Sales Negotiation

Written by on August 11, 2008
Categories: Success Thinking

Posted by: Paul Stanford

 

The right to remain silent

OK I want to tell you about one of the most important sales techniques that I learnt many years ago in my sales career which has served me well for many sales situations.

 

Most sales people make the mistake of talking, talking, talking and then talking some more. They tend to be very good at talking but very poor at listening. A good test for any salesperson is to stop and think am I doing too much talking and not enough listening? A good reference for this is to remember that we have two ears and one mouth – the benchmark being that sales people should be using them in that ratio!

 

But that’s not what I really want to tell you about. The piece I wanted to write about is the negotiation phase of any sale. That’s one of the hardest stages for sales people to get right and the temptation for the salesperson is to keep on talking as he/she gets more anxious and nervous inside waiting for the client to say yes and place an order. So when you get to the stage of asking for the order the one thing all sales people need to do is to be silent and to remain silent until the client speaks. It can seem like an eternity (but it is never as long as it feels) and it is a true test of nerves but once you try it a few times you get used to it and it is one of the most powerful pieces of sales negotiation advice that sales people can ever learn. So remember no matter how tempted you feel – do not say anything…nothing at all…not even a polite what do you think or can I explain more or anything..zilch, nothing, dead silence OK? I hope that by now you will have got this message and enjoy practising using it. Just see how effective it is. It gives you the salesperson back control of the negotiation.

 

So remember your right as a salesperson to remain silent and the power that remaining silent gives you and your order book!

 

Paul Stanford is a Director of 4Momentum http://www.4momentum.co.uk. 4Momentum provides business advisory services to small businesses, charities and social enterprises primarily in Sussex. Services include advice on starting a business, growing and transforming a business and selling a business. Clients typically contract 4Momentum for short periods of an hour to long term consultancy over many months for advice on subjects such as mentoring, business planning, sales and marketing advice, bidding for contracts, raising finance and general business advice. Paul is approved by the UK Government to deliver business advice on their behalf through Business Link and is a member of the Institute of Business Consultants. Visit his blog at http://www.paulstanford.co.uk/blog

Copyright 2008 Paul Stanford

 

 

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