Sales Training Tip: Getting What You Want From Your Sales Related Meetings Through Effective Negotiation Techniques

In Sales training programmes, negotiation skills are often missed altogether. One might say that the reason most of us feel the need to negotiate with anyone else is so that we can find a way to get what we need. Being human, we all believe that our opinion is very important and that others should at least think about seeing things our way. If you had no desires or needs, there would be little reason for you to enter in into negotiations with others.

If sales courses don't always teach persuasion skills, how then can you convince other people to favourably consider your proposals?

Believe it or not, there is a science backed up by more than 60 years of research that has informed our understanding of the use of persuasion to meet our needs and wants in sales negotiation. The world's foremost expert on the science of persuasion, Dr Robert Cialdini, has discovered 6 principles of persuasive communication in his investigative efforts:

Reciprocation
Liking
Commitment & Consistency
Authority
Scarcity
Social Proof

Whilst persuasion will always be somewhat of an art, it is incredibly helpful to use the power of the 6 principles identified by scientific research to optimise your odds of influencing others to give you what you really want.

Let's start by examining at what I believe to be the most important principle from a negotiation viewpoint - reciprocation.

Reciprocation means that we return to others the same behaviour that they exhibit towards us. If you have helped me, then I should do you a favour. If you invite me to your birthday party, then I should invite you to my birthday party. If you make a concession to me, then I should make a concession to you.

So what does this mean to you and how can you deploy it to get what you need?

Here's how:

Ensure that when you negotiate you ask for a little more than you would like to receive.

Let's say you are trying to sell a widget and you are planning to receive $ 100 for the widget.

If you want to use the principle of reciprocation, then you should start by asking for a little more - let's say by requesting $ 105.

If your counterparty does not agree to paying you $ 105 for the widget, then you can make a concession by discounting your required price to $ 100 in return for your counterparty also making a concession to you. A concession that your counterparty could make in this case could be to pay you cash on the spot or to facilitate shipping etc.

The key is for you to offer the concession - don't wait for your counterparty to make a concession. Just make sure that you use the word 'if' when you offer your concession:

"If you are prepared to hand over the cash right now, then I will reduce the price from $ 105 to $ 100". This way you give an indication to your counterparty that you are willing to be flexible and you will now significantly enhance the likeliness of them also being flexible and offering a concession in return.

Just be sure to use this principle 'in the moment' whilst you are negotiating. If you walked away from a negotiation to reconsider your proposal, your counterparty will be more likely to regard your revised offer as a new proposal, not as a concession.