Ultimate Negotiation

Checklist for Sales Teams

Table of Contents

Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1. Prepare a Negotiation Cheat Sheet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2. Uncover What You Don’t Know and Build Rapport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3. Get Out Ahead of Negative Perceptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

4. Don’t Try to Close Too Quickly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

5. Know How to Make “No” Work for You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

6. Learn the Distinction Between Value and Price. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

7. Close with Implementation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Cold Calling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Checklist for Sales Teams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 2

In any sales negotiation, there are a lot of moving parts
to juggle. Even if you have the best intentions, it’s easy
to get distracted by the wrong things and make fatal
negotiation mistakes. This checklist is designed to help
you sharpen your focus and hone your strategy as you
approach the negotiation table.

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 3

 1 Prepare a Negotiation
Cheat Sheet

Most people prepare for negotiations the wrong way. They spend
hours researching their counterpart and come to the table armed
with trivial facts and figures to justify their logic. Although knowing
whom you’re up against is never a bad idea, memorizing information
won’t help you create a better deal. In fact, your research can
distract you from the real live person in front of you and cause
you to make assumptions—a dangerous thing in any negotiation.

Contrary to popular belief, it’s possible to learn almost everything

you need to know about your counterpart in the negotiation itself.
Rather than preemptively gathering information, focus on translating
what you already know into an actionable communication plan.

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 4

Start by preparing three to five (negative and positive) labels to perform
an accusation audit and get out ahead of any negative perceptions.
Next, come up with three to five calibrated and no-oriented questions
designed to identify your counterpart’s fears, locate potential deal
killers, and uncover items of unequal value.

Before you begin that first meeting, remember to set your sights
on the short term. At this point in the conversation, you shouldn’t
be focused on signing a deal or how that deal will look. Instead, focus
on hearing your counterpart out and establishing a communication
based on mutual understanding. Your end goal should be to make
it to another meeting.

Need more guidance on how to prepare?

Use our Never Split the Difference Study Guide.

“Contrary to popular belief, it’s

possible to learn almost everything
you need to know about your
counterpart in the negotiation itself.”

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 5

2 Uncover What You Don’t
Know and Build Rapport

Most of what you need to know in a negotiation can be learned

by listening with tactical empathy. Rather than giving a sales pitch,
think about how you can encourage your counterpart to open up
to you. If you can get your counterpart talking, you’ll gain insight
into their perceptions, fears, history, and perspective.

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 6

Channel your emotional intelligence and situational awareness to pick
up on the subtle cues your counterpart is giving you. This awareness
will help you determine what type of negotiator you’re up against
and communicate to their standards. Use mirrors, summaries, labels,
and calibrated questions to demonstrate understanding and confirm
your counterpart’s core drivers. You’ll know you’ve understood correctly
when you hear a “that’s right” (not to be confused with “you’re right”).

As you attempt to build rapport, don’t overuse someone’s name

or go out of your way to pry it out of them. Contrary to popular
belief, overusing someone’s name in a negotiation won’t make
them like you more. In fact, it can cause them to feel attacked and
resentful—and render them incapable of hearing you out. If you’re
in a situation where names haven’t been exchanged, say your own
name, but don’t ask for theirs. As a rule, people will respond with
their own name if and when they feel comfortable doing so.

“Rather than giving a sales pitch,

think about how you can encourage
your counterpart to open up to you.”

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3 Get Out Ahead
of Negative Perceptions

In sales you are always fighting uphill battles because a majority

of the population distrusts salespeople. When they interact with
a salesperson, they expect a “used-car salesman” pitch, and they
mentally prepare themselves to reject it.

Rather than denying that these hurdles exist, it’s in your best interest
to embrace them and address them early on in the negotiation.
Build this knowledge into your approach by being preemptive with
empathy. In short, take a cold read and conduct an accusation audit.

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 8

Put yourself in a position to verbalize what the other side deems
to be true whether positive or negative. They may feel that your
outreach is unwanted or a waste of their valuable time. As soon as you
switch into your friendly sales voice, they may assume that you have
a hidden agenda, or they may simply feel that you don’t understand
them and have their best interests in mind. And how could you?
You haven’t established a relationship or earned their trust.

The worst thing you can do is tell someone you understand them
before you’ve made an effort to do so. If you have a generic sales pitch
prepared, you’re assuming that every prospect is the same and thereby
confirming all their negative assumptions about you. Before you can
build understanding, you need your counterpart to lower their guard
and let you in. Addressing negatives early on will help you reduce
their power over the negotiation and disarm an attack before it occurs.
Opening with empathy is also jarring and will cause the recipient to give
you more thought than they may have intended walking in the door.

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4 Don’t Try to Close Too Quickly

If you work on commission, you may feel the urgency to close straight
out of the gate. Which makes sense because your livelihood, company
rank, future prospects, and confidence are directly connected to the
next closed deal. You have quotas to reach, deadlines to hit, bosses
to satisfy, and bills to pay. But jumping to the solution part of the
negotiation too soon will undermine your chances of getting what
you want. It may also create a bargaining dynamic that is difficult
to break. Contrary to popular belief this approach also means your
emotional axis is off kilter.

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Every negotiation requires a three-phased approach. Each phase demands
at least one separate conversation, but isn’t always confined to one.
If you’re trying to lock in a commitment in anything less than three
meetings, you’re rushing it—and your counterpart is feeling that pressure.

In phase one, your focus should be on building a relationship and

gathering all the information you need to communicate more effectively.
You can begin to use that information in phase two as you address
your counterpart’s fears and work to demonstrate understanding.
In this second phase, your goal should be hearing “that’s right.” It’s not
until the final phase that you should even begin to touch on the deal
itself. Phase three is about addressing implementation, planning for
the “what ifs,” and earning buy-in from behind-the-scenes deal killers.

“If you’re trying to lock in a

commitment in anything less
than three meetings, you’re
rushing it—and your counterpart
is feeling that pressure.”

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5 Know How to Make
“No” Work for You

Contrary to what’s taught in sales seminars, getting a “small yes” won’t

necessarily lead to a “big yes” down the road. In fact, driving for a “yes”
can make your counterpart feel like they’re being led into a trap—
a technique that lawyers affectionately refer to as “cornering.” By
taking away someone’s ability to say “no,” you inadvertently undermine
their sense of autonomy and control. When this happens, they put
up their defenses and shut down their comprehension faculties.

On a practical level, asking yes-oriented questions also makes

it difficult for your counterpart to correct you and expand on what
they mean. This, in turn, makes it harder to understand the pictures
in their head. It can also lead to a “counterfeit yes”—an insincere
form of agreement intended to get you off their back.

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Rather than asking questions you already know the answer to, focus
on demonstrating understanding and establishing a collaborative and
comfortable environment. To do so, change the structure of any “yes”
question you feel the need to ask to give your counterpart the “right
to veto.” Take the following examples:

Is that right? Did I miss something?

(Yes-oriented) (No-oriented)

Do I have that correct? Am I wrong in saying X?

(Yes-oriented) (No-oriented)

This subtle change can have a huge impact. No-oriented questions

give your counterpart the opportunity to expand giving them the
feeling of being in control. Framing a question in this way also opens
you up to correction. By admitting fault, you make it easier for others
to tell you exactly where and how you went wrong. People love
to correct—no-oriented questions give them an excuse to indulge
their natural impulses. They also encourage openness, engagement,
and collaboration (all things that will help you gain buy-in).

Before you enter into a negotiation, understand the power of “no”

and how to use that power to your advantage. There are countless
low-stakes practice opportunities to use these skills in your daily life
if you’re willing to take notice.

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6 Learn the Distinction
Between Value and Price

In any deal—no matter the size—there’s always more than just money
at stake. Rather than obsessing over decimal points and dollar signs,
focus on discovering what things you and your counterpart value
unequally to expand the negotiation pie.

The best way to do so is by exploring options rather than presenting

solutions. Price is an expression of value, but they’re not one and the
same. Just because a prospect won’t budge on price doesn’t mean
they won’t negotiate other terms. For instance, you may discover that
they value time more than money, and that they’re willing to pay more
for an expedited timeline. On the flip side, they may be interested in
only one of your services and would be willing to pay less to get less
in return. Appraising those levels of unequal value will encourage
your counterpart to collaborate on the solution and will expand your
negotiation possibilities.

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 14

When you finally address price, it’s important to set clear expectations
for your counterpart. Remember that price is an emotional term.
As a salesperson, you’re probably already familiar with the emotional
reaction that your price point triggers—it’s what you brace yourself for
every time the number slides off your lips. If you know what response
is coming, then you can use that knowledge to your advantage.

If you’re expensive, set the expectation of being so. When you lead
with a statement like, The price is going to catch you off guard, you
set clear expectations and take away their permission to be shocked
or defensive. As you prepare for a negotiation, conduct an accusation
audit for your price point to stay one step ahead of the game.

Many salespeople offer discounts as a last-ditch effort to save what

they may feel is a sinking ship. If you find yourself in this position,
chances are you missed an essential step along the way. Fight
the impulse to correct with dollars and rewind to where you went
wrong. In some cases, you may find that the prospect in question
simply isn’t someone worth doing business with. It’s hard to know
the difference between a bad-fit lead and a faulty negotiation
unless you take the time to uncover what you don’t know.

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7 Close with Implementation

Implementation is the most widely overlooked aspect of sales

negotiations. The irony is it’s also the most important. At the end
of the day, people buy the person and not the product. Once
money exchanges hands, however, the customer may never
speak to the same salesperson again. If there’s no cohesion
between the sales team and those responsible for implementation,
relationships will suffer, and deals will fall flat in the long run.

As a salesperson, you’re responsible for preparing the client

for that internal transition and setting accurate expectations
on both sides. If you let your counterpart get blindsided, it will
have a negative ripple effect throughout your organization.

In the final negotiation phase, discuss how implementation will

look once you conclude the negotiation. To identify inaccuracies
and address potential challenges before they become full-blown
problems, ask “time travel” questions. These questions are named for
their unique structure, which forces people to imagine future events.

“At the end of the day, people buy

the person and not the product.”

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For instance:
If x happens, how should we handle it ... ?
When x happens, what should we be prepared to do ... ?

As you ask questions, don’t forget about the deal killers (DK). The DK
is even more important than the decision maker (DM) because they have
the power to squash a deal before it comes to fruition. Many DKs are
also “silent”—they’re not present or vocal during the negotiation process.

It’s much easier to walk away from a vendor than to handle internal
problems. Rather than waiting for a deal to dissolve internally, attempt
to bring DKs to the negotiation table as you discuss implementation.
To do so, ask calibrated “how” and “what” questions that require their
team to communicate internally.

For instance:
What is your process for coming together as a team to figure
out how to move forward?

Finally, remember that strong, lucrative partnerships are built on strong,

human connections. In other words, don’t use your understanding
of your counterpart’s fears to force a deal or make threats. If you force
a fit (or push a compromise they’re uncomfortable with), you’ll create an
enemy and end up sabotaging the deal before it can be implemented.

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Cold Calling

Cold calling is such a staple in the sales world that it deserves

its own aside. If you’re starting a negotiation with a cold
call, there are three additional factors to keep in mind.

1. Scrap the 30-Second Sales Pitch

When you launch into a 30-second pitch, you make

three dangerous assumptions right off the bat:

†† You assume they want to talk to you.

†† You assume that they care about what you have to say.

†† You assume that they’re going to remember it.

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 18

Similarly, if you take the approach of educating the customer, it can
come off as insulting and aggressive. Most people do their research
and start their buyer’s journey long before speaking to you. They may
even be 70 percent sold—don’t give them a reason to walk away
by making a bad first impression.

It’s also likely that your counterpart has bought what you’re selling
before or has had some past experience that they feel is relevant.
This is true even if you’re selling a new product. If you remember
nothing else, remember that vision drives decision. If you don’t account
for the pictures in your counterpart’s head, then you won’t be able
to influence their decisions. Get them to talk about past experiences
and expectations by asking calibrated questions. Then, use labels
to both demonstrate and confirm understanding.

You: What problems have you had in the past? (Calibrated question)

Prospect: We’ve been screwed over by companies like yours that talk
a big game but don’t deliver when it comes time to follow through.

You: It sounds like you’ve had a bad experience with this before.
(Labeling language)

It sounds like you have a good reason for why this makes
you uncomfortable. (Labeling emotion)

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 19

2. Play the Short Game

When you’re cold calling, it’s also important to play the short
game. People aren’t going to remember a pitch—they’re going
to remember you and how you made them feel. Think about what
it would take to make someone feel comfortable with you and feel
like they had a good interaction upon hanging up the phone. Your
likeability is not informed by how charming or chatty you are; it’s
based on your ability to understand your counterpart and make
them feel understood. To get to that point, think about how you might
communicate to get them to reveal their unfiltered thought process.

“People aren’t going to remember

a pitch—they’re going to remember
you and how you made them feel.”

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 20

3. Don’t Discount the Gatekeeper

Oftentimes, cold calls will be fielded by personal assistants,

secretaries, family members, and other individuals who play
gatekeeper to the decision-maker (DM). Because these people
aren’t whom you’re trying to connect with, it’s easy to write them off
or try to steamroll them to gain access to the DM. But gatekeepers
have much more power than they’re given credit for. They were
put in place by the DM to manage their lives, and they typically
have influence over how the DM constructs their day. As such,
they can become an invaluable ally or an immovable roadblock.

Rather than calling and asking the gatekeeper to pen you into the
DM’s calendar, encourage them to problem-solve with you using
these proven tactics.

At Black Swan Group, we like to say that you don’t rise to the occasion;
you fall to your level of preparation. To truly make these skills second
nature, practice is paramount. We offer a variety of training options,
including live events around the country, to help you internalize
these negotiation tactics and hone your technique. Contact us
today for more info or click here to get to know our team.

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 21

Checklist for Sales Teams

Prepare a Negotiation Cheat Sheet

•• Outline 3-5 labels (negative and positive)
•• Outline 3-5 calibrated and no-oriented questions

Uncover New Information and Build Rapport

•• Listen with tactical empathy
•• Use mirrors and labels to get a “that’s right”
•• Don’t overuse their first name

Get Out Ahead of Negative Perceptions

•• Take a cold read and verbalize it
•• Conduct an accusation audit

Don’t Try to Close Too Quickly

•• Know which phase of the negotiation you’re in

Know How to Make “No” Work for You

•• Change your yes-oriented questions to no-oriented questions

Learn the Distinction Between Value and Price

•• Discover what your counterpart has value for
•• Set price expectations to avoid shock

Close with Implementation

•• Ask calibrated “how” and “what” questions
•• Use phrases like “If X happens, what should we next?”

Ultimate Negotiation Checklist for Sales Teams 22

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