Negotiation is the heart of all sales. It is a representation of skill and compromise, sincerity and determination, and the will to close the sale and succeed. Many lack the skills to do so either due to not being taught the right way or is being taught the old-school and “only conventional” way of negotiating.
In this article, Sales Ninja will share how to negotiate for better deals without resorting to old-school methods and not face brand loss.
Rapport Building
It all begins from the beginning when you first establish contact with the client. Building relationships from the early stages will give you the definitive boost for any negotiating table. But many “confuse” this relationship with entertaining their clients.
Rapport building comes at almost no cost as it is a professional approach to build trust and self-brand. This is also key for future repeat projects or for beyond the work tenure. E.g. if you move on to a different company, a real good rapport built would mean the client still looks for you despite you are not working for the same company.
Cross-Selling
The 2nd step of negotiating is cross-selling. Cross-selling isn’t just pitching multiple products or solutions or even materials at the same time, it is a concept of how both parties can gain to benefit with little losses.
Your clients need solutions and ideas but in order to pay for it, you must also cross-sell alternative options, so it can be a win-win situation. Many projects and engineering salespeople fail to do this as they would simply cater exactly to what the client wants without offering a 2nd opinion.
Sell Value, Not Price
You are not the only construction company out there and your brand most certainly not the only big player around. Your competitors will do everything they can to undermine you and your brand which includes throwing a price war.
This is when you sell the value of your solutions and products more than what they are worth. Even if you are cheaper than your competitor, it would mean nothing if the after-sales service of your competitor is better. In every proposal, always remember to include unique differentiation in your negotiations.
Fix The Conventional Mindset
The essence of negotiation is the mindset and the will to push for the project and close it. However, the old mindset is through entertainment: by buying the client through under-the-table tactics. Treating them gifts and cash incentives is NOT negotiation.
You need to change this old mindset from “it’s the only way” to “there is always another way”. It is definitely not easy to change this belief especially since some offices encourage this unprofessional behavior.
Project Sales Training
Negotiating for bigger projects is no easy feat but it’s possible so long as you know what to do and the mindset to push for it. Every project is different and requires different approaches, but a lot of sales training would be highly generic and not market or target specific.
And that is the strength of the Sales Ninja: to improve negotiations and change the mindset for bigger and better projects!
Sales Ninja can help to push for more sales, generate more leads and maintain professionalism without resorting to underhanded tactics.
Click HERE to contact us and our Senior Solutions Manager will contact you with a fully customized solution.
