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Sometimes it’s the littlest of things that can trip up even a professional sales negotiator. In this case, we often don’t want to ask the one question that we need to ask the other side of the table: “how much does that cost”. In the end, this can end up costing us a great deal…

Why Don’t We Ask “How Much”?
This seems like such a trivial issue, and yet it all too often turns out to be a big deal in the end. The question that we need to find an answer to is just exactly why we don’t seem to be able to remember to ask the other side how much something is going to end up costing us.

There are a lot of different reasons why we don’t feel comfortable doing this, but getting to the reason that is holding each of us back is something that is important for each of us to do. One big reason is often that we fear that simply by asking the other side how much something costs, we’re going to cause them to raise their price to us.

Other reasons can include not wanting to get involved in a long, drawn-out negotiating session (go figure that!) that could result if the other side’s price is to high. Another reason could be that we fear what asking for a price will communicate to the other side of the table about what we think of them. Like perhaps we really don’t trust them and we’re checking up on what they’ll be charging us.

Why Not Asking Is The Wrong Thing To Do
The primary reason that not taking the time to ask the other side how much something is going to cost is a bad idea is because it can quite easily end up costing you a great deal of money. This is a case where what you don’t know can come back and haunt you.

When you are negotiating with the other side of the table and you don’t ask them how much something is going to cost you, then you are making an assumption about how much it’s going to cost. This assumption is not necessarily correct.

The farther that you go into the negotiations without clarifying this issue, the stronger your self-generated belief in what the price is going to be will become. After awhile, you won’t even think to ask the other side how much because you’ll assume that the number that you are picturing in your head is the same number that they have in their head.

It’s disconnects like this that can easily trip up a sales negotiation in the 11th hour. Assumptions that have been made about price turn out to be not true and that can screw everything up at the last minute.

What All Of This Means For You
One of the most important questions that you can ask during a sales negotiation is “how much”. Although this sounds easy to do, it turns out that for most of us it’s actually quite difficult to do.

The reasons that it’s so difficult to do vary from negotiator to negotiator. However, it generally has to do with either not wanting to upset the negotiations or from a false sense that both sides have the same price in their heads.

When you are involved in a sales negotiation, take the time to ask “how much” every time the other side makes a proposal to you. It may feel a bit awkward the first few times that you say it; however, over time you’ll get comfortable using this power phrase and you’ll be amazed at just how much information you’ll get by using it!

People in business are constantly engaged in negotiating: with existing and prospective customers; with suppliers and other vendors; and, with others within their own organizations. Those who are successful in business are quite often those who have developed the skill set necessary to become effective negotiators. Good negotiators recognize that a successful negotiation is about more than just making a deal – it is about making a good deal. Good deals are more apt to result when the parties are able to agree to a contractual arrangement that satisfies one or more of the interests of each of the parties.

Interests are the underlying needs and concerns which the business negotiator seeks to satisfy by means of a contractual relationship with another party. Interests are the underlying reasons why a business engages in a negotiation at all. Successful business negotiators approach a negotiation as a problem solving exercise in which the basic problem is devising a solution that satisfies one or more of the underlying interests of each of the parties. By contrast, less effective negotiators tend to approach business negotiations by focusing on the positions they intend to present for the other side’s consideration. The difference between positional and interest based bargaining is illustrated by the following example:

“Consider the story of two men quarreling in a library. One wants the window open and the other wants it shut. They bicker back and forth about how much to leave it open: a crack, halfway, three quarters of the way. No solution satisfies them both.

Enter the librarian. She asks one why he wants the window open: ‘To get some fresh air.’ She asks the other why he wants it closed: ‘To avoid the draft.’ After thinking a minute, she opens wide a window in the next room, bringing in fresh air without a draft.” Roger Fisher and William Ury, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In (1991), p. 40.

Each of the two men focused on their own positions, and entirely missed a solution that effectively reconciled their underlying interests. As the above example suggests, negotiating over positions tends to lock the negotiator into defending or advancing his/her position to the point that his/her own ego becomes identified with the position. As more attention is devoted to the position less attention is given to the parties’ underlying interests. Agreement becomes less likely and any agreement which results may be merely “splitting the difference” between the parties’ final positions instead of exploring a solution which might have achieved more for each side. That makes for an inefficient process in that both sides tend to begin with extreme positions and give ground slowly and reluctantly increasing the time and costs of reaching an agreement as well as the risk that no agreement is reached at all.

The ability to identify the other party’s interests in the course of the negotiation process can be critical to reaching a mutually beneficial contract relationship. The reality is that if the party with whom you are negotiating cannot satisfy its own interests in a deal with you, then it will either do a deal with someone else or go without. Knowing the other party’s interests will help you to determine what you have or what you can offer that is of value to that other party. That will enable you to craft a proposal that both meets the interests of the other side and makes good business sense for your side as well.

© 11/17/2015 Hunt & Associates, P.C. All rights reserved.