Keld Jensen Shares How to Master Negotiation with a Team, Ep #335
It\u2019s important to practice and train in football, basketball, or any other professional sport, right? Yet too many professionals discount the importance of practice and preparation. But if you don\u2019t plan and prepare when you\u2019re negotiating with a team, you\u2019re planning and preparing for complete failure. A great negotiation is the result of great planning on both sides. Keld Jensen emphasizes that you must spend time preparing\u2014more so than on the negotiation itself. Learn how he accomplishes this in this episode of Sales Reinvented!\xa0
Outline of This Episode- [0:47] Why planning and preparation is an important step in negotiation
- [2:48] The key steps a salesperson should take to prepare for negotiation
- [5:50] The attributes or characteristics that make a great sales negotiator
- [7:37] Negotiation planning tools and resources to improve B2B negotiations\xa0
- [9:33] Top three negotiation planning dos and top three don\u2019ts
- [12:55] Why a negotiation team needs at least three players
- [15:08] Things to be aware of when negotiating with a team
- [16:58] Don\u2019t get caught in a negotiation you\u2019re not aware of
Keld believes there are hundreds of steps one can take to prepare for a negotiation with a team, but names a few of the most important:
- Take an interest in the counterpart\u2019s interest.\xa0What do they really want? You\u2019re not allowed to guess\u2014you need to know. So ask your counterpart intelligent questions to understand their interests, values, and costs.
- Who are you negotiating with?\xa0You\u2019re not negotiating against a company\u2014you\u2019re negotiating with a person. You need to know who they are, how many people you\u2019re negotiating with, and if they are the stakeholders that can sign the contract.
- What variables do you want to negotiate?\xa0Delivery time, warranty, education, warehousing, transportation\u2014there are hundreds of possible variables. Prioritize your variables.\xa0
Keld uses a negotiation planner that is simply a schedule with columns. One column lists the variables that are negotiable. Then you take the starting point (i.e. a proposal) and calculate your negotiation wiggle room and the consequence(s) of using that wiggle room. Will you win or lose money? You need to come to a conclusion for every variable and the total cost or benefit.\xa0
Why a negotiation team needs at least three playersKeld believes you should never negotiate alone. He recommends negotiation with a team of 2\u20133 people so nothing gets missed. It\u2019s impossible for one person to do it all.\xa0
When Keld pushes his clients and students to work as part of a team, many of them feel uncomfortable. You have to relate to the content, the case, the counterpart,\xa0and\xa0the people on your team. That requires discipline. A negotiation team should consist of three roles:
- The head of the team: This person takes charge and identifies the strategy and what should happen next.\xa0
- A notetaker: This person is the one who tracks what\u2019s happening and knows what\u2019s going on. They\u2019re the \u201cmemory\u201d of the team.\xa0
- A calculator: This is the person with a spreadsheet doing the math to calculate the impact of changing different variables.\xa0
You have to coordinate who\u2019s doing what so you don\u2019t unintentionally give away something you shouldn\u2019t.
Things to be aware of when negotiating as a teamKeld was helping a Norwegian agency sell a production plan to an Italian customer. The head of the Norwegian negotiation team was the Sales Director. His team consisted of himself, the Technical Director, and the Managing Director. They\u2019d been negotiating for hours, discussing commercial items.\xa0
Then the Italian counterpart pointed out that all of the manuals were in English and asked for them to be translated into Italian. The Technical Director jumped in and said, \u201cWe\u2019ve already done that!\u201d\xa0
The real cost of translating the manual was \u20ac12,000 and he just\xa0gave it away. Why did he say it? Because he was\xa0proud\xa0of it. That\u2019s why they should\u2019ve discussed what he was and wasn\u2019t allowed to say. He should have said, \u201cWe can discuss how much that will cost.\u201d\xa0
What is the most dangerous type of negotiation a salesperson can find themselves in? Listen to the whole episode to hear what it is\u2014and what you should do when you find yourself in that negotiation.
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