So, you are well prepared; you know what you want and how to look and listen for clues of what the customer wants. It’s time for the real thing – the negotiation. The goal is that you and the customer should both feel that you have come out with a better result than you expected; that you are both winners.

From your preparations, you have your bag of alternatives to bring out when the timing is right. You may also have thought about some good SPIN-questions to ask the customer about risks and possibilities.

These are good places to start. And actually, the start is all that you can plan for! The rest of the negotiation will unfold in collaboration with the customer – it takes two to tango.
Customers will have very different styles and behaviors; they will put pressure on you in different ways. Make sure that you know your ZOPA – the Zone that you can agree in – the buyer may try to use more than one song to dance you out of it!

Here are some examples of different dancing styles:

Emotional
Some customers will be sad, angry, confused, or frightened due to pressure from a boss. If they do, keep a cool head. Show sympathy but stick to the facts. Invite them to discuss alternatives that will cool down emotions. Be soft on the person and hard on the problem. You can be very empathetic and kind without giving up your plan or cross your red line.

Salami slicing
The second negotiation/dancing style is the salami slicing. Some customers will bring up one small thing at a time, hoping that you will not notice how much it adds up to in the end. There are two things you can do about it.

– Never give anything away without negotiating back something else. As you learned before, you have prepared alternatives in advance that will be very useful here. And do not be afraid or shy to negotiate – people, that are using the salami slicing, mostly enjoy negotiating.
– The second or third time a new demand comes up, you can suggest that all those demands should be collected for example on a whiteboard, to be dealt with as a bundle at the end of the negotiation.

The third negotiation stile is an uncomfortable one.

Attacks, threats, heavy pressure
This is a quite unprofessional way, but as a sales person you will somewhen see it, and you need to handle it well. I will give you some ideas how.

– Even though the other is not behaving professional, you do. Pretend that this person is just trying to help you win the order, but in a strange way. It will help you not to lose your temper.
– Show real interest in their opinion. “So, you want this and that, but you don’t want to pay for it. Hmm, but these are also real costs for me, so it is difficult for me to explain this to my boss – can you explain your reasoning to me, please?” Careful, don’t be ironic!
– Make them stop acting like an enemy. “If you were my manager, what would you advise me to do in this situation?”

Most people don’t want to admit being aggressive. If you point out their bad behavior, they will just get defensive. Treat them like good guys and they will be recognize you professional behavior and adopt to it. Ask open questions and dare to stay quiet while waiting for the answer, this puts the pressure on them.

And – remember your BATNA! You can always walk away. Never, ever give in to pressure.