As B2B sales are built on relationships that take time to be built, knowing how to negotiate your offer is a must-have skill for any food producer, especially in the highly competitive and fast-developing global trade world. When your offer is not signed at the first contact, negotiation comes into the picture, to highlight the right arguments and strengths of your product/service as well as respond to your client`s objections, to be able to reach a win-win deal between you and your client.
Identify the right decision-maker
As we already discussed in the previous videos, contacting the right person is a game-changing aspect of your strategy. Approaching the right decision-maker will highly impact your success rate, as you will discuss straight with the right decision authority, instead of wasting time with messengers or risking your message being lost or misunderstood on the way. Fortunately, the BestFoodImporters platform lets you easily identify the right business contacts, to let you focus on what matters - sales.
Ask the right questions to further learn your client`s needs
Next, to be able to negotiate an offer, you must further investigate your clients’ needs and priorities. To do so, besides doing some online research as previously mentioned, it`s time to simply ask your client the right questions. Whoever asks the questions is leading the conversation! Also, by showing you are ready to listen to his pains, you are already building trust in your relationship, which is an essential component of success in all types of negotiation.
Now, what are the right questions you may wonder? Simple, ask open questions to identify the client`s needs, making him explain his pain points or the impact they have on his business. Another trick you can use is to ask questions that make your client imagine how would his business look like if your product/service solved his problem.
For example: “How do you measure your success as a small-sized food importer in Italy?”, “How much would it help you to find a long-term supplier that has extensive market knowledge like me?”, “What are your business goals for the next three months?”
Be prepared to address your client`s objections
Whether it’s by phone, email or online video call, during the Q&A session where you try to find out what your client is looking for, be ready to also answer his questions about your offer. For example, if your client thinks your price offer is too expensive for him, first establish if the price is the only obstacle that prevents him from purchasing from you and what exactly does “too expensive” means to him.
Ask: “If we negotiate the price, is there anything else in the way of closing the deal?” Additionally, you can argue your “expensive” price by stating your product benefits, advantages, to make your client better understand the value you are proposing to him.
And just like that, to be able to negotiate like this, you must establish beforehand what are the things you are willing to negotiate and their limits. Is it a price range, a discount you can offer based on volume, your contract period etc? Make a list with top objections you have encountered so far from importers you have approached, then turn those challenges into advantages and make use of the list whenever you need it in the future.
And there you go! Take your time to reevaluate your offer, understand your ideal customer, and craft unique personalized messages that get opened. When you know what you are selling, how to sell it, when to sell it and whom to sell it, there is no room for failing! Good luck!