4 Expert Tips That'll Make You a Better Sales Negotiator

You’ve built a relationship with the buying committee. You nailed the demo. And you’ve overcome objections and shown why your solution is the best fit for their needs.

There’s only one last stage to a closed sale – the negotiation. What, ultimately, are the terms of the deal?

Here’s where many sellers go wrong. Negotiating is uncomfortable and many sellers are eager to just get the contract signed. But, by rushing through this stage, you could be:

• Leaving value on the table for the buyer.
• Leaving money on the table for yourself and your company.
• Potentially undoing all your hard work and putting a sour taste in the buyer’s mouth.
• Worst of all, signing up for something you can’t reasonably deliver.
• Some combination of those four.

The good news: you, as a seller, negotiate a lot. If you continue to grow at it, it can become an asset for you, instead of something you dread. Over time, your negotiations can help you maximize the value for the buyer, the deal for yourself, and even help you build more trust.

How? In her LinkedIn Learning course Sales Negotiations, longtime sales coach and LinkedIn Sales [In]sider Lisa Earle McLeod shares expert tips on handling sales negotiations.

Here’s what she has to say: 

First off, there are three types of sales negotiators. The one you want to be is pretty clear.

In her course, McLeod said there are three types of sales negotiators:

• The churn-and-burn seller: This seller will do anything for a close, including making empty promises and lowering prices. This type of seller uses high-pressure tactics to move the buyer toward a signed deal as fast as possible. 
• The in-it-to-win-it seller: These sellers are more polished than their churn-and-burn counterparts. They tend to emphasize how great the deal will be for the buyer. However, despite their smooth talking, buyers still feel pressured by this approach.
• The lasting value seller: This seller listens to the buyer and approaches the negotiation with a commitment to building value. They ask questions intending to use the buyer’s answers to make the deal more valuable for both sides. 

It’s easy to see which of the styles is most likely to lead to the best deal – but being seen as a lasting value seller means overcoming skepticism.

“You may want to be a lasting value win-win negotiator, but your buyer may assume you’re one of the other kinds and act accordingly,” said McLeod.

That’s because your buyer has heard many sellers talk about adding value while they were pressured to sign a deal before they were ready. To be seen as a lasting value seller, your words and actions must prove you indeed are.

“Your actions need to reflect positive intent early on, and you need to do it often,” added McLeod. “Don’t just think you’re there to make this a win for the buyer. Say it. Say it out loud – and mean it.”

What actions show that you mean it? McLeod highlighted four:

Sales Negotiation Tip #1: Dig deep to understand your customer’s goals.   

Here’s where it all starts. In the same way you can get anywhere without knowing your destination, you cannot negotiate effectively without knowing what your buyer sees as success.

“Helping your client reach their goal is your ultimate purpose,” said McLeod. “It’s the purpose of any negotiation. Because if you leave them with the feeling that their goals were met, you will ensure that the negotiations last.”

One way you can identify your customer’s goals and business objectives – and build your own value along the way – is by asking the right questions. McLeod suggests asking the following: 

• What’s the impact?
• What role does this play in the big picture?
• How does this fit into your priorities?
• How will this impact your colleagues and your team?

These questions help you understand the financial and non-financial impact of their challenges, allowing you to make a stronger pitch based on real value.

“The more clarity you have about your buyer’s goals early in the process, the better you’ll be at demonstrating value,” added McLeod.  

Sales Negotiation Tip #2: Embrace the uncertainty that comes with negotiations.  

Negotiating, fundamentally, is uncertain and therefore uncomfortable for most people, as human beings are simply not wired to like surprises.

“Uncertainty about the future can trigger your brain to go on high alert for a threat,” McLeod said. “When your brain thinks something is dangerous, and uncertainty feels dangerous, it limits your ability to focus on problem-solving or long-term thinking. Certainty feels stable and it feels secure, and human beings are hard-wired for certainty.”

That innate need for certainty can cause a seller to rush through the uncertainty of a negotiation on their way to the certainty of a signed deal. The result? More pressure on your buyer – and a limited ability to get creative.

To avoid that, know that negotiations will be uncomfortable and that your brain’s instinct is to push to close as quickly as possible. Ignore those urges and stay in the moment, as that uncertain environment is often the perfect incubator for a creative solution.

“Uncertainty is the linchpin of creativity,” said McLeod. “No matter how simple your product is, you always want to be creative with your buyer because you want to help them see multiple benefits.”

Uncertainty leads to creativity. Creativity leads to better value. And better value leads to long-term buyer/seller relationships.  

Sales Negotiation Tip #3: Know when not to negotiate.  

You have everything in place. The deal is all but signed, and you’re just waiting for the moment when you can run around your office, silently pumping your fist and acting like you just scored the game-winning goal in the World Cup.

Then your buyer decides it's time for another round of negotiation.  

Before you tip your desk over and toss all the paper in the air like the guy in the meme, take a breath.  

“There are three situations where you should never negotiate,” said McLeod.

• Do not negotiate when you aren’t dealing with the decision-maker. 
• Do not negotiate when your product or solution isn’t a clear fit. 
• Do not negotiate when you haven’t established value for the buyer. 

In the first scenario, McLeod advises sellers to ask who will be involved in the process early on, when the question runs less risk of offending your point of contact.

In the second scenario, the seller may have done a poor job of listening. There is a good chance the seller glossed over the buyer’s concerns while pursuing a closed deal. If sellers find themselves in this situation, McLeod recommends taking discussions of price and features off the table and reorienting the conversation around the buyer’s needs.

In the third scenario, the buyer may rush the seller toward a deal. While it might seem counterintuitive, this rush toward a deal on the buyer’s part can be its own negotiation tactic. By not allowing the seller the chance to build their case, the buyer increases the likelihood that they can drive down the price later in the negotiation. 

So when is the right time to negotiate?

“Only negotiate when you have the right person and the right value,” said McLeod. “If you do not have those things in place, you have more selling to do.”

Sales Negotiation Tip #4: Learn from the past by understanding why your deals fall apart at the end.  

Every seller has lost a deal they thought they were for-sure going to win. McLeod argues that when that happens, it’s usually the result of at least one of the following reasons:

• Smoke and mirrors: Your buyer never intended to purchase anything and may have just been leveraging a proposed deal with you to get better terms from their current supplier.
• The buyer is surprised: The seller may have forgotten – or neglected to inform – the buyer of a key provision in the deal. When that happens, your buyer can feel deceived, even when that wasn’t your intention. 
• The seller doesn’t ask for the close: This can occur when the seller turns away from a deal after the buyer asks for something they can’t deliver. However, we’ve all purchased something that wasn’t exactly what we wanted. If you’ve provided value, ask for the close. 
• No clear buyer: This scenario can occur when sellers deal with a committee, rather than a single buyer. And it is more likely to occur in a scenario where any member of the committee can veto the deal – but no one can approve it. One of the best strategies to prevent a deal from falling apart in a committee is to multithread the account and build relationships with multiple stakeholders. 
• No value: This one is on the seller. They simply haven’t built a compelling case for their solution.

“Go back and think about your failed deals,” McLeod said. “Look to see if there are patterns. The reality is that losing a deal isn’t fatal. It’s how you learn. Just make sure you don’t keep learning the same lesson over and over again.”  

Summary and Takeaways  

Getting the deal done means being a value-focused negotiator.   

In her LinkedIn Learning course Sales Negotiations, longtime sales coach and LinkedIn Sales [In]sider Lisa Earle McLeod provides guidance on how and when sellers should negotiate.

Here’s what you should remember:

1. In negotiating, as in life, actions mean more than words.
2. Successful negotiation always starts with knowing your buyer’s goals. 
3. Negotiations can be uncomfortable, because they are uncertain. But that uncertainty can also lead to creativity, which leads to better deals and lasting relationships. 
4. Only negotiate when you’ve proven your value and only negotiate with the decision-maker. 
5. Analyze your own history to gain a better understanding of why your past deals may have fallen apart. Once you have that understanding, adapt your approach to one focused on value creation for yourself and your buyer. 

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