Negotiating with Backbone: Eight Sales Strategies to Defend Your Price and Value

Negotiating with Backbone: Eight Sales Strategies to Defend Your Price and Value

by Reed K. Holden
Released May 2012
Publisher(s): Pearson
ISBN: 9780133064773

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Book description

Sales professionals now confront the most serious threat to their success. Regardless of their size, industry, country, customer type, nature of the relationship or amount of value they provide, sales professionals are finding that purchasing decisions are increasingly being limited by procurement. The modern procurement function is purchasing on steroids. Where traditional purchasing managers negotiated, procurement officials attempt to dictate.  Procurement deploys a variety of tactics designed to do one thing: gain unprecedented discounts and concessions out of even the most sophisticated sales professionals.  This book is a strategy guide for salespeople to help them level the procurement playing field by showing readers how to assess the game procurement plays, describing proven ways to resist discounting and protect margins, demonstrating ways to keep value at the forefront of negotiations, offering targeted tactics to protect hard-earned profits from mindless discounting, and detailing eight strategies effective in any type of pricing negotiation.  This book will be an invaluable resource for B2B sales professionals, customer-facing professionals, and executives responsible for leading successful sales organizations.

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication page
  4. Contents
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. About the Author
  7. Introduction
    1. It’s Not Just Academic
  8. Part I. The Great Game of Procurement
    1. 1. Tough Selling—The New Normal
      1. Company-Supported Sales Traps to Avoid
    2. 2. The Tells of the Game
      1. Recognizing “Tells”
      2. Evaluating Procurement’s Position
      3. Dealing with Procurement Styles
    3. 3. Stacking the Deck in Your Favor
      1. Understanding Your Customer’s Game
      2. Finding Your Hidden Power
      3. Limiting Exposure of Senior Executives
      4. Firing the Customer
      5. Avoiding the Endowment Effect
      6. Customer Games
    4. 4. Getting the Tactics Right the First Time
      1. Qualify, Qualify, Qualify
      2. Understand Your Foundation of Value
      3. Develop Give-Get Options
      4. Map the Buying Center
      5. Where Appropriate, Build Trust
      6. Use the Policy Ploy
      7. Delay, Delay, Delay
      8. Redefine Risk
      9. Dealing with Reverse Auctions
      10. Do Your Homework
  9. Part II. Eight Knock-’em-Dead Scenarios for Winning the Game
    1. Seller’s Position
    2. 5. Negotiating with Price Buyers
      1. Price Buyers
      2. Scenario 1: The Penny Pincher
      3. Scenario 2: The Scout
    3. 6. Negotiating with Relationship Buyers
      1. Relationship Buyers
      2. Scenario 3: In the Pack
      3. Scenario 4: The Patient Outsider
    4. 7. Negotiating with Value Buyers
      1. Value Buyers
      2. Scenario 5: The Player
      3. Scenario 6: The Crafty Outsider
    5. 8. Negotiating with Poker Players
      1. Poker Players
      2. Scenario 7: The Advantaged Player
      3. Scenario 8: The Rabbit
      4. Advanced Gamesmanship
  10. Part III. It’s a Negotiation, Not a Surrender
    1. 9. Beware the Signs of a Losing Game
      1. Don’t Kid Yourself
      2. Get a Devil’s Advocate
      3. Beware Red Flags
    2. 10. The Realities of the Game
      1. Sometimes You Have to Discount
      2. Remember a Simple Checklist
      3. Develop Your Playbook
      4. Don’t Be a Victim
      5. Get Some Backbone
  11. Index
  12. FT Press

Product information

  • Title: Negotiating with Backbone: Eight Sales Strategies to Defend Your Price and Value
  • Author(s): Reed K. Holden
  • Release date: May 2012
  • Publisher(s): Pearson
  • ISBN: 9780133064773