How are you dealing with negotiations in your business, are your negotiation strategies or tactics working well for you? Either you are a startup entrepreneur or you have been doing your business for a while but your main priority to succeed is to learn how you can keep your existing customers to you and how you will attract new ones.
But unfortunately, a lot of self-acclaimed entrepreneurs outside there have to chase their customers (Both present and future) away due to bad negotiations skill.
Top 10 Effective Negotiations Strategies or Tactics for Business Owners
Be Patient and Listen:
As an entrepreneur, one of the best skills you must have is how to avoid “Impatience”. Before a successful business negotiation, you as either buyer or seller must have the ability to exercise patience and understand the views of the other party about what you are bargaining on.
You don’t need to speak everything in your mind out or think that you want to take over the dialogue between you guys. To be a smart entrepreneur and of course, the best negotiator, you should at first understand your clients’ main and most genuine ideas and issues. After that, think well and more than twice before you reply to him/her.
One of the best keys to a successful business is the ability to understand what will impress your customers and what may also depress them and abstain from being talkative.
Have Full Preparation:
Before you fix a day for negotiation with a client, you must have done a lot of research about such a client, and know about the genesis and policy of his/her business, products, or services.
Check articles on their website, do Google searches and also explore more about the business on LinkedIn. Also, make sure you know the negotiation strategies including pricing from the client you want to negotiate with.
Be Professional:
When you are negotiating with a client, you need to use your brain! Even if you don’t know much about the business you are negotiating on, you should think “head”, not stomach.
This is what I mean, don’t think of the money you needed quickly, don’t think that because you own someone a debt and because of these, you exchanged your right to be wrong and vice versa.
Just like the short story of a man I gave above, you need to always act like a professional and negotiate like a professional. Don’t insult or snub your client if the price or budget he gave to you is far below how much you are offering your services or selling your products.
Document:
To back your professionalism as a good negotiator, you or your lawyer should have first prepared the agreement paper or draft of the contract you guys want to negotiate on.
The reason for this is that in the agreement paper you prepared, you would have stated the policies and terms you want in the business, draft out how the deal should be implemented, etc. By doing this, you have strengthened yourself because most clients will feel reluctant to change all that you have prepared in the agreement paper or draft.
But, you must be careful and don’t think of only what will benefit you; think of the other party and how you can both gain in the transaction.
Don’t Force Your “NO” to be “YES”:
It does happen most time that prospective clients who we called or approached for a deal often bring up a very low budget for the product or project they needed. If this happens to you, think ahead and don’t pay attention to what your stomach is saying.
I mean, you should just say NO to what you can’t handle or can’t accept. Be prepared to walk away and end the game when the client insisted on paying a walk-away price.
Don’t do your business like a beggar or cheap one, a business website advised that you should be ready with market data to back up why your price is reasonable as this will even increase your ego as a smart entrepreneur.
Remember That Time Flies Quickly:
In any negotiation, time management is very essential because the more you delay the deal to be completed, the more your chances of losing. Always stay focused on the clients you are negotiating with and do give quick responses.
Managing your time is different from keeping the negotiation in haste or trying to rush because you have other clients to attend to. But nevertheless, you must understand why time is precious and at the same time, how to manage your time wisely because time is the enemy of many deals.
Don’t Make The First offer An Opportunity:
Added to the fact that you should be professional and act like a professional when you are negotiating with a client, don’t think or feel happy whenever the customer brings up a certain amount of money or budget in exchange for your service or product.
Even if the first offer is okay, don’t accept it. Negotiate more and try to convince the client to pay more (or give you a discount if you are the buyer).
If you accept the first offer, the other party will think they have offered you more than enough and, they may stop the negotiation with you and try another client whose they think that price will be cheaper than yours.
If you bargain more on the price and you agreed on a balanced price, the transaction will be done smoothly without any side inconvenience.
Be Inquisitive:
Have you ever heard of an adage that says, ”the child that inquires for the way will never get lost”? This adage also works well when you are negotiating with a client. If you are the type who believed that you know and understand it all, you will finally end up with a deal that will or may affect you financially or professionally.
Always ask what you don’t understand and the answers may be your pathfinder to this zenith of your negotiation.
Other Points Are:
(9) Be friendly and don’t be harsh
(10) Seek help when you need it either from a friend who understands your business or a corporate lawyer.
