How important is relationship-building in negotiations? Can you have a relationship yet still be direct without negatively impacting said relationship? Romina Muhametaj—A Sales Manager and Consultant—believes that relationship-building is the key to moving one’s career forward and closing more sales. She shares why in this episode of Negotiations Ninja!
Outline of This Episode
- [1:35] Learn more about Romina Muhametaj
- [2:31] Building relationships before negotiating
- [4:09] Apples, oranges, and coconuts
- [6:40] Can you be direct in a relationship?
- [8:11] Why you can’t use the same tactics in every deal
- [10:00] What happens once the deal is sealed?
- [13:17] Why you need to overcome your emotions
Build relationships before negotiating
Romina doesn’t believe in negotiating without building a relationship. You are going to be able to convert high-dollar tickets based on relationships. If you DM someone just saying, “My product or service is amazing—you should buy it,” it won’t land. They don’t know you, there’s no relationship, and there’s zero credibility.
A lot of contracts fall apart because there’s no relationship. There’s no reason to trust the other side. According to Romina, selling and negotiating without a relationship isn’t really sales—it’s just marketing. And it’s cringey.
Being direct earns you respect
Can you have a relationship and still be blunt in a negotiation? Romina believes that being direct earns you respect. People buy from people they like and respect. Being blunt doesn’t mean being rude or harsh. Being direct is making the deal make sense. You can guide the conversation.
You can say, “If I understand you correctly, this software will help your sales team actually increase their conversion rate and be able to increase your sales, and that’s not something you’re interested in doing? Am I hearing this correctly?” It’s direct and calling their bluff. If they say no, then they look silly.
Why you need to continue the relationship once the deal is done
Salespeople tend to close a deal, get their commission, and forget who they talked to. But when you do that, you’re missing out on opportunities. A five-minute phone call or email to check in goes a long way.
Was it what they expected? Was there something missing? Do they need an additional service or solution?
If it’s a quick fix, you can make the customer even happier. And once you have a happy customer, they’ll refer people to you. When you don’t follow up, you are missing out on numerous potential customers. You don’t have to work as hard to build rapport because they’ve got built-in credibility for you.
Romina takes it a step further. Management wants to hit their numbers. Why don’t you have your sales floor call every single customer they’ve closed in the last three months? Survey your customers. If a customer is 80% happy, you can still figure out the 20% that’s missing.
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