Mastering Focus in Negotiations: Boost Your Closing Rate and Navigate Buyer Concerns | SOS Ep. 346

Are you ready to break free from the distractions and diversions that are costing you deals? Let us guide you through the labyrinth of sales negotiations with practical advice drawn from our early career missteps. We've been where you are - caught in a whirlwind of tangential discussions, driven off-course by the prospect. By sharing these personal experiences, we shed light on the importance of maintaining razor-sharp focus on your end goal.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:03

All right, thank you for everybody who's been listening. I mentioned before, april was a record shattering month. Hoping to do the same in May. So I'm asking you to download, share this with a like my individual or two, and have conversations about these topics. All right, so we're now into. We're going to talk today about negotiations and getting into the negotiation. All right.

Speaker 1: 0:23

Now, one of the things that I've heard a lot of and this has happened to me earlier in my career was losing focus in a negotiation. Okay, and when you are, when you're in a negotiation and you're trying to close a deal, the goal, the end zone, is the only thing that matters. And what happened was I, early in my career, I would allow the prospect to get us off course. So if they asked a question or they made a statement that was on a tangent, I would respond to that as opposed to getting back on track, because I thought, well, I'll just get them back on track later. No, it's amazing how you get on one tangent and then there's a second tangent and then there's a third and the person has completely forgotten why they're even talking to you. So it's very important when you're in a negotiation, it's very important to stay focused. Stay focused on the goal. Now, you don't want to be rude, but if they ask a question, you have to answer the question and say but, and then whatever follows that, but you got to bring it back to the negotiation, or and you can use a lot of different words or so you answer the question. So, going back to what we were, what we were mentioning, you have to redirect it back to the topic at hand.

Speaker 1: 2:00

I've seen a lot of deals go south because the buyer has got so many things on their mind and they're not at the same place that you are. Remember, the buyer's journey is not the same as the seller's journey. The seller's journey is trying to get from A to close, from A to Z, as fast as possible. That's not what the buyer is thinking. The buyer might have a bunch of stuff that pops up and they might start asking questions. Answer the questions because they're valid and then redirect them back to the goal, the purpose of closing the deal, the goal at hand, and don't worry about anything else that's going on in your life. Your life could be crumbling around you, but you have a job to do. It doesn't matter what happened in the last sales call.

Speaker 1: 2:54

Focus on this one as if it's the only sales call you've ever made and you're only going to make. Don't put pressure on yourself that, oh, I've got to close this. No, just focus on your process. If you focus on your process and you don't press, you don't stress, you're going to look like the cool, calm, collected person and your buyer is going to pick up on that. Because your buyer is picking up on your body language, your energy, the tone of your voice. You want to be calm and confident. You don't want to sound very salesy and pressurized and that's why it takes extreme focus and the one of the best things to do is, just before you go in, just remind yourself what is the goal.

Speaker 1: 3:44

The goal is to get the deal done. Great, how do we do that? What are the three things that have to happen in this meeting? Maybe it's two, maybe it's one, but there's usually a couple of things that have to happen in a meeting for a deal to get closed. Focus on those. That is what you should be talking about.

Speaker 1: 4:05

If there's anything that you know is going to derail negotiation, write that down and say I tell you what. Let's discuss that at a different time. I'm happy to go into depth with you on that, but push that off, possibly for another meeting. But you got to gauge their reaction. If they're kind of turned off by that and say, okay, I'll tell you what it seems like it's important to you, let's talk about it right now. I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on it because I know you're busy and I'm busy.

Speaker 1: 4:42

We both have meetings after this, so I wanted to make sure we got to everything that you wanted to talk about. There's nuances in everything, but you really want to just stay focused. Turn your cell phone on silent. That's a great way to stay focused is turn your cell phone on silent or off Until you get no notifications whatsoever. That is a great way to make sure 100% that you're not interrupted. Focus and be present where you are. Don't think about anything else. Don't think about the close before it happens. Be present in each and every step of the process and each and every moment. I guarantee you your conversion and close rate will skyrocket. Reach out to me, micah, surviving Outside Sales, if you want to get in touch with me and let me know what you thought about that tip. We'll be back tomorrow. Surviving Outside Sales. Bye-bye.