Handling Tough Questions By C.J. Hayden

Preparation is the key to becoming confident when speaking with prospective customers. Handling an inquiry, placing a follow-up call, or making a presentation, are all situations where you can expect your prospects to ask questions. Unfortunately we sometimes prepare for only the questions we want to hear, and not the tougher ones clients will ask.

Here are some questions often heard in marketing conversations, and suggestions for how to respond:

Q. How much does it cost?

A. If you have a standard package, go ahead and tell them the cost. Be sure they know first what they're getting for the money. But if your prices vary, don't quote a price until you know enough about the client's need to be accurate. Take this question as a signal your prospect is interested, and ask more questions about their situation. Stay away from hourly rates unless there is no other way to price what you do. Good answers are "$500 per month," "I did a similar project for $1500," or "I'd like to prepare a proposal for you. Do you have a budget in mind?"

Q. How long will it take?

A. Your questioner already suspects the answer will be, "That depends," so be prepared to state exactly what it depends on. Try to be as concrete as possible, citing the number of participants, locations, or other tangible project elements, rather than pointing to intangibles, such as "motivation," or "readiness."

Q. How much experience do you have?

A. If you're short on years in the business, describe any related experience you have, whether or not it was doing what you do now, and whether or not you got paid for it: "I have 10 years in the financial services industry" or "I've been teaching and training since 1985."

Q. How many people have you done this for?

A. Be truthful, but look for an answer that instills confidence. If you are new, try: "In my last job, I participated in many projects like this one" or "I've had substantial experience during my training," or even "You would be my first. Give me a try!"

Q. Who are your clients?

A. The questioner is typically trying to get a sense of who you work for, not asking for their names. Answer with your target market. Whether or not you actually have clients, you can say, "I consult with Fortune 500 companies" or "I serve high net worth individuals."

Q. What are your qualifications?

A. Be explicit and succinct: "Seven years experience in the industry and two years of specialized training."

Q. What's your success rate?

A. This is often not a relevant question. State instead how you know your customers are satisfied: "Many of my clients stay with me for years" or "I get most of my business as referrals from my clients." If you have statistics, use them, but don't let someone discount you because you can't prove your worth with numbers.

Practice your answers to these and other questions you get from people in your marketplace. Your responses should flow smoothly, so you can present yourself in the best light even under pressure. In the words of Janis Joplin, "Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got."

May you always have an answer,
C.J. Hayden
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C.J. Hayden is the author of Get Clients Now! Thousands of business owners and salespeople have used her simple sales and marketing system to double or triple their income. Get a free copy of "Five Secrets to Finding All the Clients You'll Ever Need" at GetClientsNow.com.

Effective Sales Bonus Ideas

Richard from salesblog.co.uk had some interesting thoughts on Sales bonuses. I've included just a blurb below, but do take the time to read the entire post at his site as well ...

Personally i believe bonuses should be solely on a percent of sales and should be adapted according to territory potential, but also on basic salary. i.e a lower basic and higher percent of profit. As well as giving regional team bonuses to encourage the salespeople to share ideas.

[via salesblog.co.uk]

Any thoughts you'd like to add? Use the comments below.

Negotiation Tips and advice

I ran across some good Negotiation Tips from Business Coach and author, Barbara Braham. I've included a few of them below -- be sure to read the rest of tips here.

Develop External Listening
Most people carry on an inner dialogue with themselves. When you're trying to communicate with someone else, this inner dialogue becomes a problem because you can't listen internally and externally at the same time. When you negotiate, turn off your inner voice and only listen externally. You won't miss important nonverbal messages, facial expressions of voice inflections, when you listen externally.

Know What a Win Is
What is your best case scenario? What is your worst case scenario? The area in between is called your settlement range. If you can reach an agreement within your settlement range, that's a Win! Don't drop below your bottom line; you'll feel bad about yourself and the deal afterwards, and you may not follow-through on your commitments.

Read the entire article here.

-- To Your sales success, Josh Hinds :-)

30 Client Referrals or More - How to Get Them By Daryl Logullo

Do you get all of the referrals you want?

Most professionals don't because they're afraid. Afraid they'll hurt their client relationships. Afraid they won't cultivate any new business. Or afraid they'll appear cheap or salesy.

It's an imagined psychological line in the sand you're afraid of crossing with people. It's in a concept I teach called "D.V.", or Damage Verge. You're frightened that by bringing up the word "referrals" you'll push your clients, cross that line, and create damage.

Let me give you an example.

Of 5,200 investment and insurance professionals surveyed earlier this year by my firm Strategic Impact!, an overwhelming 79 percent said they rely on referrals as their primary source of new business. Eighty-three percent of those professionals had at least 100 clients. Yet the median number of referrals they received from their clients over a 12-month period was just 6 to 12! That means that, on average, only about 10% of their clients were generating referrals. That's horrible! And being passive causes it.

If clients are your best source of new business then the figure indicates a tremendous problem. The question is why? My answer is Damage Verge: A psychological barrier where you imagine the worst possible thing will happen if you ask a client for a referral.

Before you can even think about how to bring the subject up, your brain kicks into warp speed and says, "I can't ask them for a referral; they might get mad at me. . . feel upset. . . be uncomfortable. . . [insert your excuse here]. . . or worst yet, they'll just say, 'No!'"

What I'm referring to is nothing more than your conscious mind gets into the act, and you wrongly start envisioning that worst-case scenario coming to life. You see yourself offending someone, being presumptuous, asking the wrong way, feeling embarrassed, and finally ruining a prized relationship.

Four ways to break through

1. Be more in tune to your client's communication style. The Damage Verge is different for every client and customer, depending on that person's communication style. Still other clients get instantly turned off, regardless of what you try to discuss with them. Understanding your clients' varying styles of communication and receptiveness to your goal of building more business will go a long way in cultivating referrals.

2. Know how to 'ask' for referrals. Nothing evokes more fear in professionals than the thought of sitting down with a client and "asking them" for referrals. So don't! That's right--don't ask for referrals. Focus on earning personal introductions from clients. The key is that you must test and confirm with every client that they are finding value in you and your work. Use a monthly meeting, lunch, or quarterly review to touch base. I ask one simple, very powerful question: "Mrs. Client, tell me: How am I doing in my relationship with you?" The answer allows the referral door to swing wide open--or temporarily close tight. Either way, you've got a much better read on the relationship.

3. Practice with your C-level clients, and then move up. Practice on relationships where the stakes aren't so high. Take some of the pressure off yourself by building self-confidence and enthusiasm--and seeing results--with B-level and C-level clients. It's highly unlikely that you would ever offend someone who has confirmed your value. But, if you do upset someone, let it be a C-level client that wouldn't be irreplaceable if they should take their business elsewhere.

4. Give clients a reason to share you with others. I believe in the 80/20 Rule when it comes to client referrals. It says that 80 percent of your clients utilize only about 20 percent of the services you have to offer. One way to counter this is by bundling current services as "value-added" extras--this shows appreciation for your current client relationship while simultaneously giving your clients more reason to suggest your services to others.

Remember, you want to introduce the subject of referrals with your clients without adversely affecting the relationship at all. You want to get near their damage verge, but you must never cross it. It's like stepping near thin ice--without ever falling through. Stay in the area where the relationship provides enough support for what you're saying--and don't overload it.
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Daryl T. Logullo is the Founder of Strategic Impact! a referral consultancy located in Vero Beach, Fla. He concentrates heavily on alliance and referral building strategies for today's professional. Get a Free Report, "The Most Powerful Referral 'Secret' Ever Discovered," instantly delivered at www.strategic-impact.com/Rule

The Toughest Job By Brian Tracy

There Are No Buffers
Selling is one of the toughest jobs in the world. There are no buffers between you and the reality of daily difficulties, delays and disappointments. You often ride an emotional roller-coaster, up and down, that never seems to stop. You are all alone.

You Must Motivate Yourself
Like a front line soldier, you must get yourself up every day and go out to where the bullets of rejection fly. You must continually deal with the possibility that all your sales efforts could turn out to be in vain through no fault of your own. And you must keep on going in spite of this because your profession of selling requires it.

Face The Facts of Selling
Selling is hard. It always has and it always will be. Even for the best and most experienced salespeople, it is a continual effort. You can make it easier by developing your skills in the critical areas of prospecting, presenting and closing sales, but you can never make selling an easy profession.

However, once you accept that selling is a hard way to make a living, it somehow becomes a little easier. When you stop expecting it to be something other than it is, much of the stress of selling goes out of it. As William James said, “The first step in dealing with any difficulty is to be willing to have it so.”

Open Unlimited Opportunities
Selling is also a wonderful profession. It offers opportunities for the average person that are unimaginable in most countries. Your potential earnings are beyond what 95 percent of the world's population could ever hope for or expect. Because selling is difficult, your activities are valuable and important and they have to pay you very well for carrying them out. As you move to the top of your field, you can earn more than a person with ten or twelve years of university education. You can eventually become financial independent. Fully five percent of self-made millionaires in America are salespeople who do their jobs extremely well.

Make A Wonderful Living
As a salesperson, the reason that you can make a wonderful living for yourself and your family, achieve your goals and fulfill all of your aspirations, is because making the sale is difficult, and often, extremely difficult. And the longer the sales cycle, or the larger the dollar amount involved, the more that companies have to pay salespeople to do the work. When you are selling complicated or expensive products in a highly competitive markets, and you do it well, you can become one of the highest paid people in your field, if not the world.

Be The Best At What You Do
You should get up every morning and give a silent prayer of thanks that selling is so difficult. If it was easy, the field would be flooded by amateurs and the amount you could earn would be greatly reduced. But because it is hellishly hard, by becoming very good at it, your future can be unlimited!

Action Exercises:
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, dedicate yourself to getting better and better at selling. The better you get at selling and closing, the easier and more enjoyable it is.

Second, be grateful that selling is a tough job. It keeps the weaklings and the mediocre out of the field and enables you to be even more successful.
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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit Brian's web site and take advantage of his FREE audio program offer.

P.S. Enhance your Sales Success. Click here to find out how.

Top 3 Fatal Sales Mistakes: What Not to Do to Succeed in Sales! By Colleen Francis

Over the past few weeks, I've found myself on the receiving end of a series of particularly heinous sales techniques - all of which were aimed at getting through a gatekeeper to a decision maker, and all of which ended disastrously for the sales reps involved.

I firmly believe that, to improve our skills and the relationships we have with our prospects and clients, it's just as important to know what not to do as it is to know what to do. In that spirit, I decided to recount and dissect these painful experiences, in the hope of sharing with you where these sales people went so wrong - and what they could've done instead!

One word of warning: while I've chosen not to use any names in order to protect the potentially innocent companies who may be employing these sales reps (and may not be aware of the "techniques" they are using), the stories you're about to read are, unfortunately, all true. Viewer discretion is definitely advised…

#1: The case of the anonymous acquaintance

First, a couple of weeks ago, I received a magazine article in the mail that detailed the benefits to sales people of taking a public speaking course. On second look, I saw that the article was actually an advertorial, complete with a registration form for the course at the end.

Attached to the piece was a post-it with a handwritten note which read: “Colleen, I thought you would find this interesting.” It was signed with an illegible initial - maybe a J? Maybe an I? - I couldn't be sure. I had no idea who had sent me this "highly informative article," but because of the handwritten note, I assumed I must know them. I looked at the envelope it had come in, and, sure enough, found no return address and an automated bulk mail stamp - sure signs of unsolicited mail.

I'd never heard of the company offering the seminar, nor anyone they were associated with. Clearly, they were trying to hide behind their anonymity because they knew, that I knew, that they did not know me.

Why is this crossing the line? Because by trying to pretend that they know and have a relationship with me even though they don’t, they are lying. To me, an approach that is based on a lie is the worst kind of mistake - and the absolute worst first impression - that any sales professional can make.

This lie is being used in the hope that I'll feel guilty enough about not remembering who they are that I will call the company to find out, at which point they can try to sell me on their seminar. Will I be in the mood to be sold anything once I figure out their game? Will I ever buy anything from this company, or recommend them to my colleagues and associates? Am I likely to respond warmly to any follow-up call that might happen to come along?

The answer is NO! So if you've ever been tempted to try to lure new customers with a lie, first ask yourself this: if the customer or prospect finds out what I'm really up to, will they be mad, or will I be embarrassed? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, then find yourself a different tactic - fast!

How not to cross the line: The idea of staying in touch with your customers and prospects by sending them an occasional article or other information is a good one. But if you use this technique, make sure the following rules of thumb are applied consistently, and without exception:

The article is relevant to the prospect. The article is simply that - an article, not just a glorified advertisement for your product. The prospect knows you and you clearly sign your name so they can see it is from you. You identify who you are on the envelope. You make a follow-up call after they've received it.

#2: The case of the schoolyard bully

While on vacation in March, I received a frantic call from my office.

My assistant was panicked because she'd gotten a call from a man who insisted that he had a meeting set up with me for that day, and that it was “critical” that he talk to me. He also told her that he "had talked to me directly,” that this was "a follow-up meeting,” that I had "promised to talk to him” - and even that he had “time sensitive information” he had to get to me.

When she finally got me on the phone, explained the situation and told me what company he was calling from, I realized it was all a ruse. I had never talked to that rep or his company before. I did know enough about what they did, however, to realize that what they sold was not relevant to my business and I was not, nor ever would be, interested in the service they offered.

In other words, this rep hadn't even spoken to me before, let alone scheduled a "follow-up" meeting. He also didn't offer anything that would be so "critical" to my business that I’d be glad to interrupt my vacation to talk to him.

Why is this crossing the line? Once more: he lied. As far as I was concerned, that spelled the end of any business relationship he and I might ever have had.

To make matters worse, in order to get though to me (the "decision maker"), he tried to instigate panic in my assistant (the “gatekeeper”) by confusing her into thinking she and I had made a mistake, and I would have to be disturbed.

He knew we'd never spoken, and that we did not have a meeting scheduled. He was simply hoping that I would feel so guilty about the possibility that I'd made a mistake that I would be willing to cancel whatever else I was doing to take his call. He was probably also hoping that same unwarranted guilt would make me feel I “owed him” enough to listen to his pitch.

Whenever you use a tactic that requires making someone else feel bad simply to get what you want, you're crossing the line not only between appropriate and inappropriate sales techniques, but also between being a smart or stupid sales person - and, to my mind, between being a decent human being and a schoolyard bully.

Just ask yourself: if your prospect found out what you were doing, would they want to have a relationship with you?

How not to cross the line: Assistants can be used effectively to secure appointments and get decision makers on your side. However, you should never attempt to manipulate them or their relationship with your prospect. If you do get a gatekeeper on the phone, try the following, and see how much farther it will take you:

Show them respect at all times. Treat them like the decision maker, and try your opening lines or lead-in questions with them. They may be able to point you towards other decision makers in the company who could be important to your sale. Ask them when is the best time to reach the decision maker. Ask if they can schedule 15 minutes of time with the decision maker for you. Always thank them for their help.

#3: The case of the "close, personal friend"

Finally, just a few days ago, a sales person called our office claiming to be a “close, personal friend” of mine. My assistant asked if I knew her, and while I didn't think so, I decided to have her put her through to me anyway.

A couple of minutes into her pitch, I interrupted the rep and asked, “excuse me, do I know you?” She answered: “Not now, but if we do business together, I guarantee we will become good friends.”

Needless to say, we didn't do business together, and we aren’t likely to at any point in the foreseeable future.

Why is this crossing the line? Say it with me now: because she lied! Even worse, it was a really stupid lie!

Did the rep really not think that, as soon as she had me on the phone, I’d realize she wasn't the "close, personal friend" she was claiming to be? Either she was hoping I would think her "idea" was clever, or that I was so stupid I can't remember who my friends are. Any sales tactic that makes the prospect feel like you must think he or she is an idiot simply can't end well.

Before you try any technique like this one, please ask yourself: if the prospect finds out what I'm doing, will they want to be my friend? Or will I be happy with the consequences of earning a bad reputation, and a lost opportunity?

How not to cross the line: Every time you call a decision maker, have a compelling reason to speak to them, and make sure your opening line or leading question is tuned to their needs, and offers them value. Then they will want to take your calls, without your having to lie to get them on the phone.

If you want to develop commonality with your prospects without resorting to trickery, try the following simple - and honest! - approach:

Use a REAL reference from someone you both know. Tell them a third party story about a customer you've helped who is in their industry, and/or who is in their same position (Director, VP, etc). Offer a piece of information that shows you know something about their business or industry that you can help them with.

One of my clients who sells to the medical research industry, for example, leads with “your research into XYZ disease caught my attention…" When it comes to being honest and being branded a liar, the line between what's appropriate and what isn’t, isn’t so much a "fine line" as it is a gaping chasm. Fall in, and you may never be able to find your way out.

Consider yourself warned.
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Colleen Francis is the Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions, which delivers sales solutions that realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise the client's bottom line. She can be reached at www.engageselling.com.

If You're in Sales Stop Selling By Clayton Shold

As conflicting a statement as it may seem many would be wise to subscribe to this advice.

If you are a sales person, you are in one of the toughest professions out there. It has been said less than 1% of the population has what it takes to be successful in sales. Those are not great odds. But many of us are attracted to the sales arena. We are the modern day gladiators who face daily challenges, survive and often thrive. We like helping people; we enjoy the competitive nature and recognition that comes with being successful at what we do.

So how do some men and women rise to the top while so many others only dream about success?

Many of the top sales professionals I know have been fortunate to have had a mentor somewhere along the way who shared nuggets of golden advice. Many years ago my Regional Sales Manager made a statement one day that offended me. It also changed my life.

He said, “Clayton you’re a good sales person, but you could be a great sales person.” As one of the top sales people in the region my ego was bruised. I went away mad that he would say such a thing. I considered myself a dedicated student of selling, I had been on many sales courses and my results were very good.

His statement rolled around in my head for the balance of the day and that night. I needed to understand his thinking. The next morning, I worked up some courage, not really sure what I would hear and went into his office to ask him what he meant with his comment the day before.

He asked me to sit, and began by telling me how pleased he was that I was on his team, and explained he believed his role was to get the best out of people. I told him I felt a bit insulted, I considered myself better than just good at sales. He reassured me I was, but if I wanted to be a great sales person I had to listen carefully to some advice.

I still remember as if it were yesterday, at 9 am on a Friday morning he said two words that stunned me, “Stop selling.” I was dumbfounded, stop selling? He went on to explain, “Your job is not to sell anything. Your job is to help your customer make an informed purchasing decision.”

Well he had to repeat the statement two times before the light bulb began to come on for me. Of course he was absolutely right. I needed to move from being a gladiator ready to do battle, to becoming a trusted advisor.

My responsibility was to bring subject matter expertise to the table and help the potential purchaser understand the pros and cons of their decision. It is their money, it is their decision. Had I done everything I could to help them make an informed one?

Over the years I have shared this nugget with many “good” sales people. I smile as I watch their reaction when I suggest they can improve their sales if they STOP SELLING. If you practice this philosophy today I commend you. Should you adopt it going forward, I wish you much personal success.
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Clayton Shold's mission is to help sales professionals make more money. He is a member of the Salesopedia community, "The World of Sales from A to Z". Learn more at www.salesopedia.com

Practice Golden Rule Selling By Brian Tracy

To improve your sales performance, adopt the Golden Rule mentality. The Golden Rule says to, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." It also says, "Love your neighbor as yourself." The Golden Rule mentality in sales, says simply, "Sell unto others as you would have them sell unto you."

Different Strokes For Different Folks
What does this mean? Aren't there all kinds of different personalities that require different approaches and techniques? Well, yes and no. Practicing the golden rule in selling simply means that you sell to other people the way you would like to be sold to. You sell with the same honesty, integrity, understanding, empathy and thoughtfulness that you would like someone else to use in selling to you.

Seek First To Understand
If you would like a salesperson to take the time to thoroughly understand you and your situation before making a recommendation, you practice the same thing with your customers. If you would like a salesperson to give you honest information and to help you make an intelligent buying decision, you practice the same with your customer. If you would like a salesperson to be thoroughly knowledgeable about the strengths or weaknesses of his or her product or service, and that of his or her competitors, then you do the same with your product or service and your competitors.

Care About Your Customers
Perhaps the most important part of golden rule selling is the emotional component embraced in the word, "caring." Top sales professionals care about their customers. They care about themselves, their companies, their products and services, and they really care about helping their customers to make good buying decisions. If you think about the very best salespeople you know, you will recognize that they are caring individuals.

They Don't care How Much You Know
If you think about your very best customers, you will recall that these are invariably people you care about, and who care about you. When you think about the people you buy from, you will recall that they seem to care about you more than the average. In every part of your business life, you will find that the significant people all have the denominator of caring as part of their character and their personalities.

Action Exercises:
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, resolve today to sell to your customers with the same honesty, empathy and understanding that you would like them to use in selling to you.

Second, take time to genuinely care about your customers, their individual needs and their unique situations. Make people feel important and they will make you feel important.
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Brian Tracy is one of the world's leading authorities on personal and business success. His fast-moving talks and seminars are loaded with powerful, proven ideas and strategies that you can apply immediately to get better results in every area. Visit Brian's web site and take advantage of his FREE audio program offer.

The "I must do" Close By Tom Hopkins

Many times a potential client is just hesitant to make a decision. They procrastinate. They have other things on their mind. They just don't focus.

This close is designed to help them focus just long enough to make a decision, then get on to other things. Try these words:

I understand that you're hesitant to make a decision today about my product, John. You probably have a lot on your mind. I learned a saying once from a speaker that makes a lot of sense when it comes to handling situations like this. We all want to be as productive as possible with our time, don't we?

The saying goes like this: I must do the most productive thing possible at every given moment. Makes sense, doesn't it? I use it in my own life to help me stay focused on what's really important.

Let me ask you, John, what's the most productive thing you could be doing right now?

Listen to the answer. If what they're most concerned about has nothing to do with the decision to own your product, say: Then, let's get this decision out of the way so you can get on to more productive things.

If the decision IS the most important thing, say, Good. Then, we're handling just what you want to do right now, which is to make a decision about this product. With your approval right here, we'll be in business.
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Tom Hopkins International
7531 E. 2nd St., Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Tel: (480) 949-0786 or 800/528-0446 Fax: (480) 949-1590
TomHopkins.com - Visit our website for a great "Tip of the Day"

The Make It Better Close By Tom Hopkins

There will be times that you'll encounter a client who is a perfect candidate for your product. They may even agree. However, a bad past experience either with your company or another company's similar product is stalling the sale. They just can't get past that experience.

The “make it better” close can also be used when customers tell you that they've done business with salespeople in the past who didn't call back and didn't give them good service, and they're afraid the same thing will happen with you.

An important thing to remember is that you never knock the competition — knocking others makes you look small and petty.

First of all, even though it wasn't my company, I apologize for times other companies have sold you products and then let you down with the follow-up and service.

Let me assure you, our company will always be available to you and will contact you on a scheduled basis to make sure of your satisfaction. In fact, that's one of the reasons I chose to work with this company. We are always here for our customers. Your ongoing business is important to us, and I won't do anything to jeopardize the relationship we're establishing here today.
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Tom Hopkins International
7531 E. 2nd St., Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Tel: (480) 949-0786 or 800/528-0446 Fax: (480) 949-1590
TomHopkins.com - Visit our website for a great "Tip of the Day"

Learn to Play the Reluctant Seller When You're Negotiating By Roger Dawson

Imagine for a moment that you own a sailboat, and you're desperate to sell it. It was fun when you first got it, but now you hardly ever use it, and the maintenance and slip fees are eating you alive. It's early Sunday morning, and you've given up a chance to play golf with your friends because you need to be down at the marina cleaning your boat.

You're scrubbing away and cursing your stupidity for ever having bought the boat. Just as you're thinking, "I'm going to give this turkey away to the next person who comes along," you look up and see an expensively dressed man with a young girl on his arm coming down the dock. He's wearing Gucci loafers, white slacks, and a blue Burberry's blazer topped off with a silk cravat. His young girlfriend is wearing high heels, a silk sheath dress, big sunglasses, and huge diamond earrings.

They stop at your boat, and the man says, "That's a fine looking boat. By any chance is it for sale?"

His girl friend snuggles up to him and says, "Oh, let's buy it, poopsy. We'll have so much fun."

You feel your heart start to burst with joy and your mind is singing, "Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!"

Expressing that sentiment is not going to get you the best price for your boat, is it? How are you going to get the best price? By playing Reluctant Seller. You keep on scrubbing and say, "You're welcome to come aboard, although I hadn't thought of selling the boat."

You give them a tour of the boat and at every step of the way you tell them how much you love the boat and how much fun you have sailing her. Finally you tell them, "I can see how perfect this boat would be for you and how much fun you'd have with it, but I really don't think I could ever bear to part with it. However, just to be fair to you, what is the very best price you would give me?"

Power Negotiators know that this Reluctant Seller technique squeezes the negotiating range before the negotiating even starts. If you've done a good job of building the other person's desire to own the boat, he will have formed a negotiating range in his mind. He may be thinking, "I'd be willing to go to $30,000, $25,000 would be a fair deal and $20,000 would be a bargain." So, his negotiating range is from $20,000 to $30,000.

Just by playing Reluctant Seller, you will have moved him up through that range. If you had appeared eager to sell, he may have offered you only $20,000. By playing Reluctant Seller you may move him to the mid-point, or even the high point of his negotiating range, before the negotiations even start.

One of my Power Negotiators is an extremely rich and powerful investor, a man who owns real estate all over town. He probably owns real estate worth $50 million, owes $35 million in loans, and therefore has a net worth of about $15 million. Very successful-what you could justifiably call a heavy hitter. He likes wheeling and dealing.

Like many investors, his strategy is simple: Buy a property at the right price and on the right terms, hold onto it and let it appreciate, then sell at a higher price. Many smaller investors bring him purchase offers for one of his holdings, eager to acquire one of his better-known properties. That's when this well-seasoned investor knows how to use the Reluctant Buyer Gambit.

He reads the offer quietly, and when he's finished he slides it thoughtfully back across the table, scratches above one ear, saying something like, "I don't know. Of all my properties, I have very special feelings for this one. I was thinking of keeping it and giving it to my daughter for her college graduation present and I really don't think that I would part with it for anything less than the full asking price.

You understand; this particular property is worth a great deal to me. But look, it was good of you to bring in an offer for me and in all fairness, so that you won't have wasted your time, what is the very best price that you feel you could give me?" Many times, I saw him make thousands of dollars in just a few seconds using the Reluctant Seller philosophy.

Power Negotiators always try to edge up the other side's negotiating range before the real negotiating ever begins.

I remember an oceanfront condominium that I bought as an investment. The owner was asking $59,000 for it. It was a hot real estate market at the time and I wasn't sure how eager the owner was to sell or if they had any other offers on it. So, I wrote up three offers, one at $49,000, another at $54,000 and a third at $59,000.

I made an appointment to meet with the seller, who had moved out of the condominium in Long Beach and was now living in Pasadena. After talking to her for a while, I determined that she hadn't had any other offers and that she was eager to sell. So I reached into my briefcase, where I had the three offers carefully filed and pulled out the lowest of them. She accepted it, and when I sold the condominium a few years later, it fetched $129,000. (Be aware that you can do this only with a "For Sale by Owner."

If a real estate agent has listed the property, that agent is working for the seller and is obligated to tell the seller if he's aware that the other side would pay more. Another reason why you should always list property with an agent when you're selling.) So, Power Negotiators always play Reluctant Seller when they're selling. Even before the negotiation starts, it squeezes the other side's negotiating range.

Remember that when people do this kind of thing to you, that it's just a game that they are playing on you. Power Negotiators don't get upset about it. They just learn to play the negotiating game better than the other side.

Key points to remember:

Always play Reluctant Seller.

Playing this Gambit is a great way to squeeze the other side's negotiating range before the negotiation even starts. The other person will typically give away half his or her negotiating range just because you use this.
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Roger Dawson
Founder of the Power Negotiating Institute
800-932-9766
RogDawson@aol.com
www.rdawson.com
This article is excerpted in part from Roger Dawson's new book - "Secrets of Power Negotiating".