Thoughtful Thursdays – Negotiate or stand firm
During a recent seminar I was facilitating, conversation steered itself to the topic of negotiation and whether or not it was a good practise.
When do I negotiate and when do I stand firm?
Whatever the decision, you must know the answer before the situation comes up. Whether one approach or the other becomes a strategy is somewhat dependant on the product or service that is being offered and the environment it is being offered in.
What is common to every situation though is to know what you will do beforehand. If you are expecting price objection it does not mean you need to negotiate. It may be a case of reinforcing the value of the product or service where your price is already the best you can offer. If you want to make it a strategy, then you must build in a buffer to work with or you will place business profitability in danger.
If you establish a reputation for negotiating price, the price you settle on is the market price and it becomes an expectation.
In my experience, I would rather be recognized as a stand firm business. The prices I propose are the best and the products and services are worth every penny. If the prospect wants to change the scope of the proposal, then that is another situation entirely.
If you waiver at all when a price objection is raised, the game is over and the customer will most certainly get a better deal. The question to think about when preparing is this: Can you afford it?
Once again, if the internal sale is not successfully closed it will be very difficult to close the external sale the way you expect, and likely deserve.
Good selling,
Richard
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