Negotiations - Influence to Win
The business-to-business (B2B) sales negotiation is a conversation between a seller and a buyer to reach an agreement beneficial to both. To achieve a zone of potential agreement (ZOPA), both engage in multiple rounds of discussion. The back-and-forth nature of these discussions is driven to gain the upper hand over the other side by finding their reservation point (breaking point), BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement), and any helpful information that will assist in bargaining.
In sales, to influence and win negotiations, a lot of preparation is required. This includes collecting information about the other side's negotiation style, motivation, risks, BATNA, concession, reservation, and timing. Without preparation and gathering of this information, the chances of winning negotiations are minimal. Sometimes, even after gathering information and practice, negotiations can still be lost or suspended indefinitely because of changes in the political landscape, financial upheaval, change in priority, a pandemic outbreak, or other unseen factors.
The gathering of information and preparation for negotiations is time-consuming and is often challenging. Elements of nature and their attributes are applied to overcome this difficult task of preparing the groundwork for influencing and winning negotiations.
Let us explore how a seller or a buyer leverages elemental attributes learned in previous sections to position and influence their respective stakeholders with the intent to win.
Earth Natives Negotiation
Earth means Nurture, Clamness and Stability
Negotiation Behaviour
o they speak slowly with a deep voice
o they are good listeners and have a lot of patience
o fear of failure makes them hide information
o they lack transparency and principles
o often can be deceptive or employ dirty tricks like psychological warfare and pressure tactics
o they are sluggish in their responses and only respond when necessary
o they are accommodative and let others take control
Argument
o they are emotionless and have an advisory tone
o impresses upon care and nurture during the discussion
Motivation
o being lazy, they prefer that the status quo is not challenged
Concession
o being fixated, they are not open to making concessions easily
Reservation
o being secretive, they don't share their reservations easily or like to hide their reservations to use them later in the bargaining mix
Positioning
o they are driven by the status quo instead of being disruptive
Risk Appetite
o is moderate (ref: risk rating is 'moderate')
o hard to find gaps in their risk mitigation strategy, the opposite side will find it challenging to take advantage
Secrecy
o they are highly secretive
o they hide information and details
Information Gathering
o they are good at gathering information
o they rely on their friends or social circle
Preparation
o fear of failure drives them to prepare thoroughly; attention to detail is good
Objection Handling
o they are open to grievances and will listen patiently
o objection mitigation is primarily anchored at themes like delivery, reliability, care and nurturing
Time
o they are fixated on their anchoring, cherish long-drawn negotiations
o they use time as a means of bargaining
Comms Style
o they are slow in communication and respond at their own pace
o they are good listeners
o they are structured and semantically driven
o they speak with gravitas and purpose and carry a deep voice
BATNA
o they are secretive and don't open up in conversations
o they prefer to have alternatives or options
Price
Reservation and Target Price
their secretive nature makes it nearly impossible to know their price range or preference
they are good at disguising their intentions
Offers
they prefer multiple offers to negotiate, which keeps the other side guessing; it's a grind for the opposite side
fond of hoarding means bundling pricing with freebies will appeal to this type of buyer
Environment To Influence
o being lazy, they prefer an indoor environment or a place with a relaxed setting, like to have friends or supporters during the conversation, earthly natives prefer to hoard things so giving freebies (e.g., from marketing events) can assist in influencing
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