Randy Kutz believes that negotiators are missing opportunities if they aren’t planning. Why is it so important? High stakes B2B negotiations take time. You have to build relationships. If you’re not prepared to negotiate and reach a successful outcome, the quality of the deal suffers. You might still come to an agreement—but it could have been better if you prepared.
If someone enters an agreement they don’t like, they’ll look for every opportunity to kill that deal. If you stumble in your preparation, it may decrease the likelihood of future partnerships with your counterpart. If you’re not prepared, the power balance shifts to the other side.
These are just a few of the reasons why negotiation preparation is a must. Randy covers the topic in more detail in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
Randy believes there are obvious steps: Make sure you know what you want, what your positions are, etc.
But the more pressing need is to take time to understand what the other side wants. We often make assumptions about the other side based on our own bias. Or maybe we’ve done business with them before. It’s okay to make assumptions but then you have to test them. What if you put yourself in your counterpart’s shoes and prepare from that side of the table?
What are the underlying drivers? What are their priorities? Successful negotiators know that a negotiation is about trading. You want to trade low priority items off the table and exchange them for higher priority items. But you have to know what the priorities are.
What are you willing to give up? What are you going to ask for in return for concessions? You have to be prepared to know what to ask for. If you’re not prepared, you settle for goodwill gestures.
Lastly, Randy advises that you shouldn’t forget about your internal stakeholders. Negotiation is about the dealmakers’ ecosystem. The internal stakeholders are a value-add that can help you prepare effectively.
An effective negotiation planner is someone who takes a systematic and disciplined approach to negotiation. They’re someone that uses a framework or template. This helps them identify their priorities and those of the other side. A good negotiator is prepared to adjust their positon and be flexible. If a strategy doesn’t work, a good negotiator plans an alternative.
These are a few things Randy wants salespeople to be mindful of:
Developers in New York City bought a building in hopes of rebuilding a high rise. But they had to negotiate four senior citizens out of the building first. They were able to reach a settlement with three of them for under a million dollars. But the fourth one fought back. This person didn’t want money. They didn’t need it. They wanted an apartment that overlooked central park.
Working through the details took longer than planned because they weren’t prepared. In the time they waited, the person changed their position and also asked for a large sum of money and got legal representation. The developer ended up paying 17 million dollars to evict the tenant and still gave him the apartment overlooking central park.
You need to prepare for the fact that it isn’t always about money. Once you understand what someone really wants, be prepared to be creative and flexible. Had they done that, they could’ve saved a lot of time and money.
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If you go into a negotiation without preparing, you've already lost. You need to understand the other side’s objectives and know what your counters are. Doing so enables you to stay calm. Being overwhelmed by emotion is your enemy in any negotiation. The minute you get upset, you’ve lost the advantage. Mike Figliuolo emphasizes that everything hinges on doing the proper research. Hear his thoughts on the matter in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
Do your research on your negotiating partner. You want to get to a solution that works for everyone. So you need to know what’s going on in their business. Mike has a major client that’s facing financial challenges and having to let people go. He knows they’ll push back on price.
If someone pushed for a price decrease, what would you say? You should also know when you need to take a break. It’s okay to leave the conversation, think about your response, and come back to it. Keep the emotion out of it.
A great salesperson can look at things from the other person’s perspective. What are they going through, professionally and personally? You need to understand their business and personal objectives. If you’re dealing with someone who’s brand new, they’re looking to make a mark. They need to gain credibility. They’re going to press you hard in the negotiation to get an early win.
We always think people will fight for price concessions. But that’s not always the objective. What goes beyond the financial metrics? Maybe they want a stable vendor relationship. When you can combine the objective's empathy for their position, you’re in a good position entering that negotiation.
Mike dropped some great advice:
When we set an arbitrary time limit, it creates undue pressure. Mike points out that we’ve all bought a car. Why do you think the salesperson says, “What’s it gonna take to put you in this vehicle today?” They impose a timeline on you which reduces your freedom in the negotiation.
Mike had worked with a major client for a couple of years. She was a Senior Executive in the Learning & Development segment of her organization, who answered to the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). She approached him to do some work and agreed on a dollar amount. But then the contract was kicked over to procurement.
Procurement started pushing Mike on price and asked for a discount. Mike wouldn’t agree but the individual kept pushing him. At one point, the individual hung up on him. Mike was angry. He knew he was being baited to get emotionally involved. So Mike paused, called him back, and restated his position. Then he asked to get his contact involved.
Mike knew that procurement had no idea who she was. So Mike called his client and filled her in on the situation. She said, “I’ll call you back.” Five minutes later, procurement called him back and said “Should I email the contract or fax it?”
His contact explained to procurement that this was her top initiative for the year and it was her top deliverable to the Chief Human Resources Officer. The CHRO had a reputation for bulldozing over anyone in her way. She told him if he delayed it further, he’d need to call the CHRO directly and explain the situation.
If procurement had done his proper research and understood the key players in the conversation, he would’ve known better. He didn’t do any research, which caused an embarrassing moment for him. You need to know who’s involved on both sides of the table.
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As a sales leader, you want to prepare for every step of the process. Because negotiation is so far down the sales funnel, it would be a shame to be unprepared and lose a deal because you weren’t prepared. Preparation allows you to think strategically. It also makes you look professional. Someone’s business was important enough for you to take the time to prepare. So how do you prepare strategically? And what does it take to have a successful negotiation? Learn more from Kristie Jones in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
When Kristie is talking to a sales leader, she has them focus on two things:
You need to write down these things. When sales reps do this, they’ll see that they’re on a more level playing field.
If you’ve forged a relationship with a prospect or customer, you should understand their non-negotiables and where their buying power is. You want to make sure you fully understand their position. What are their concerns or problems? Look at contract language, pricing, timing, etc. Everything can be part of the negotiation.
Self-awareness is also important. If you know you’re meeting with an introverted procurement person, you may have to slow down and focus on details. You need to understand yourself and how you come across. Once you do that, you can adjust your communication style to fit the other party.
Kristie asks people to sit down and draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper and write down the costs of no agreements. She also has them write down what they’re willing to give to get what they want. So when a negotiation gets stressful, they can have their cheat sheets in front of them. Because when tensions rise and the stakes are high, people start to panic, which leads to bad decisions.
Kristie is dating someone who lives in another state and works where she lives. She knew that spending New Year's Eve together would be a challenge. But it was important to her. So three months ahead of the holiday, she shared she wanted to spend those days together. She wanted to kick back and watch football together the next day. It was a non-negotiable for her. She gave plenty of notice that the non-negotiable existed.
As the time got closer, and she knew that the negotiation would have to begin, Kristie sat down with him to go over her give/gets. She had them prepared in her head. She brought the topic up at a time she thought was appropriate. She asked what the plans were.
He shared the challenges he was facing, which she had already anticipated. So she shared some viable options:
Negotiation is a process, not an event. She gave him time to think about what might work. Then they’d get back together and formulate a plan. They ended up deciding that he’d spend New Year’s Eve Day with the kids and spend the rest of the weekend with her. Everyone was willing to give a little to get a little.
But what happened next? Listen to the whole episode to find out why flexibility in any negotiation is key.
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Everything depends on preparation. When you’re in a negotiation, you’re under pressure. You need a good plan or all is lost before you start. Planning is often the most neglected part of a negotiation, too. Why? Because salespeople think they can’t plan because they don’t know what the other person will do. They want to go in and “See what happens.” Chris Croft believes that mindset is all wrong. You need a plan—just work in a few ‘what ifs.’
Chris believes that there are four key categories you need to focus on:
If you start by focusing on these areas, you’ll be well prepared for your negotiation.
Your body language in the first 30 seconds sets the scene for the negotiation. So smile, shake someone’s hand, and look them in the eye when you walk into the room. Sit at a 90-degree angle so you aren’t confronting them. Don’t sit with your arms folded. Be relaxed and smiley.
When you say you need a high price and they say they can’t afford it, don’t point out that they’re cheap or that they don’t understand your value. Instead, say “It’s difficult to get ahold of these things” or “It’s expensive to make this.” Or you could point out the demand for your product or service.
If you’re buying, don’t accuse someone of trying to rip you off. Just point out the reasons you can’t afford something. You blame it on yourself. It’s your problem—not theirs.
Self-discipline is important in every aspect of sales and especially negotiation. Sit down, go through your checklist, and prepare. Secondly, you must detach from the outcome and avoid emotional involvement. You’re playing a chess game with your customer. Rather than panicking, think “Well that’s interesting, I didn’t expect that.”
Salespeople think you sell, wait for the customer to say “I love it” and then negotiate. Chris believes that selling and negotiation should happen in parallel. You should negotiate from the start.
Chris’s mom saved a voucher for a free stay and gave it to Chris and his wife for a weekend away in Oxford. Right before their trip, they received a message from the hotel saying they were placed in a better room than planned, but they’d have to pay an extra 30 pounds when they arrived.
So Chris decided to negotiate when they arrived at the hotel. So they drove to Oxford and arrived in the evening. When they went in, Chris pointed out that he wasn’t happy about paying the extra 30 pounds. The staff member apologized but said he had to pay it.
So Chris said he wasn’t prepared to pay for it and asked to see the manager. His wife was practically kicking him. The woman said, “I am the manager.” So Chris pleaded one last time, prepared to concede. But the manager waived the 30 pounds. Chris succeeded. He was negotiating from a place of weakness—but so were they. The key was to focus on their weaknesses, not his.
The moral of the story? He should’ve prepared his wife for the negotiation.
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level solution. What are their goals and aspirations for their company? How can your product or services help them achieve their goal? In this episode of Sales Reinvented, Lisa McLeod shares why it’s important to focus on your counterpart’s highest-level solution—and how to do it.
If you’re planning a high-stakes negotiation, there are three things Lisa believes you need to do:
It’s easier to do this in the planning stage versus when you’re in front of your potential client.
If you’re dealing with a buyer that says “We have to get this pricing on these terms,” it’s likely what they've been told to do. You want to ask them why. What are they trying to accomplish by doing that? They’ll share what their goals are. That becomes your starting point—not pricing, terms, and conditions.
You want to start from a place of strength, which is the impact your solution is going to have on their business or life. It’s not about dominating them. It’s a shared stronger place to start. Start from a place of shared aspiration.
Salespeople need to be open to what the client says or is trying to achieve. The most successful salespeople have a laser-like focus. If you’ve ever been in a conversation with a loved one and they’re not going to concede, it exudes a certain energy. You either cave to that energy or push against it. Openness creates openness.
The other thing that makes a salesperson great at negotiation is their depth of understanding of the client. A seller that only understands their product, software, consulting services, etc., and doesn’t care about what’s happening with the client is coming from a weak position. When you understand what they’re trying to achieve and how they measure success, it doesn’t matter what you’re selling. Your understanding makes you a better ally and partner.
Lisa emphasizes that your client’s website is the #1 tool you can leverage. Why? You can read their “about me” page, read what their CEO said, etc. It allows you to learn the language of the company so you can use it. Which sounds better?
“I’m so excited to talk to you about our software, we’ve got all these bells and whistles, it’s gonna be great for you—let’s get into the negotiation.”
OR:
“I read online that your CEO says that your #1 goal is to improve your customer experience. I’m delighted that we’re having this conversation today because this software is going to play a role in helping you accomplish that.”
What are Lisa’s top three negotiation planning dos and don’ts? Why should you avoid caving on your prices? Listen to the whole episode to learn more!
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As a former procurement professional, Mike Inman can guarantee that procurement comes to the table with a plan. As a salesperson, if you don’t have a plan of your own—you’ll end up following theirs. You should know the tactics you want to use, who is going to be in the meeting, what your BATNA is, and you must set an agenda. Knowledge is power, and you have to leverage it. He shares his take on “opposition” research in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
What’s happening on your side of the table? For every deal point, you must have an open position target and bottom line. After you know what you can and can’t do, spend twice as much time on opposition research.
This can even help you determine if they’ve already decided in your favor—or not in your favor. If you find out that you’re not their preferred solution for a product or service, you can stop wasting time and cut your losses.
Lastly, get approval in advance. There’s nothing more frustrating than a salesperson that has to run things by their boss. Then you’re just an order taker. You’ll get abused. Make sure that you’re authorized to make concessions or close a deal.
Mike emphasized that LinkedIn is a person's billboard. They choose to publish where they’re from, what they’ve studied, and what’s important to them.
Mike just advised on a massive negotiation. He looked at the Director of Supply Chain’s background on LinkedIn and it was clear that he was career-focused. He moved up the ladder with every job he took. Mike knew that this gentleman needed a win to continue to advance his career.
So Mke helped them build a negotiation plan to make him look good in front of his superiors while protecting value on their side.
Conversely, if someone isn’t sharing information on LinkedIn, why are they hiding it? You can build a psychological profile from this angle as well. If they’re not freely sharing information, they’re a closed person. You’ll likely have to ask more questions in the negotiation.
Mike shares some to-the-point negotiation dos and don’ts that are spot-on:
When Mike moved to Denver, he wanted to rent for a couple of years to make sure he liked the area. They decided they wanted to move over the Summer, so they started looking in January. By February, they’d been outbid on three homes.
So he set up alerts to be notified immediately when there was a new listing. One Saturday morning, a house came on the market that looked perfect. They showed up at the open house and it was perfect.
After doing some legwork, they determined that the house was overpriced. They put in an offer $4,000 below ask with the stipulation that the sellers must accept or deny the offer by Monday at close of business. Monday at noon, they got an email that they won the house.
But there was a huge mistake. The seller accidentally sold the home to two buyers. The agent told Mike that they were “aging” and “didn’t understand technology” and made a mistake. So Mike did some more research. Turns out, the seller worked for Cisco as a Government Contracting Expert.
The agent lied to Mike. So Mike pushed back. The agent responded with their lawyer’s contact information. So what happened next? Mike unwraps a fascinating story that was only possible because he did opposition research. Listen to the episode to hear the ending!
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Joanne M Smith believes that negotiation preparation in 2023 will be more critical than ever. Why? Because change is happening. We’ve been in an easy negotiation market. She points out that we’re looking at a potential recession where pricing power is going to shift away from suppliers and into the hands of the customers. That’s why she believes salespeople need to plan for tough conversations. Learn what that looks like in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
The best economists believe that we’ll see a recession within months. When it happens, a salesperson’s job will become harder. You have to adjust your strategy to be fair in the economic conditions you find yourself in.
Make sure you have a rationale for whatever your price point is. Does your industry fairly deserve more? Are you in a position where you can increase your prices?
Your leadership must look at macroeconomics, supply and demand, and the cost of inflation, and give you crisp strategies with real talking points so you can have tough conversations.
So how do you prepare for tough conversations in a negotiation?
Ask yourself, “For this deal, what are the toughest questions that I’m likely to be asked related to my offering or to my price?” In many cases, the questions will be price-oriented. When you ask those questions, you know the data you need to prepare to craft a satisfactory response.
A salesperson needs to be comfortable with tension and willing to respectfully enter into price discussions. They have to be able to guide the customer toward a better solution they might not be aware of. If you’re going to be confident, you must prepare.
Joanne asks everyone she trains: How do you self-rate on price negotiation skills and confidence? 90% of salespeople think they’re great at sales and feel like they’re mediocre at best when it comes to price negotiation.
She emphasizes that you have to take a step back and realize that you don’t know enough and start learning. Set up some frameworks to make it easy to prepare and effectively negotiate that price.
Joanne shares some great tips to keep in mind when you’re negotiating:
Joanne was working with a global business in the construction space. They had a clear and fair reason to raise their prices over the last year. But their sales team wasn’t confident and was afraid they’d lose sales. Three different regions started training with Joanne. The European branch decided they didn’t need training. What happened?
The three regions that completed the training got their price increases with high success and little to minimal share loss. The region that didn’t complete training had a 30% share loss in their largest country. Her workshop covered negotiation preparation. They prepared by practicing responding to tough questions. It goes to show that preparation will always be key.
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It’s 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’t plan and prepare when you’re negotiating with a team, you’re 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—more so than on the negotiation itself. Learn how he accomplishes this in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
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:
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.
Keld believes you should never negotiate alone. He recommends negotiation with a team of 2–3 people so nothing gets missed. It’s impossible for one person to do it all.
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, and the people on your team. That requires discipline. A negotiation team should consist of three roles:
You have to coordinate who’s doing what so you don’t unintentionally give away something you shouldn’t.
Keld 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’d been negotiating for hours, discussing commercial items.
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, “We’ve already done that!”
The real cost of translating the manual was €12,000 and he just gave it away. Why did he say it? Because he was proud of it. That’s why they should’ve discussed what he was and wasn’t allowed to say. He should have said, “We can discuss how much that will cost.”
What is the most dangerous type of negotiation a salesperson can find themselves in? Listen to the whole episode to hear what it is—and what you should do when you find yourself in that negotiation.
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What does a customer experience when they hear a story? It should be entertaining, enjoyable, and relatable. Storytelling is innately human. We are wired to receive and retain information when it’s told in story form. Stories can also be used to create alignment with important executive stakeholders in the sales process. Learn how Scott Ingram uses stories to create executive alignment with Fortune 500 companies in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
Scott has developed specific stories for specific situations that he knows will resonate or make a point. He knows that the story format will connect better than if he just gave someone information.
What are the situations—throughout your sales cycle—where a story might be appropriate? How do you introduce yourself? How do you introduce your company or solution? How do you share successes with other customers?
You have an opportunity to choose the story and practice the story. That’s how anyone gets better at anything.
The more closely you can align your hero with your customer, the more they can see themselves in that situation. The more it connects, the more it resonates. The story needs to relate to the issue or objective you’re trying to solve.
One of the stories that Scott uses frequently is all about elevating the access that he has in an organization. He wants to get connected to and aligned with an executive stakeholder. That’s the reason he tells a story. He wants them to understand the value of making that introduction. He’ll increase their odds of success in a project.
What is the purpose of the story? What outcome do you desire?
Scott works for a professional services firm and most of his clients are Fortune 500 companies. The deals are often complex with numerous stakeholders and departments in the mix. When he’s in a competitive situation he wants to differentiate himself but his primary objective is to get aligned with the executive stakeholder for the project.
When you’re working on these complex opportunities where you have misaligned incentives, different goals, etc. you need someone that sits above it all and can make decisions to move a project forward. The success or failure of these projects hinges on a strong executive stakeholder. So Scott shares this story when he’s trying to determine who an executive stakeholder is.
Rob—a stakeholder at a Fortune 500 company—is the perfect executive stakeholder because he understands the value of his role in meeting the overall objective of a project. What made Rob so great in his role is that he knew his role was to call balls and strikes.
You will work with incomplete data, but decisions must still be made to move forward. By serving in that role, he’s seen incredible success delivering projects on time and on budget, delivering the results and outcomes the organization was seeking.
After telling that story, Scott asks his clients if they have a stakeholder identified for the project. Most often, the answer is “no.” So Scott educates them on why the role is critical to their success. It’s a challenging question that most people won’t ask.
Scott notes that he shares this story in the majority of his deals. It elevates the conversation and brings real value to the project. Secondly, Rob is a closer personal friend and he’s more than happy to make an introduction. It also opens up the opportunity for Rob to share his story about Scott and his company to the new client.
Scott’s approach is effective 80% of the time. Many teams are trying to complete a mission-critical project, yet they’re disjointed across the organization and often don’t realize their risk is high. The way to mitigate their risk is to figure out who the executive stakeholder is and get them involved in the process.
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Sales is about building relationships. People want to have faith that you’re a good person and that you’re there for the right reasons. They don’t get to see you in action. But if you tell a story about a real experience, it shares a sample of your behavior. It allowed them to decide whether or not you’re trustworthy. Annette Simmons firmly believes that storytelling is the substance of relationships. Learn how she uses stories to demonstrate trustworthiness in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
A great story is a significant emotional experience narrated so that it feels real to the teller and the listener. How do you know what stories to tell? Annette says to think of a time when you can share a quality that earned you the right to be trusted. What examples from your background of when you were that quality? Or when you blew it? If you narrate it as a real experience using your sensory imagination, magic happens. If you are in the moment, other people feel it as real. But the key is that you have to share a substantive true story.
Authenticity is #1. Salespeople are trying to build a relationship of trust. When Annette was researching storytelling and sales, she came across a story about a supplier to Walmart. He had been trying to sell to them for ages and never got a sale. Then the purchaser called and asked him for something he didn’t have—but he knew who did.
So he gave the purchasing agent the name of the person who had what they wanted. That’s where he started to build trust. So when he had what they were looking for, they already trusted him to deliver. What are the other attributes? Listen to hear Annette’s thoughts!
Annette believes there are six stories every salesperson must be able to tell.
When you hear a story, it prompts you to think of a story. People start sharing stories, which is when the magic happens. Storytelling is a collaborative process. Practice your story with someone else so you see if you’re recreating an emotional experience. If you’re not, you get a chance to correct it before you’re in a sales situation.
When Annette does facilitator training, she caps the classes at a max of 10 people because the work is intense. She wanted people to have the freedom to work on themselves as well as learn the process. For one of her training sessions, she had five people signed up, each paying their own way. A large client reached out to her and said they’d take the remaining spots.
Instead of agreeing to take all five, because she didn’t believe it would be fair to her current participants, Annette said she could accept 2–3 and the others could join the next training. She wanted to make sure it was a good experience for everyone. The woman told her she wouldn't be getting her business and hung up on her.
People might hear that story and focus on the thought that she lost business. Annette doesn’t care. She shares the difficult things they don’t want to hear with positive intent. What stories can you share that might be difficult but will create trust? And create a context where you are being honest and authentic? Annette will make decisions that are in the best interest of her clients, even when they disagree. Telling that story creates a powerful base for a relationship and builds trustworthiness.
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People make decisions on an emotional level and then justify them logically. If you hear a story about someone else that mirrors what’s happening to you, you visualize yourself in that role. When you hear that someone else has used this product or service as their solution, it makes the decision to buy easier. It helps ease your nerves.
As the seller, you can tap into the real needs of a buyer that help them make a decision. You do this by sharing real, relevant, and descriptive stories that put the buyer in that scenario. Donald C Kelly shares how story selling is in the details in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
Every story has to have a hero and a guide. Donald Miller talks about this in his book, “Storybrand.” You are Gandalf and the client is Frodo. You need to make sure you’re guiding those individuals and not trying to take the limelight.
Secondly, you have to make sure your story is demonstrating a real and relevant problem. You can’t make something up. Frodo had to save Middle Earth from destruction. The guide was able to help them.
What was the defining moment? What was the impact? What is the solution and resolution that comes from it?
Donald emphasizes that you have to have a good imagination. Salespeople tend to push the sale to the close. But when you’re telling a story, you need to linger on descriptions. You need to linger on details. You need to linger on the things that pull on people’s heartstrings.
You can share how you helped someone with their CRM. Or you could say, “They go into the office dreading opening their CRM because it’s so convoluted and difficult to use…” Focusing on emotions helps them imagine the pain and difficulty.
What are Donald’s top storytelling tips?
Donald was selling software to Indian River County Schools in Florida. The School District wanted to go paperless. They had a place on campus that housed all of their files that no one wanted to use. It wasn’t only difficult to find anything but was dangerous because there were boxes stacked everywhere.
So Donald shared a story about another school district in a similar circumstance. Unfortunately, an elderly staff member was hurt because they had to climb on the boxes and fell. He helped his prospect to visualize what could happen without a solution.
But Donald didn’t stop there. He shared how this school district implemented the digital solution and how their life became far easier. This resonated with his prospect and they were able to move the sale to the school board.
But that’s not how the story ends. Listen to the whole episode to hear the rest of Donald’s story!
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When you can share stories that demonstrate the value of your product or service—while making your prospective client the hero—it makes what you offer come alive. Patti Pokorchak likes to say, “When people see the value, they will find the money.” Learn how Patti crafts stories that show value in this episode of Sales Reinvented!
Patti jokes that she’s living proof that you can take a shy geek and turn them into a more outgoing multi-million-dollar sales professional. Storytelling is another tool in her arsenal that she uses and teaches. She believes that if you want to improve, it helps to have a board of advisors and accountability partners so you can practice your stories and get feedback.
You have to set the scene. What is the conflict or problem that needs to be resolved? The climax involves turning your potential client into the star of the story. Patti emphasizes that you have to pace yourself and use different tones. Make your story concise so your listener doesn’t tune out. The least amount of words makes the maximum impact. Lastly, don’t forget to pause at the crucial moment of the story.
Patti breaks down some other useful storytelling dos and don’ts:
Listen to find out how Patti makes her stories concise and customer-focused.
Patti was asked to come in to give a dreaded second quote to train a department that was already working with someone they trusted. To prepare for the quote, Patti started asking questions. She asked what the other consultant was charging. It was only $1,000 a day. Patti’s target quote was $10,000 a training day. She was 10 times more expensive. But that didn’t deter Patti.
Patti had been working for Learning Tree for a few years by then. She was confident that they provided world-class training. So when she gave the quote, she shared how they developed courses, which included beta testing, six months of training, and constant evaluation of trainers. In comparison, their consultant had never taught this course before. Their consultant wasn’t qualified in comparison.
Did they want their 20 engineers to waste two days of their time on an unproven course? Patti won their business by showing the value of their training. When people see the value, they will find the money. It’s why Patti always preaches value.
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