The essential guide to commercial negotiation
At the heart of sales techniques, commercial negotiation is a key skill, a crucial moment in the sales interview. The seller must know the keys to successfully negotiate in a subtle manner. Indeed, it is a high-flying art. Professional negotiations are all the more stressful as the stakes are often high.
What is commercial negotiation?
Commercial negotiation is a process based on communication. It occurs at the end of the sales phase and consists of concluding a commercial agreement between several parties, the one who sells the product or service and the one who buys it. We also talk about commercial maintenance.
To close a sale, the salesperson must master certain negotiation skills .
The foundations of negotiation are based on communication and exchange. A good negotiator will therefore develop listening skills. He will listen to the buyer, let him express himself to better identify his needs and create a relationship of trust. Negotiation should under no circumstances be approached head-on. This active listening will then allow him to adapt his questions.
To meet the expectations of his clients, the negotiator must be creative. He builds an offer adapted to the needs of his client by taking a step back from preconceived ideas and packages that are already formalized and not personalized.
The commercial negotiator must know how to bounce back from situations that seem inextricable, and be resilient. He will face objections that will have to be transformed into opportunities. It will therefore also be necessary to demonstrate persistence and not give up at the customer’s first objection. The job of negotiator requires self-confidence, patience and perseverance.
Once the customer objectives are known, the salesperson must determine their own objectives. They must be realistic to be able to convince. It is then based on the study of the competition and takes into account the financial means of the prospect. The seller also provides room for maneuver. Depending on the objectives of both parties, the negotiator must determine the concessions he is authorized to make and the acceptable limits. The seller must aim for a fair compromise, which lies between his wishes and those of the buyer.
The seller must then prepare their sales pitch . This argument takes into account all the information collected during preparation. The seller can write a few powerful sentences as well as the Unique Selling Proposition of his offer. To consolidate his argument, the seller can compile documents on which to rely during the negotiation phase such as graphs, customer testimonials or technical diagrams.
This phase of preparation of the commercial negotiation allows you to structure your responses to possible objections. And rare are the negotiations without objections from the client! The seller may face a tactical objection. By using this type of objection, professional buyers want to get the seller to negotiate prices, quantities or deadlines. The commercial negotiation can then tend towards a mutual concession to obtain a win-win agreement for both parties.
The seller may also face so-called false beard or procrastination objections. The objection then has nothing to do with the product. The interlocutor may simply lack time. He refuses discussion, at least immediately.
The prospect may also have objections based on the product, a questioning of the offer. He may not have seen the benefit of the offer, may still have fears or have a negative experience.
The BATNA method , or MESORE (BEST RECHANGE/REPLI SOLUTION) in French, allows you to exit a commercial negotiation while always being a winner. It is a negotiation technique that allows you to provide a fallback solution in the event of a difficult negotiation.
Use the QQOQCP method
The QQOQCP method is based on a series of questions: What? Who ? Or ? When ? How ? For what ? This method applies to different fields, but is widely used in the commercial negotiation process. These open questions allow us to gather information to understand a given situation. The seller can then plan his argument to convince his interlocutor and offer him the product or service best suited to his needs.
Determine the prospect’s purchasing motivations
A purchasing motivation is an often subjective reason that pushes the consumer to make a purchase. The seller must determine what his customer’s purchasing motivations are: hedonistic motivation for a customer who wishes to please himself, oblative motivation for one who wishes to please another person. The negotiator can also rely on SONCAS motivations: Security, Pride, Novelty, Comfort, Money, Sympathy. Purchasing motivations allow you to refine your strategy and your sales pitch to better convince your interlocutor.
Write your Unique Selling Proposition
The USP, Unique Selling Proposition , allows the seller to stand out from the competition. In French, we speak of “ Unique sales proposition ” . More than a slogan, the “ Unique Sales Proposition ” must bring out the best asset of the product, its added value, in a short and impactful message. The brand may already have established a USP that the seller will appropriate during the commercial negotiation. If this is not the case, the seller must define it and use it to anchor his product in the mind of his customer.
Know commercial catchphrases
During a commercial negotiation, the first minutes are decisive in securing a sale or an appointment. This phase allows the seller to build trust and create interest in their offer, which corresponds to 50% of the negotiation phase. The seller must therefore choose his commercial catchphrases carefully to achieve his objective. It is then appropriate to find out about the uses, the formulas to avoid and those to favor.
