Never Negotiate B2B Contracts “On Your Feet!”

In our everyday life, we negotiate “on the run” frequently. Your spouse says, “I won’t be able to pick up the kids from school today. I was hoping you could.” And you say, “That’s fine…but can you pick up the dry cleaning?” Relationships require frequent re-negotiations of schedules, plans and duties to adapt to changing […]

During A Joint Sales Call, Are You A Potted Plant?

Before we started a recent training program on Sales Call Planning and Execution we asked the participants to tell us what they would like to achieve from the training. There was one question that arose from several of the participants. It was as follows: “How do you avoid having people from your organization go on […]

Negotiating the Complex Sale: What Hospital Procurement Knows About You!

If you sell to hospitals, it is imperative that you understand there is a new normal in hospital strategic procurement. We will use this as a generic term to also include hospital supply chain management, materials management and purchasing. Each of these terms are often bantered about and while they are not synonyms for each […]

How Marketing Can Help Sales Win With Cost Crusaders!

You know who we are talking about. The Cost Crusaders are Strategic Procurement, Purchasing, Materials Management or Supply Chain depending upon the organization. While many of these professionals also focus on value there is a significant portion that are blinded simply by their desire for the lowest cost and they are relentless in this pursuit. […]

Selling to the Executive Suite: Unlocking the Executive Mindset

There is an abundance of excellent articles on selling to the C-suite or the executive management team. It’s strong evidence of the continued professional growth of our global sales community. You can find data-driven supportive research documents, testimonials and interviews, books and case studies. It’s a topic that creates a high degree of interest in […]

Are You The Ideal Sales Representative?

Over lunch during a recent sales training seminar we were asked a question that normally arises in discussions with sales executives or HR managers: “From both of your experiences in managing sales teams and consulting on sales productivity, what are the attributes that embody the Ideal Sales Representative?” Here is how we responded. The best […]

Check List for Handling Discount Demands

Recently we were asked by a client to develop a brief but interactive negotiation workshop that provided insight into handling the objection “your price is too high…we need a lower price.” In preparation for the session we developed a detailed case study that outlined the exact business scenario that their sales force was experiencing daily. […]

How You Can Tell if a Hospital is Customer Centric! Part 2

Much has been written about improving the patient experience within hospitals. Under healthcare reform penalties are incurred if patients with certain conditions are re-admitted within 30 days of discharge. For these and other reasons many hospitals have gone to some extreme measures to make their facilities more patient friendly. It’s taken awhile for hospitals to […]

Concession Strategy in Complex Negotiations–Planning Your Give-And-Take: Part 2

In “Concession Strategy Part 1” we explored what goes into a concession strategy, the importance of detecting your counter-part’s approach to negotiation (collaborative vs. competitive) and four guidelines for conceding. In Concession Strategy Part 2 we’ll focus on the five skills you should develop or refine to become a better practitioner of “win-win” negotiations. It […]

Concession Strategy in Complex Negotiations–Planning Your Give-And-Take: Part 1

Consider this situation. Your manager offers you a newly created sales management position that includes an increase in salary and a $30,000 bonus. As you reflect on the offer you realize that if you earn your bonus, your total compensation will increase but not markedly since you are paid a salary plus commission now and […]