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32A Seat at the Table

Let’s take a moment a review what we’ve learned so far about sales negotiations.

• Sales negotiations are different from other forms of negotiation.
• It is in your best interest to master sales-specific negotiation skills.
• You must win first and then negotiate.
• If you make concessions when you have not been implicitly or explicitly selected as the vendor of choice (VOC), you are negotiating with yourself.
• Sales negotiation is about winning for your team while minimizing resentment at the same time; in sales, relationships matter.
• Motivation, leverage, and power position form the chess board of sales negotiation.
• Buyers almost always begin with a stronger power position than sellers.
• Leverage lets you shape buyer behaviors, and you must never give it away for free.
• Power at the negotiation table is derived from alternatives.
• Sales process excellence and effective discovery improve your power position.
• You must master your emotions in order to master sales negotiation.
• The more you need the deal, the more you will give away to get it.
• A full pipeline lowers your desire to make concessions and gives you greater emotional self-control.
• In every sales negotiation conversation, the person who exerts the greatest emotional control has the highest probability of achieving their desired outcome.
• Emotions are contagious, and people respond in kind.
• The most powerful negotiating position is relaxed, assertive confidence.
• Sales negotiation planning prepares you mentally ...