Sales Negotiation Course Intro

Lesson 5: Focus on INTERESTS, Not Positions 

The basic problem in a sales negotiation lies not in conflicting positions but in the conflict between each side’s needs, desires, concerns, and fears.

Interests motivate people; they are the silent movers behind the hubbub of positions. 

Your negotiation position is something you have decided upon

Your interests are what caused you to decide. 

Focusing on interests rather than positions works for two reasons. First, for every customer’s interest, there usually exist several viable solutions that could satisfy them. We tend to assume that because the customers’ position is opposed to ours, their interests must also be opposed. If we have an interest in selling to them, then they must want to avoid us. If we have an interest in maximizing the price, then their interest must be to minimize it. In many sales negotiations, however, a close examination of the underlying interests will reveal the existence of many more interests that are shared or compatible than ones that are opposed.

How do you identify interests?

How do you go about understanding the interests involved in a sales negotiation, remembering that figuring out their interests will be at least as important as figuring out yours? 

 Ask Why?

One basic technique is to put yourself in their shoes.

Examine each position they take and ask yourself, “Why?”

Why, for instance, does your customer prefer to fix the price year by year?

The answer you may produce to be protected against increasing costs is one of his interests.

You can also ask the customer why they take a particular position.

If you do, make clear that you are asking not for justification of this position but for an understanding of the needs, hopes, fears, or desires that it serves. 

“What’s your basic concern, Mr. Jones, in wanting our deal to run for no more than one year?”