So what happens once secure your first sales meeting with procurement? As with public speaking, so it is with meeting with a procurement person, REMEMBER YOUR AUDIENCE! Understand and speak to their needs and wants!!! STEP 1: ASK GOOD QUESTIONS AND LISTEN In your first sales meeting with the procurement person, ask good questions and LISTEN. Ask questions about what challenges there are with existing suppliers and service providers. Find out where their pain points are….
If You Don’t Read This, You’ll Lose A Lot of Money
“If I could show you how to 10x your negotiation results, how would that change your life?” That’s what my one liner is (was) in my online marketing material to drive action like getting people to sign up for the newsletter or buy something. It basically says, “Do something and win.” There’s a problem with this. The problem with that one liner is it asks the prospect to think only of the potential gain. It pretty…
Be Quiet
Be quiet. Shut up. Don’t say another word. Let the other party speak. We so badly want to fill the awkward silence that exists in the space between receiving a message and responding to a message. Why? Because we don’t want to feel alone, yes. Because we fear the potential of rejection, yes. Because we feel like something will be lost (the deal, the friendship, the relationship, etc), yes. All of those things are true. And…
Negotiate the Process
So much can be said for preparation in negotiation, but even if you prepare, study, and have your questions ready, you can still hit a brick wall if you don’t negotiate the process, understand and set expectations, and agree to next steps. It’s quite dangerous to walk into a complex negotiation and begin shooting (even if you’ve prepared) without first discussing and agreeing to process on the things that will be negotiated, the sequence, and…
Feedback Loops
How do you know how well you actually did in a negotiation? I mean, you have a result after the fact, but does that really tell you anything? Sure, you learn whether you got the result that you wanted. But getting the result doesn’t tell you anything other that you got a result. Does it tell you what worked? Not really. Does it tell you what didn’t work? Definitely not. Does it tell you what you can do…