In
a sales negotiation, should you ever give away something for nothing…or
something for free?
Our
advice - Don’t ever give away something for nothing. It would be like agreeing
with the buyer that your product/service was priced incorrectly from the start
or that even you, as the seller, consider its value negotiable. But something
for free? That is a bit more complex.
In
our sales negotiation training, we focus on selling value in order to overcome
the frequent tugs-of-war over cost that negotiations can otherwise become. Once
you have your buyer persuaded of the value of your offering, there are many
other possible points of give-and-take.
Consider
the situation where your buyer’s hands are tied by budget and there is
absolutely no wiggle room. You have a choice to make. Do you walk away from the
deal or do you look at ways to structure the deal differently? Perhaps you can
set up a payment schedule…or the buyer can introduce you to other qualified
opportunities in exchange for a discount…or you can phase in the program bit by
bit.
In
all of these situations, you have not given away something for free…you have
received something of value (ideally equal value) in return.
Always
seek to maintain a balanced, and thus potentially long-term, relationship with
your customers.
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