Companies spend an average of 8.5% of their earned revenue on marketing, according to Deloitte, which can cut into the bottom line significantly.
For most businesses, marketing is their main avenue to reach customers, even though the price digs deep into their pockets. Therefore, it’s important to find effective ways to ensure spending achieves a sufficiently high multiple of return.
This is where negotiation comes in—to help you convert more of your leads into customers in less time and at higher margins.
Negotiation skills training and techniques can help up your marketing game and fine-tune your skills so you can close more deals faster.
Here are some tips that can help you become a negotiating pro.
Building Rapport
Imagine dealing with an impersonal marketer. They don’t bother to find out anything about you or your needs. Instead, they simply focus on pushing the product on you. But there is not enough value for you so, chances are, you won’t buy.
Now, imagine a marketer who builds a relationship with you first. Who asks about your needs and expectations for a particular product, and then explains why their product ticks all your boxes. You are more likely to buy from the second marketer rather than the first.
Building rapport with your customers can help them trust you and help clinch more sales. To that end, personalize your marketing strategy to every customer by taking the time to research their needs. Use the information you’ve gathered to show customers exactly how your product will benefit them.
It’s also important to learn the art of effective communication so you can create lasting relations to get repeat sales. Effective communication often forms the cornerstone of a successful business relationship. Both verbal and non-verbal communication can make or break a deal.
Active Listening Skills
While marketing is often synonymous with spreading a message, it’s important to be trained in the art of good listening. Talking without listening can annoy your potential customers.
Listening involves:
- being attentive
- jotting down notes
- addressing questions effectively
When you become a good listener, it can make a remarkable difference to your skills at the negotiation table. You can improve your understanding of the customer’s needs, helping you present a stronger value proposition.
Cover the Groundwork
You are more likely to excel when you are prepared so plan thoroughly and do your research before getting into a negotiation. Some of the main areas to cover include:
- Knowing the customer, including their cultural backgrounds as this can be a business breaker if not handled well.
- Knowing your product like the back of your hand.
- Anticipating questions that the customer might want to know about the product.
- Discerning your market.
- Thorough training on important elements such as the product’s benefits and unique selling points.
With adequate preparation, you are better positioned to succeed.
Training Yourself in Analytical Thinking
As you walk into a negotiation, apply your mind to the business at hand. Once you have identified your customer’s problem through research, brainstorm ways that show your product can indeed be the solution they have been waiting for all along.
Think on your feet to determine how best to relate the product’s benefits to the customer’s needs and how to use these benefits to overcome objections as they arise.
Analyze your competition and find out where they are missing the mark so you can improve on those areas. Figure out what gives you the competitive edge over all other players on the market and highlight these distinctions to your customers.
Teamwork
Brainstorming as a team before engaging in a negotiation can help build a strong case with your customers. Brilliant ideas are often realized during team strategizing sessions because of the various inputs and perspectives that come into play. So, it’s important to bounce ideas off each other and work as a team as you prepare for negotiating with customers.
Negotiate Right to Clinch More Deals
The thought of negotiating makes a lot of people uncomfortable, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Practice these techniques and train with other marketers. Also, consider using simple everyday situations to exercise your negotiation skills to build your confidence so you can score big to close crunch-time deals quickly.
