Negotiating Skills for Virgins

Hmmmmm ... (big pause) ... so what if we don’t have the blinds, the shower, the extra windows and do our own furnishing ... how much then

he did his best but they just weren’t on my list because I didn’t want a negotiation; I wanted a simple sale.

A few years ago I decided to have the very large roof space in my house converted into another bedroom. Knowing what I know and having learnt most of it in the “school of hard knocks”, I sat down with a sheet of paper and wrote down everything I needed

and I knew what I wanted to pay and what I expected to get for my money

If you’re the potential buyer in a “potentially simple” sales or persuasive transaction and you also want to avoid a negotiation, make sure you too take the trouble to write down, on a piece of paper, exactly why you want to buy the product, proposition or service. Write down how much it’s worth to you. Write down the problems you’re seeking to solve if you are to agree a deal. You too should aim to ask as many questions as possible (he or she who asks most questions controls the sale)

questions are your primary persuasive tool and a great way to avoid having to negotiate

never make a statement when you could ask a question!

You think people are too sensible to wreck a sale in this way in the real world

Research shows that 80% of objections during a basic, simple “sale” are caused by the seller saying too much

But facts don’t sell.
Telling doesn’t sell.
A “big pile of your stuff” doesn’t sell.
On the other hand, chatty, conversational questions about your proposition which allow you to identify the problems your customer is seeking to solve, do sell. Once you have identified what the person on the other side of the table is looking for, that’s all you talk about; nothing else