Fake Money Blog

Sales negotiation is a difficult art. Most people mistakenly think that it revolves around price offers and price discounts. As Sun Tzu said:

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred sales meetings.

Well he didn’t say it exactly like that, but close enough. Every sales person knows the inner self - just someone is afraid to accept who they are. That only leaves the prospect - and boy do many fail on this one - we just have no clue about the customer.

Joe had a dream, a dream sweet as corn, which he grew on his 12 acres. Joe had a daughter. She wanted to see the world and one day she left.

WHAT THESE HAVE IN COMMON?
Yes, indeed, what do these two statements have in common? Well, if a salesman doesn’t understand the prospect or even a long term customer it is probable they focus on the price. They presume that they know what customer wants and it is exactly what is on the table. What is missing on the table is money. Money to the table!

WANTING THE MONEY
The need for money makes sales people focus on money. You will disregard every other aspect of the product like they wouldn’t matter for the customer. So you talk about the money and then you talk about the discount and then you give away more and more - you wanker.

SELL HARD
With hard selling I am not referring to pushing the product down their throats. Instead I use it to show that you need to draw a line, which you are not to cross. Try it sometime. Have a week when you don’t give any discount or a week when you don’t promise any time for them to “think it over”.

SOFT SELL
Here you shouldn’t go out on a limb, just try out something that you haven’t tried. Offer something extra, flatter your customers or offer them some complementary service, maybe you present the amazing amount of information. Anyway this is something that you can use to entice the prospect.

HARD AND SOFT
This is not a Chinese dish. This is were you start to make stellar sales. You set the most important thing that you have to maintain - the hard sell. Let’s say that would be the price. Never give in with the price, no matter what they promise. This will give credibility to your price claim. Howeve, if you don’t know your customer this would be your only option. They ask for discount, you say no way and they say goodbye.

This is the moment to pull out the soft sell. When your hard sell topic comes up, you resort to your soft sell tactics. This will distract the customer and you keep your sales options open. If you don’t know your customer, you don’t know what kind of soft sell will work. Try something and if it doesn’t work then try something else. Never surrender your hard sell though. Mix them up and see your sales climb.

RESOURCES
This post is part of Small and Home Business Blog Carnival