on theirs. However, if you do feel pressured to meet your sales targets, then consider the following:
If a seller offers a discount to a buyer, the first thing going through their heads are thoughts like this:
“Wow, I guess I normally overpay” or even worse
“You tried to cheat me and you didn’t succeed. How do I know you’re offering me a fair price now?”
Whatever those thoughts are, they all erode trust which I believe is disastrous for any sales professional. The trick is to always make your offers explicitly conditional so a buyer doesn’t feel cheated. You’re basically offering them a new kind of deal.
Try the following approach when making an offer to a buyer close to year-end. This method is focused on addressing the elephant in the room and helps you to put pressure on the buyer to take a decision. Here goes:
“Quite frankly, I would really love to close this deal before year-end as it helps me in achieving my targets for this year. That’s actually the reason why I can offer you this fantastic price. Unfortunately, that means the offer expires on 31 st December at which stage we will go back to the standard pricing of the products or services you need.”
By saying this, you have addressed the elephant in the room which is all about making a sale before a deadline. You have confirmed the assumption of the buyer by openly sharing this information. You have made the offer conditional by adding a time element to it. At the same time, you have put pressure on the buyer to take a decision before year-end otherwise, they will feel they lost a potentially good deal. And losing a good deal is something a buyer will always find hard to swallow.
Happy negotiations everyone!
Scott Ingram: For more about Mark and his book “The Other Side of Sales,” click over to DailySales.Tips/667 and we’ll have everything for you there including a link to Todd Caponi’s original tip that prompted this response.
Once you’ve checked that out, be sure to come back tomorrow for another great sales tip. Thanks for listening!