Looking to close more deals and master the art of negotiation? Aren’t we all. By practicing these twelve tips and tricks, you’ll be upping your sales in no time. And if you have an epic call recording software like tl;dv, you can improve even more in even less time.
We’ll cover the twelve things you should be doing in every sales pitch, when to drop your price and how to realize you’re just shooting yourself in the foot, and most importantly, how video call recordings can be used to learn and grow to new heights.
The Art of Negotiation: 12 Tips and Tricks
1. Active Listening
Active listening should come as no surprise. If you want to negotiate the best deal, you’d best be listening deeply to what your prospect is telling you. Not only does it make them feel valued and respected, but they’ll trust you more. In turn, they’ll tell you more. With more information, you’re better suited to tailor your product to their needs.
We’ve written an entire article about how active learning can improve sales. It’s a topic that deserves a lot of time on its own. But it can (and should) be paired with the other tips and tricks in this list to turbocharge your negotiation skill so you can close more deals.
To improve your listening skills, use call recordings to analyze how well you listen to your prospect. Do you ever interrupt them? It should be a cardinal sin. Check for signs that the prospect has noticed your silence – they will often be appreciative.
2. Power of the Pause
Like active listening, mastering the pause deserves an entire article on its own. It’s such a simple thing but pausing – just giving space to your prospect – can be HUGE for gaining trust and respect. Not only is it an essential part of listening, it’s also a super power in its own right.
By pausing more and speaking less, you give your prospect ample time and space to say what’s on their mind. You can learn more about them and their problems and understand them on a deeper level. By doing this, you also give yourself more time to come up with a great response: one that doesn’t just pitch a product, but fits a solution to their problem in a jigsaw puzzle fashion.
To get better at pausing and giving your prospect more time, rewatch previous sales pitches by you or your team with tl;dv. You can skim over the transcript to know where to start, or you can set timestamps during the call to easily jump back to certain parts.
3. Prepare, Prepare Again, Then Prepare Some More
Preparation is key. Thoroughly research both the product or service you’re selling and the needs of the prospect. Anticipate potential objections and concerns, and prepare well-thought-out responses to address them. This preparation boosts your confidence and ability to navigate the negotiation smoothly.
There’s nothing better at helping you prepare for pitches than previous call recordings. This is particularly the case if you’re pitching to someone for a second, third, or fourth time. The information you carry with you to follow-ups is essential to making the sale and closing more deals.
4. Create Win-Win Situations
Everyone loves a win-win situation. That’s kinda the point. By focusing on solutions that benefit both parties, everyone goes home happy. A successful negotiation isn’t about one side winning and the other losing; it’s about finding common ground that satisfies both parties’ interests. This approach builds trust and paves the way for long-term relationships.
5. Cultivate Empathy
Empathy is felt when you deeply understand the prospect’s desires and pain points. You comprehend why they need a solution. It just so happens that you have that solution for sale. By matching your prospect’s energy level, pitching them the solution won’t feel like a business deal. It will feel like helping out a friend by offering them a win-win situation.
When you empathize with clients, they feel more trust and respect. You position yourself as somebody who cares rather than somebody trying to sell them stuff they don’t need. You understand what they’re going through because that’s why you built the solution (probably).
6. Set Clear Objectives
If you want your negotiations to go well so you close more deals, you need to have clear objectives before going into the pitch. A simple “close the deal” just won’t cut it. You need to know what to discuss, when to move on, when to prompt your prospect to expand on certain points, and when to move in for the kill. You also need to leave with a solid call to action (CTA) so that you are 100% aware of what’s going to happen next.
For example, you may want to secure the sale as the overall objective, but you should still consider the following:
- Specifics (define the terms of the contract clearly)
- Understand their needs (research the prospect’s business needs, pain points, and objections)
- Walk-away points (determine your walk-away points in advance, including your minimum acceptable price and any other deal-breaking terms)
- Concessions (identify areas where you’re willing to make exceptions to come to an agreement, as well as non-negotiable elements)
- Timeframe (include milestones such as initial discussions, project demo, and contract signing)
- Maximizing value (emphasize the value your solution will bring to the client including increased efficiency, cost savings, and competitive advantage)
- Anticipate objections (develop strategies to overcome anticipated objections)
- Feedback mechanism (establish a clear way to gather feedback and clarify any uncertainties throughout the negotiation)
7. Use Anchoring
The first offer will almost always be used as a reference point or anchor for the rest of the negotiations. Therefore, you’d better present the first offer or counteroffer strategically. This initial point can influence the entire negotiation. Aim to set an anchor that is favorable to your position, but also justifiable based on market conditions or other factors.
8. Build Rapport
There are plenty of successful sales techniques that will help you close more deals. Building rapport is one of the most important. Establishing a positive and respectful relationship with the other party can enhance the negotiation process. Small talk, finding common interests, and showing genuine curiosity about their perspective can help create a favorable atmosphere for collaboration.
To assist with this, check them out on LinkedIn before your call. See if you can find any common interests that you can use as icebreakers. If this is a follow-up call, use tl;dv to rewatch your previous call and check the AI-generated summary to refresh your memory.
9. Apply Time Pressure
Introduce a sense of urgency. Give your prospect a bomb with a timer on it. Convince them to act with haste – but maybe don’t give them an actual bomb or they might just run off to your less explosive competitor. If done the right amount, you can encourage the other party to make decisions and confessions more quickly.
This is something that can be practiced through watching call recordings of times where applying time pressure worked to your favor. You can also rewatch times where it backfired and harmed the relationship so that your sales team has a real experience to compare. It will help them fine-tune their approach and find the right balance on a prospect to prospect basis.
10. Mirroring
While words are important, body language is equally critical. In fact, 70% of communication is non-verbal. By subtly imitating a prospect’s body language, speech patterns, and communication style, you help to create a sense of connection. The other party naturally feels at ease (providing the imitation is, in fact, subtle – otherwise they’ll just be weirded out). Overall, successful mirroring makes the prospect more receptive and agreeable to your proposals.
This is another perfect thing to study with tl;dv’s call recordings. You can continuously learn from your past calls by rewatching the highlights and noticing things you never could’ve noticed during the call itself.
11. Framing and Reframing
Always present your points in a way that highlights the benefits and positive aspects. If objections arise, it’s time to reframe them as opportunities for mutual gain. Don’t butt in to make your point though. Let the prospect tell you why they have concerns, let them speak, and then show that you’ve understood before countering it. This can shift the perspective from adversarial to collaborative.
12. Walk Away
Know when to walk away. Sometimes, being willing to walk away from a negotiation can give you an upper hand. This tactic shows that you have alternatives and aren’t desperate for a deal. You have your non-negotiables outlined in your plan and you aren’t prepared to make an exception under any circumstances.
However, use this cautiously. If the prospect is stubborn, or doesn’t understand the complete value of the offering, then negotiations may end prematurely. It’s an ultimatum. You have to be prepared to actually walk away if the prospect says OK.
When to Drop the Price and When It Will Backfire
Sometimes, it’s a good idea to lower the price to make the deal more agreeable to your prospect. Other times, it’s a very bad idea. Let’s find out why!
When It Might Be Appropriate to Drop the Price
When Facing Strong Competition
If your competitors are offering similar products or services at a lower price, you might get left behind. Your prospects can easily turn around and tell you they’re going to your competitors. Obviously, make sure you’re maintaining a reasonable profit margin, but it’s a wise idea to remain competitive.
When Demonstrating Flexibility
Offering a slight discount as a gesture of goodwill or flexibility can build rapport and encourage the other party to meet you halfway. This can be effective in nurturing long-term relationships. Retaining customers is one of the best marketing strategies after all.
When Dealing With High-Value Clients
For significant clients or projects, providing a price reduction can be a strategic move to secure a large deal or establish a prestigious client relationship. Essentially, you want to keep the high-value clients in your good books because they can provide a lot of income on their own. This is especially true if it’s a client that’s buying something in bulk.
When Clearing Inventory
If you have excess inventory that needs to be shifted quickly, a sale of sorts is a good way to do so. Don’t let the cat out of the bag. If you tell the prospect that you need to sell, it places all the power in their hands. You want to maintain power in the negotiation, but you also want to clear your stock and generate revenue.
When Dropping the Price Might Harm Your Position
Devaluing Your Offering
You don’t want to make your product or service seem worthless. If it’s on sale all the time, nobody is going to take it seriously. It will definitely lose its ‘premium’ value in the eyes of the customer. This can also negatively impact your brand’s perception over time. It’s the start of a slippery slope.
Setting a Precedent
Similarly, if you’re dropping your prices all the time, customers are going to expect discounts every time they negotiate with you. This is something you need to nip in the bud early. If it becomes the usual, there’s no escaping it. You give your power to the customer and have no leg to stand on. Not only does it eat away at your profitability, it makes future negotiations a real challenge.
Lowering Profit Margins
Aggressively dropping prices without considering your profit margins is a big mistake. Quite possibly one of the biggest you can make in sales. When you are barely making profit – or worse, a loss – it can hinder your ability to invest in product development, marketing, and customer support. Ultimately, it can be the end of your entire business.
Undermining Negotiation Credibility
If you frequently reduce prices during negotiations, you’re welcoming trouble. You might be seen as an easy target, reducing your credibility and making it harder to maintain firm pricing in future negotiations. It makes you appear desperate to sell, again placing the power in the hands of the buyer.
Mastering Your Technique with Video Call Recordings
We’ve already talked about the importance of having a wealth of video call recordings to learn from. You can rewatch bite-sized clips or highlight reels from several different recordings. By rewatching your own calls, you can identify areas to improve but also notice what you’re doing well and should keep up.
However, one other trick of call recordings is to watch the big boss. How does the CEO speak with their suppliers? By having access to this kind of talk, your salespeople can learn from the top dog. Hopefully, whoever is in contact with the supplier is also using call recordings to build stronger customer-supplier relationships.
By taking all the negotiating tips and tricks we’ve talked about here into account, you can watch high-value salespeople in your business make deals. Monitor their behaviors. What do they do well? How do the clients react? Do they mirror their body language or tone? Do they use power words? Do they have a good price as an anchor? And do they have a clear objective in mind? You’ll be able to watch the pitch as an observer, noting how to improve your own deal-closing game – which you can then review yourself too.
Close More Deals With tl;dv
Downloading tl;dv to help you close more deals is a no-brainer. Plus, it’s completely free to get started with and takes just a few minutes to get set up…
So what are you waiting for? Your negotiation skills aren’t going to improve if you can’t analyze them with confidence.
