1. It’s good
to talk
Simon Buzza explains
how we need to adapt
our sales negotiating for
the digital platform
T
he influence of digitisation and the Internet an ever-increasing rate. But as we embrace these changes
has changed the way we communicate, are we forgetting some of the more traditional means of
learn and conduct commercial business. communication and is there a cost to this?
Easy access to the Internet, as with the As a professional sales coach, I recently advised a
introduction of the mail service or the client and good friend on how to manage a proposal as
invention of the telephone, has changed the nature of part of an e-auction, which can be quite a hard way to
our connection to others in our social world. Mail made win business. This is not an isolated incident, and I often
possible connections among people without physical come across people negotiating by e-mail or phone,
proximity; the telephone facilitated communication trying to manage the ever-growing volume of day-to-day
between distant people, making rapid connections data whilst still maintaining relationships and cutting
possible across long distances; and e-mail enables the good deals. Businesses are increasingly being
rapid dissemination of information to multiple locations manoeuvred into this type of supplier/customer
simultaneously. So far, so good – indeed, progress is a engagement in the new digital age.
fact of life and technological advances are being made at Of course, the advantages of digital technology are
26 | Winning Edge

2. negotiating feature
enormous and the Internet is key in nearly every aspect n Emotion is removed from the negotiation, empathy is
of commercial life. However, as we use mobiles and email replaced by insensitivity, and a number of persuasion
more and more, we need to guard against losing some of techniques are eradicated. Rapport and ‘feel good’
the interpersonal and communication skills that we emotions no longer count.
previously used in face-to-face to meetings. Perhaps a purely digital relationship is not enough?
The negotiating table is rapidly changing, but are you More complex relationships and negotiations desperately
aware of changes and what are you doing about them? need a more personal touch – people want to buy from
people and trust is paramount. If we allow relationships
All buyers are not the same to be manipulated by old-style buyers who want to utilise
Negotiations involve some form of interaction and the technology to suit their demands, or if we neglect
relationship between individuals and/or organisations, relationships through the pursuit of faster, more
and the relative importance of the outcome is a key efficient, high volume communication, then the value in
factor in determining the negotiation style. Let’s be clear our relationships is lost.
– all relationships have a value – it’s just that some are In parallel with this, we run the risk of losing our high
clearly more important than others. Low value value negotiation skills as digital technology takes over
relationships, where price is the key differentiator, are and we spend less time practising them.
well-suited to the digital space. The sale and purchase of If you have a high value or important relationship that
paper clips is a great example of how the Internet can you wish to protect and develop, a purely digital
introduce effective competition and minimise time and relationship will not be sufficient. The physical
effort for both the buyer and seller. interaction between two parties is not something that
But we, as professional sellers, know that our can be effectively achieved over the Internet. It is a basic
customers are not all the same, and therefore don’t hold human fact that two people or organisations need to be
the same value for us. Buyers face similar challenges as physically present in order to build rapport and trust.
not all suppliers have the same value to them. And Sellers and negotiators need to get back face-to-face with
remember that value is not just measured by price or their key clients, they need to build relationships with
profitability, there are vital the end-users, and they need to
non-financial criteria such as hone their rusty negotiation
reliability, trust, service and
innovation that are equally, if not
‘We need to guard skills quickly before they are
lost through neglect.
more, important (this was a key
element of my advice to my client
against losing some of What do we need to do?
on the e-auction). But it can be
quite difficult to explain your
the interpersonal and n Segment customer or
prospect portfolios according to
differentiated proposition and communication skills value (and by this, I mean more
strategic relationship during an than just profitability)
e-auction. Added to such we previously used in n Develop appropriate
challenges is the fact that old-style guidelines and strategies for
or unenlightened buyers are face-to-face meetings’ managing negotiations and
utilising the new technology to relationships for each customer
undermine the value and status of segment
their suppliers. Whether it’s unintentional or deliberate n Revise and hone negotiation and persuasion processes
depends upon the sophistication of the buyer. However, and skills. Recent research has shown that major
we should be in no doubt, some buyers are deliberately companies without defined negotiation processes in
commoditising their suppliers in order to secure greater place suffered an average fall in bottom line profitability
power over them. of 63% between 2007 and 2008. In stark contrast, the top
All these changes pose a series of challenges for the quartile of companies who have processes recorded an
sales community when negotiating a deal: average profitability increase of 43%
n The relationship – once the holy grail of strategic n Build personal relationships with clients, and establish
accounts – is demoted to a near irrelevance. It’s replaced stronger relationships with high value clients (prior to
by a contract negotiations kicking off). Sellers need to get away from
n Goodwill trust (being willing to do more than is their desks and in front of prospective clients
formally required, traditionally a strong moral n Find the enlightened buyers and supportive operators
component of key relationships) is replaced by rather than the manipulative old-style buyers, before it is
contractual trust, because how can you really trust too late
someone you have not met? n Embrace new technologies and digitisation as tools to
n Ethics and reputation, which are prime persuaders, are support these strategies rather than being driven into
denoted by contractual terms rather than by the shake of technology-led relationships
the hand or a morally enforceable personal agreement n Electronic and digital methodologies are very useful in
n Non-verbal communication such as tone and body certain circumstances, but they should generally be
language becomes an irrelevance. And the power of complementary to conventional human interaction and
words, combined with body language and tone, which is not allowed to supplant it.
so important in building trust, is lost too
n Written words become the only method of
communication, and they can be misinterpreted. In the
Contributor Simon Buzza is a Fellow of ISMM and founding
partner of the New Dawn Partnership, specialists in delivering effective
absence of seeing and hearing non-verbals, it becomes negotiation practices and behaviours through training and consultancy.
much easier for the words to be misunderstood Visit www.newdawnpartners.com
Winning Edge | 27