The Procurement Game Plan by Charles Dominick

Author:Charles Dominick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J. Ross Publishing
Published: 2022-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 8.4 Appropriate times to negotiate

INCREASING YOUR NEGOTIATION CONFIDENCE

The foregoing aspects of negotiation preparation are important. However, a skilled sales negotiator can disarm you, even if you’re only missing one ingredient: your confidence.

Power persuades, and confidence translates into power. Can you learn to be more confident? Absolutely! Here are five specific things to do to be more confident in negotiations:

Visualize—Early in preparing to negotiate, take time to visualize a successful end result. Picture yourself shaking hands with your supplier and smiling. Imagine how you’ll feel when you’ve secured a great deal for your organization. Most tangible results start with a thought that is later brought to reality. If you can’t think it, you will have a harder time achieving it. So, visualize, and feel the power!

Rehearse—Before going into any negotiations, you and the members of your negotiating team need to rehearse different scenarios and questions. Having up-front agreements and speaking with one voice will provide the necessary confidence that you and your team members need for a successful negotiation outcome.

Affirm—Say this out loud to yourself throughout your preparations: “I am a confident negotiator.” The last time you are by yourself prior to commencing a negotiation, say it to yourself again. The negotiation power that your supplier will sense about you stems from outward evidence that you believe in yourself. Affirmations strengthen your belief in yourself.

Use confident language—Suppliers who are trained in negotiation look for signs of weakness in you through your behavior and the words that you use. Try to never appear subservient or in doubt. For example, saying, “Your brochure said that technical support is included with every purchase, but your proposal said that support is available for an extra charge. So, I guess that you can’t include support for free, right?” is weak. Don’t expect to change a supplier’s mind about the deal with words like that. Say, “Your brochure said that technical support is included with every purchase, but your proposal said that support is available for an extra charge. Let’s fix that.” This sends the signal that you are confident and in control, and that you have power. The opening minutes of a negotiation are a particularly critical time for using confident language. Avoid using words such as like, prefer, look for, and target. Replace them with words like need, must have, and it is essential when you open the negotiations. Not only are these words stronger, more important, they show your confidence and the criticality of your priorities.

Self-assess—During a negotiation break, ask yourself, “Was I confident? Did not appearing confident hurt me? What can I do to appear more confident?” In addition to showing that you are confident, you must be knowledgeable and have done thorough research about the products or services that you are going to purchase. Remember that knowledge is power!

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