Stewart Hirsch, writing for Trusted Advisor Associates LLC, just wanted to help his son purchase a used truck for business. The younger Hirsch had located a dealer with a specific truck that met his needs. All the salesperson needed to do was close the deal. The deal failed for a number of reasons, causing Hirsch to wonder what could have been done differently. I think these same tips apply to negotiating professional services as well:
- Just stop with the lying. Just stop it. Why do dealers lie so much?. Lying loses trust, and trust loses sales.
- Don’t fake scarcity. Yes it’s used a lot as a sales tactic. That doesn’t make it right.
- Make sure policies are grounded in some principle that is important. “You can’t take the truck to your mechanic” was a policy. And if you’re going to claim you have a policy, at least have the good sense to stick to it.
- Stop with the closing. Good closing happens when the buyer is ready to buy. It doesn’t happen because the seller says “deal!”
- Listen to your customers. Should it really be that hard?
AEC Forensics 