Sharpening Your Sales and Negotiation Tactics
Negotiation skills are the foundation of successful sales relationships. When used in the right way, they earn buyers trust and respect for future purchases and referrals.
Some of these skills will require practice, but mastering them will pay off in the long run. Here are five of them to get you started:
Patience
The ability to patiently wait for something without becoming irritated or bored is an important skill in sales and negotiation. It helps you develop trust with your customers, which is essential for building a successful business relationship.
Patience is also a valuable skill for managing stress and improving your overall well-being. Chronic stress has detrimental effects on your mental health and can cause headaches, acne breakouts, ulcers, and more.
When dealing with stressful situations, you can cultivate patience by being mindful of your surroundings and focusing on what matters most. It can also help you feel grateful for what you have, which leads to greater levels of optimism and positivity.
Patience is a trait that can be developed throughout your life and can be an invaluable asset in a fast-paced, on-demand world. While the expansion of instant gratification may seem like a threat to the virtue of patience, studies have shown that people who have a high level of patience tend to achieve their goals more often and experience more satisfaction in the process.
Self-control
Having self-control is an important skill for salespeople. It allows them to regulate their impulses, avoid temptation, and achieve their goals. It also helps them avoid negative consequences.
Self-control involves the ability to delay immediate gratification for a larger reward later in time (Ainslie, 1975; Mischel et al., 1989; Kirby and Herrnstein, 1995). It is a crucial skill for making healthy choices.
It can also be difficult to resist temptation, especially in situations where the rewards are small or the costs are high. However, you can improve your self-control skills by practicing, avoiding temptations, and planning.
Self-control is a complex skill that takes practice and can be challenging for some people. Those who rely more on feelings than reason when making decisions are often less satisfied with their efforts to exert self-control.
Active listening
Active listening is a skill that can lead to more effective sales and negotiation interactions. It helps uncover buyers’ needs, build trust, and close deals faster.
Listening with an open mind can also help you discover new perspectives, ideas, and potential solutions for problems. It can de-escalate tense situations, improve morale, and foster relationships with others.
You can also demonstrate that you are actively listening by maintaining eye contact and nodding when a prospect is speaking to you. This shows them that you understand what they are saying and are taking it seriously.
Another sign that you are listening is if you automatically reflect or mirror their facial expressions when they talk to you (Robertson, 2005). This can show sympathy and empathy in more emotional conversations.
Competing negotiation style
The negotiation style you choose can have a major impact on the outcome of a sales and negotiation. In fact, it can be the difference between a deadlock and success.
Competing negotiators tend to be assertive and self-confident and are concerned with getting their own way and achieving results. In the extreme, they can be aggressive and domineering.
Accommodating negotiators focus on building a relationship and maintaining a good rapport. They may sacrifice some of their company’s interests in exchange for a more friendly rapport with the other party.
These negotiation styles are usually used by inexperienced negotiators who believe it is the only viable style or who have had successful outcomes with this method in the past. However, this style can be expensive and time-consuming and can lead to a deadlock.