Profitable Selling: Establish Equality.

Everyone knows that desperation in a sales person not only weakens their negotiating position, but actively puts off prospective buyers. But despite this, a large portion of salespeople continue to cast themselves in a subservient role, and there are three main reasons for that.

Cultural Constructs: Industry practices reinforce buyers as superior to sellers. Salespeople go to see the buyer, the buyer makes them wait, then they need to “make a pitch”, and so on. The whole process is designed so that sellers don’t feel like a peer of the buyer. The answer? Control what you can (never “pitch”) and actively ignore what you can’t.

Media Mindset: Every continuum has its extremes. When the Dyson and the iPhone were running rampant, all the power was in the hands of the sellers. Conversely in today’s milk market, all the power is in the hands of buyers. Journals like NAM News and the Grocer would have you believe all buyers are increasingly powerful, by sensationalising stories and playing to a victim-minded readership. It’s a self fulfilling prophesy, if you listen to it. In reality, buyers need to buy, sellers need to sell, and the balance of power is usually somewhere in the middle.

Fear of Failure: There’s a pattern when teams do negotiation training. A pair of buyers will fail to reach a deal with each other far more often than a pair of sellers. They are less adept at closing (the seller usually takes the lead for them), but they also have less fear of failure – they know that not all deals are good, and will walk away. Conversely salespeople often believe that making a deal is essential, that it’s solely their responsibility, and if the deal fails, so have they. For sellers to become true peers of the buyer, it’s critical they shake off these beliefs.

Making the shift: The two most important factors in making the shift are recognition and confidence. Recognition that sellers should behave as peers; that most of them don’t; and that they have the ability to change the situation. And confidence: confidence to challenge the buyer, to look objectively and critically at a deal, and ultimately to let deals fail.

BOTTOM LINE: Many factors conspire to create submissive sales behaviours, and only some can be addressed. The critical first step is to recognise exactly where your team are on the spectrum. What would it take for your team to act as true peers to their buyers?