Is That Your Hand in My Pocket? The Sales Professional's Guide to Negotiating

Introduction ; Relationship selling may not be as dead as disco (yet), ; but it needs to get its affairs in order. More and more often, large companies ; are looking at those cozy vendor relationships that their buyers ; have, and they are wondering if all that warm, fuzzy, win-win attitude ; isn't costing them a few points at the bottom line. ; Training firms, including our own, have taught salespeople how to ; build rapport, create equal business standing, and explore alternatives ; with their clients. The goal of this strategy is to create an atmosphere of ; trust and mutual respect where the needs of both sides can be explored ; and, it is hoped, meet with a creative solution that allows both parties to ;get what they want (or need) out of the negotiation. ; When this strategy works, it works great. Here's the rub. It works only ; if both parties want to play. The problem is this: the global economy has ; put so much pressure on companies to squeeze costs out of their operations ;that the purchasing function is increasingly seen as a key profit center. ; Several years ago, it became clear to us that there was movement ; on the buyer side away from the collaborative model and in another ; direction entirely. In place of relationships and creativity, we got commoditization ; and reverse auctions. This began with the largest companies ; and has been gradually morphing its way down the food chain ;ever since. ; Traditional selling skills don't work well in this environment because ; only one party is playing the game. While the seller is working to build ; a relationship, the buyer is working just as hard to avoid it. In this scenario, ; the buyer wins when he can identify multiple sources for the same ; product or service and then let them beat themselves bloody competing ;for the order. ; This is not to say that relationship selling has gone away or will go ; away completely (neither will the Bee Gees or Donna Summer, for ; that matter). There will always be a need for these skills. In today's ; business climate, however, a salesperson needs to be prepared to play ; the game either way. This book is aimed at helping salespeople learn ; to cope successfully and win in this rapidly changing environment. ; Where collaboration reigns, the skill sets are here to create even more ; collaboration. Where collaboration is an endangered species, the ; techniques are here to help salespeople move the other side toward ;collaboration. ; For the last fifteen years, we have taught thousands of salespeople ; on six different continents how to deal with professional buyers. The ; skill sets that we will cover in this book have saved those clients almost ; $2 billion. They will work just as well for you. In addition, these skills ; will make your negotiations with even the toughest buyers more productive ; and less stressful. Oh, and as an additional benefit, you'll probably ;make a lot more money! ; Even if you aren't dealing with career purchasing people yet, you owe ; it to yourself to prepare for the day when you will have to. In the happy ; event that your industry is not moving in that direction, this book will ; make you a more effective negotiator inside and outside your company. ; This book is dedicated to hardworking sales professionals everywhere. ; -Ron Lambert and Tom Parker ; ; Chapter One ; ; why buyers don't want ;you to read this book ; As you are reading this sentence, somewhere in the&Parker, Tom is the author of 'Is That Your Hand in My Pocket? The Sales Professional's Guide to Negotiating', published 2006 under ISBN 9780785218777 and ISBN 0785218777.