What do you do if you want to demonstrate your negotiation and deal-closing skills during an interview?

1 Share Stories

In your interview, share specific stories that highlight your negotiation prowess and deal-closing capabilities. Choose anecdotes that showcase how you overcame obstacles, negotiated favorable terms, or closed a challenging deal. Make sure these stories have a clear beginning, middle, and end, and focus on the actions you took and the results you achieved. This narrative approach allows interviewers to envision you in action and understand the value you could bring to their team.

2 Emphasize Preparation

Demonstrating that you come to negotiations well-prepared is a subtle way to show your expertise. Discuss how you research clients, understand their needs, and anticipate objections. Explain how this preparation leads to successful outcomes and how you would apply these strategies in the role you're interviewing for. Preparation is key in negotiations, and showing that you are thorough can impress potential employers.

3 Highlight Adaptability

Negotiation and deal-closing often require quick thinking and adaptability. Illustrate your ability to think on your feet by discussing times when you had to pivot your strategy mid-negotiation. Describe how you read the situation, adapted your approach, and still emerged with a successful deal. This will show employers that you're not just following a script but are truly engaging with the negotiation process.

4 Discuss Results

Quantifying your successes can be powerful—talk about the deals you've closed and the benefits they brought to your previous employers. While you can't share exact numbers or confidential details, you can discuss percentages of growth, customer retention rates, or general improvements in sales figures. These results speak volumes about your capabilities and help interviewers gauge your potential impact on their business.

5 Reflect Confidence

Your demeanor during the interview can reflect your negotiation skills. Approach the interview with confidence, practice active listening, and respond thoughtfully to questions. This mirrors the confidence required in negotiations and can give interviewers a direct sense of your interpersonal skills. Remember, the interview itself is a form of negotiation where you're selling your most valuable product—yourself.

6 Ask Insightful Questions

Finally, asking insightful questions can demonstrate your strategic thinking and understanding of the negotiation process. Inquire about challenges the company faces, their negotiation strategies, or how they measure success in deals. This shows you're already thinking about how you can contribute to their success and that you view negotiations as a collaborative process.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?