Business Negotiation May 1, 2013

The Third Sales Defense—Woo, Woo, Woo, While You Sell Satisfaction

This is the third of thirteen approaches by which sellers can best defend their price and still close the sale. These thirteen defenses apply whether you are holding to a firm price or to a price that has very little give.

The seller with the best chance to close a sale without making significant concessions is the one who woos the customer. Buyers prefer to give the order to people who show they want and appreciate the business. They are, however, wary of those who appear desperate. Buyers, in that respect, are like bankers who are afraid to lend money to borrowers who show they are in terrible need.

For the salesperson, woo, woo, woo and sell, sell, sell is good advice. Don’t be afraid to be a broken record. Tell the buyer again and again how much you want to please them. Tell them how much your company deserves the order. Tell them again why your proposal offers benefits which the competition does not or cannot provide. Quantify the benefits for them.

Don’t be in a hurry to reduce your price. Take the time to woo them and to sell them. Sell your product or service and your added values. When you run out of new things to say, say what you already said once more. Tell the buyer again and again why his or her decision to deal with you will be a wise one. Sell to their interests not yours. As William James once said, “Interest alone gives accent and emphasis, light and shade, background and foreground-intelligent perspective.”

Persistent wooing pays off, providing it is done without conveying a sense of desperation. The man or woman who woos the person he or she hopes to marry has a better chance of succeeding than one who doesn’t. The “woo-ee” can hardly help but be pleased. Wooing works the same way in selling as in social affairs.