When you are negotiating with the other side of the table, you want them to agree to your deal. In order to make this happen, you have to find a way to motivate them to “buy” what you are selling. One of the most powerful ways to make this happen is to offer them a bargain…
What Is A Bargain?
Face it, we all like bargains. Why would we behave any differently when we are in a sales negotiation? As a negotiator, you need to realize this and find ways to use it to your best advantage.
The power of a bargain is so strong that even if we aren’t sure that we really need something, we’ll go ahead and buy it if we think that it’s a bargain. Sometimes the presence of a bargain is what it can take to close a deal.
You need to understand how bargains work on the other side. The first thing that you need to come to grips with is that a bargain is really just a state of mind. What this means is that the details of the bargain that you are offering to the other side don’t really matter. What matters is what is going on in the mind of the other side of the table – do they feel as though they are being offered a bargain that they just can’t pass up?
Additionally, once you understand the power of a bargain, you need to take advantage of it. This means that whatever you are offering to the other side of the table needs to be presented in such a way that they will perceive it as being offered a real bargain.
The Power Of An Unused Bargain
One of the greatest types of bargains that I’ve been able to use in my sales negotiations is what I like to call the “unused option”. It turns out that there’s something that car dealers have known for a long time that we should all take the time to learn.
Car dealers make a lot of money by selling us options for our new cars that we want but really don’t need. More often than not, the other side of the table will be willing to pay for options and extras that go along with what you are offering them. In fact, they’ll be so highly motivated to obtain these extras that your product will look even more attractive just because you have these options. It really doesn’t matter if the other side would ever actually go ahead and use these features, just having them is enough to make your product look like even more of a bargain.
What All Of This Means For You
In order to get the other side of the table to commit to striking a deal with you, you’ve got to offer them something that they just can’t refuse. One powerful way to do this is to offer them what they’ll see as a clear bargain because everyone likes a bargain.
There are a number of ways to package your offer as a bargain. The key thing that you need to do is to change the other side’s state of mind so that they clearly believe that they are getting a bargain. Additionally, the more options and extras that you can offer the greater the value the other side will put on what you are offering.
Taken together, these techniques provide you with a way to create an offer with a bargain that no one will be able to refuse. Take the time to find ways to turn your offer into something that the other side of the table sees as a bargain and you’ll be able to close more deals and close them quicker!
– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World Negotiating Skills™
Question For You: Do you think that options and extras have as much value in closing a deal when you charge for them versus giving them away for free?
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What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time
Sigh. So this is a very difficult subject to talk about. Generally when we talk about negotiating, we’re talking about sitting down and going at it with an unnamed and unknown “other side of the table”. When that other side is somebody that we already know, with whom we already have a relationship, things get very complicated, very quickly…