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How many times have you heard:

• “You’ve got to drop your price by 10% or we will have no choice but to go with your competition.”
• “You will have to make an exception to your policy if you want our business.”
• “I know that you have good quality and service, but so do your competitors. What we need to focus on here is your pricing.”
• “I agree that those special services you keep bringing up would be nice, but we simply don’t have the funds to purchase them. Could you include them at no additional cost?”

Every time you hear statements like these, you’re in the middle of a difficult sales negotiation. How you handle that negotiation will determine whether or not you close the sale and how profitable that sale will be. In order to give you a real edge every time, I have listed below some key points taken from my sales negotiation training seminar.

Don’t Believe Everything You See and Hear

Part of a good salesperson’s skill is to learn to read people and situations very quickly. However, when it gets down to negotiating, you have to take everything you see and hear with a grain of salt. Buyers are good negotiators, and thus they are good actors. You may be the only person who has what she needs, but everything she does and says, from body language to the words she uses, will be designed to lead you to believe that unless she gets an extra 10% off, she’s going with the competition. Be skeptical. Be suspicious. Test, probe, and see what happens.

Don’t Offer Your Bottom Line Early in the Negotiation

How many times have you been asked to “give me your best price”? Have you ever given your best price only to discover that the buyer still wanted more? You have to play the game. It’s expected. If you could drop your price by 10%, start out with 0%, or 2%, or 4%. Leave yourself room to negotiate some more. Who knows – you may get it for a 2% reduction. You might have to go all the way to 10%, but often you won’t. A little stubbornness pays big dividends.

Get Something in Return for Your Added Value

What if you discover that the buyer wants to be able to track his expenditures for your products or services in a way that is far more detailed and complex than is standard for your industry? What if your account tracking system is set up in a way that you can provide that information at essentially no cost to you? Often the salesperson’s overwhelming temptation is to jump in and say, “Oh, we can do that. That’s no problem.” Before you do, however, think about your options. You could throw it in as part of the package and try to build good will. Or you could take a deep breath and try something like, “That’s a difficult problem that will require some effort on our part, but it’s doable.”

In the second case, without committing, you’ve told the buyer it is possible. You may not be able to get him to pay extra for it but you may be able to use it as a bargaining chip in resisting price concessions. Which way you choose to go will depend on who your customer is and on the situation. However, you do have options.

Sell and Negotiate Simultaneously

Think of selling and negotiating as two sides of the same coin. Sometimes one side is face up, and sometimes the other side, but they are always both there. This is particularly true in your earliest contacts with the buyer. The face the buyer sees is that of a salesperson demonstrating features and benefits. The hidden face is that of a negotiator probing and seeking out information that may be invaluable later should issues like price, terms, quality, delivery, etc. have to be negotiated.

Be Patient

Finally, and most important, be patient. Sales is a high energy, fast moving business. Patience is one commodity that is in relatively short supply, but if you’re impatient in a negotiation, you’ll lose your shirt. If I’m negotiating with you and I know that you’re impatient, I will hold out just a little longer, no matter how desperate I am to make a deal with you. As long as I know you’re in a hurry, I’ll wait.

So be patient. Take the time that you need, don’t rush to give in, don’t show your anxiety, stay cool and don’t panic. Negotiation is a process and a game. Use the process and play the game. You’ll be astonished at the difference that it makes!

(c) Michael Schatzki – 2004. All rights reserved.

When we are asked to give a presentation — a keynote, a workshop, a sales presentation, or lead a meeting — one of our primary goals is to influence our listeners in some way. What are the tools, methods, attributes and attitudes that will help us to become powerful, influential presenters?

Have Passion for Your Topic If You Hope to Influence.

• I have talked about having a passion for your topic before, but I feel it can’t be said enough. If we don’t care about our topics, how can we ever expect to influence others? Last year I attended a Security Summit intended for technology types. However, the presenter who was the most passionate and frightened me the most wasn’t a “techie” at all.
• He was a passionate writer and speaker about airline security. He started by pointing out that security strategy isn’t any different from computer technology security. By showing the similarities of approaches and the need to think backward, “with the mind of a terrorist,” he showed clearly that “security is security” and the more secure we think we are by creating additional layers of security, we aren’t becoming safer.
• Before you accept a presentation assignment, be truthful about your passion or lack of passion for the topic or the product. You may be able to entertain the listeners, but without passion, you will never be able to influence them.

Make Use of Dynamic Examples for Influence

At the Security Summit, the most dynamic example was as unnerving, and yet as easy to follow as an example could be. The security guru for airline safety talked about all of the new layers of safety measures that have been initiated since 9/11 — the airport check-through lines, the undercover agents on the planes, the pilot’s gun and the heavy security door to the cockpit that is bullet proof and locks from within the cockpit.

He then walked out of the room, closed the door and proceeded to knock on it, until someone let him back in (people assumed that the door had locked him out). He then asked how many in the room had flown recently and had noticed that the heavy security door was open throughout the flight, or had been opened for the pilot to use the restroom at the back of the plane.

He illustrated that in this situation we have made it easy for the terrorists. Now only one — not three — terrorist sitting toward the front of the plane who is quick and trained in the martial arts can dash through the open door, shut it to everyone else, surprise and overwhelm the pilot, take his gun, shoot those in the cockpit, and he is clear to fly the plane into any building he wishes. Were we all influenced by this demonstration? You bet.

You see, as long as you’re passionate about your topic and your examples are dramatic, you will be remembered as an influential presenter.

Visual aids and props can go a long way in lending interest and depth to your presentation. Many people are highly visual in nature. “Did you see that!” Audiences tend to remember visually presented information more clearly and in more detail. If you’re still a bit nervous, a small “prop” will help you to keep your hands “busy”, so you can avoid a number of unconscious “nervous habits”. Some props and visual aids I’ve found useful during my presentations include these items.

Small stuffed animals

I’ve used “Winnie the Pooh”, “Tigger” and “Piglet” on more occasions than I can count. I also have successfully used “generic” stuffed rabbits, frogs, puppies and mice. Be creative and imaginative in coming up with ways to use them to help make your point and your audiences will eat it up.

Hand outs

Hand outs are still an effective means of keeping your audience in tow. Use them to reinforce your main points, as an outline for your audience to follow your presentation and as additional information they can take away. If you have additional services or a product to offer, be sure to include a flyer as part of your handout package. I’ve actually had seminar attendees almost literally fight over handouts, climbing over one another in their quest to get the handout package.

Photographs

Photographs make great visual aids – When I recently gave presentations to group of fellow teachers, I included slides which not only quoted some of them but used a photo of them as well. In another presentation, I used a collage of photos to illustrate the upcoming themes and topics of my presentation. One of my most memorable “Thank You for attending” slides featured a collage of photos I’d taken previously of persons who were in the audience. Needless to say, it went over quite well.

Charts and graphs

Charts and graphs put verbal information into a visual form that is much more easily digested and remembered by audiences. They can also add a more colorful dimension to your presentation statistics and key facts.

Demonstrations

By all means don’t miss an opportunity to include a short demonstration in your presentation. Use volunteers from the audience, mini-competitions, etc. to deeply involve attendees of your presentation. It’ll be all the more memorable not only for them, but for their fellow attendees as well. Have them give a brief comment, relate an experience or offer up a relevant anecdote during your presentation. Ask for volunteers, “Has anyone had an experience with …” or “Has this ever happened to anyone here?” I always get at least a couple of eager volunteers. They sure can liven things up.

Video

Video is a marvelous tool that is being included more and more into all kinds of presentations. Digital video clips needn’t be lengthy or excessively large and can be inserted into a Power Point slide. These include full color, motion and sound to introduce, illustrate or deepen a key point. Their use should be controlled if not limited as they can cause “technical problems” if the equipment you’re using isn’t yours. A differently configured computer can wreak havoc on your carefully crafted presentation.

Don’t leave out sound

Don’t leave out sound in your presentations either. Some ideas include using a bell, whistle, rattle, Kazoo, slide whistle, flute, rhythm sticks or some other little noise maker. Leave the Klaxon horns and foghorns for New Year’s Eve. Sound can be used as prompts for attention-getting, cueing slides or activities or audience participation – “Now at the sound of the bell, everybody say …

Use more audio visual aids and props in your presentations. You too will then have more attendees approaching after your presentation to shake your hand and say, “Thanks, I really enjoyed your presentation.”