C-Suite Network™

Categories
Best Practices Leadership Personal Development Sales

Temporary Price Cuts Need Thoughtful Wording

WATCH OUT! Customers think any price reductions are permanent!

Especially now, CPG producers must feature a price reduction on their retail shelves. But if they want to do that, producers need to temporarily reduce their FOB prices to their distributor, then get their distributor to reduce their wholesale prices to the retailer, and finally, the retailer must reduce the retail price to their customers. If the producer sells directly to retailers, the retailer must cooperate in cutting prices for the customer.

Temporary Price Reductions

 Temporary Price Reductions, or TPRs, can draw attention to your products, help you negotiate for retail displays, and score those customers who passed on your products many times before. But debuting a new product at retail with an immediate price reduction is an awful idea. Why? Because, any change back to everyday pricing would be viewed by the customer as an “increase”. They would be discouraged to continue buying your brand. So, before you employ TPR tactics, it’s essential that everyday pricing is already established for at least a month in that location.

Of course, you need periodic TPRs to bring some more attention to your products, but it’s all about how you do it. Things become more complicated when you try to affect retail shelf price reduction. For example, if you lower you FOB pricing in order to get a lower retail price, both the distributor and the retailer won’t be happy when the price returns to normal. They’ll think it’s an increase!

Protect Your Price

 So how can you do all this without messing with your everyday pricing? The answer is simple: NEVER lower the price! On your invoices, always charge full price. Then, you can offer a one-time credit that’s only good under certain limitations. When you do send an invoice, do so for the full price and display the credit (if applicable). In other words, the credit could be based on volume, time, a performance factor, or a combination of any of these. For example, perhaps you’d offer a program to a retailer or distributor for their purchase during any given month, on the stipulation that they must reduce their margins that month in order to achieve 1 or 2 dollars less on the shelf. You might also require that they buy a certain amount of your products at a time, like a 5-case minimum for example. This encourages a floor display!

Protect Your Sales

Make sure to have seasonal promotion materials ready when you sell this program. This shows retailers how you’ll support your products’ displays. It’s crucial that they understand the credit you’ve given them is only available when they purchase products under your program. Be careful–don’t present your program too much longer before your promotional event, or else the retailer will wait and you might lose sales during the month before the event. This becomes tricky when you rely on the distributor’s rep to create the presentation. We suggest your salespeople, or better yet, you, do the presentations and get the buy-in from the retailer.

When you sell directly to the retailer, the credit will be seen as a one-time allowance under limited circumstances for a certain period of time. But when you offer this credit to the distributor, the retailer may think of it as a permanent price reduction. That is, unless you control the lines of communication and get your distributor to make the TPR and its conditions clear to the retailer. The last thing you want to hear is, “I paid less last month, and now you’re raising your price?!” Giving away money is not easy!

For more, read on: http://c-suitenetworkadvisors.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

 

Categories
Body Language Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

“This Is How To Win Comparisons In The Negotiation” – Negotiation Tip of the Week

“The value of what you compare lies in the value of what you’re comparing.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert (Click to Tweet)

“This Is How To Win Comparisons In The Negotiation”

 

People don’t realize; they’re always negotiating.

 

When people evaluate situations, they may not realize it, but they’re making comparisons. About that, you should raise your level of consciousness; because it’s a truism. In some instances, people compare a present situation to the ones that appear related to prior cases. At other times, they compare the current condition to the possibility of future outcomes. And that’s especially true during a negotiation. Regardless of the timeframe, when making comparisons, you’re evaluating the course of action to take. Thus, in your negotiation and other aspects of your life, when making comparisons, be aware of the impact that the following factors have on the outcome.

 

Listening

An intricate part of good communications in a negotiation, and other interactions, is the ability to listen well. To understand someone’s perspective, first, you must listen to what they say about the situation that’s before them. That’ll give you a mental picture of that person’s perception, and the opinion they have about it. That’ll also be the insight source that determines which comparisons to draw from later in the conversation.

If you’re astute, you’ll listen to the words they use to express themselves, the degree of excitement they share while doing so, and the pace at which they speak – word choice gives vision to someone’s thoughts. Thus, by being attentive to their word choices, you’ll gain a more profound sense of their emotional mind. And that’s the reason why you should listen for a deeper meaning than just the conveyance of their words. To do that, you must give that person the time and space they need to let their feelings be known, heard, and shared.

 

Tension/Apprehension

While you’re actively listening, note the comparisons someone makes while they’re speaking. In particular, observe the points about the tensions or apprehensions they’ve encountered. That’ll give you more clues about the pain they’ve experienced. Later, you’ll be able to employ that information as anchoring points of negativity or positivity during the negotiation.

Most people are moved to action by fear of loss, versus gaining something they don’t currently possess. Thus, if you hear someone speak about protecting what they have, catalog it for later use. At the appropriate time, make a comparison to a situation in which they lose something they have. Then, create a worse condition scenario than the first one. After that, offer your solution as the savior of their woes. By initially making comparisons to a bad situation and one that’s worse, your best-case offering will appear more pleasing, and more likely to be accepted.

 

Anchoring

Anchoring occurs when you set someone’s initial point of perspective. Thus, if someone said your price was too high, you might ask, compared to what? In their response would be the answer to what they were comparing your price. And there’d be gold in their reply. Because they will have given you their anchoring point about why they thought your price was high.

At that point, you’ll have a momentary advantage in the negotiation. That advantage will be in the form of thoughts, ideas, and positions from which to find a medium point. You might consider evoking some of the points you gathered while listening to the tensions and apprehensions that individual had in the past. Or, if warranted, you might instead employ something from the positive aspects of which they spoke.

The point is, you should seek to anchor that person’s perspective to the point that will best serve your purpose. In theory, that would be a position that was best for both of you. That would allow the perception of your point to become embraced as being more solvable to the challenge at hand. And that would mean your anchoring point would become accepted as an influencer to the proceeding that follows from there. Anchoring is a powerful tool when it comes to influencing someone’s views. Use it adroitly, and you’ll enhance your negotiation efforts.

 

Storytelling

The stories you tell are another factor that’ll serve as your ally when making comparisons in a negotiation. A well-told story injected into the conversation at the right time, can instantly alter someone’s position and the perspective they have about a situation. To tell a good story, consider the following components.

 

  1. When telling a person how he can acquire a goal that you see as obtainable, the story should have easily recognized components that the person perceives as being real, and not too difficult to achieve. Allow him to see himself bursting with new pride in the imagery of his new acquisition.

 

  1. Paint the mental picture you project with details you gleaned during the listening part of your interaction. Thus, if the person spoke about a dire time when he missed the chance to improve or maintain a situation, due to moving slowly, you might paint the image of someone being overly deliberate and missing an opportunity. Let him draw his conclusion between that situation and the position that he’s currently in.

 

  1. The timing and pace you tell a story will determine its impact. Therefore, to enhance the effect, recite your story’s depiction at a pace that’s easy to follow and consume. While doing so, observe the body language displayed by the person listening to it. In particular, note when they close their eyes, turn or drop their head, or show a momentary frown, as you mention what they may lose if they don’t act fast enough. The body language gestures mentioned will indicate a fear of loss. Cues such as those will announce the impact your story is having on that individual.

 

Reflection

First, realize that during your interactions with other people, you’re negotiating. And in a negotiation, you move someone’s perspective by the comparisons you make and the way you position those comparisons. Therefore, if you wish to win more negotiations when using comparisons, seek to evoke the level of emotions, positive or negative, in which you touch someone’s heart. Following these guidelines will allow you to do just that. And everything will be right with the world.

 

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

 

Listen to Greg’s podcast at https://anchor.fm/themasternegotiator

 

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

 

To receive Greg’s free “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Negotiation Insight” click here https://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

 

 

#Comparisons #csuitenetwork #thoughtcouncil #Bodylanguage #readingbodylanguage #Negotiation #NegotiationStrategies #NegotiationProcess #NegotiationSkillsTraining #NegotiationExamples #NegotiationTypes #negotiationPsychology #HowToNegotiateBetter #ReadingBodyLanguage #BodyLanguage #Nonverbal #Negotiate #Business #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #Negotiator #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #BodyLanguageExpert #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #GregWilliams #success #Howtowinmore #self-improvement #howtodealwithdifficultpeople #Self-development #Control #Conversations #Howtocontrolanegotiation #howtobesuccessful #HowToImproveyourself

 

Categories
Entrepreneurship Leadership Marketing Personal Development Sales

Speaking is NOT Dead

Too many of my esteemed competitors would tell you that speaking is dead – time to move on.

Here’s what that argument sounds like:

You used to be a speaker, huh?

Gosh – I guess Covid-19 wiped you out.

No events – no meetings – no training.

Bummer – so here’s what you need to do:

  • Set up an elaborate video studio in your house. Buy a ton of gear that you have no idea how to use
  • Start doing $49 webinars instead of your $7,500 keynotes
  • Launch complicated funnels, write these huge sales pages for your $197 online course (you have one of those, right?), and crank out 15-part autoresponder emails to hammer your poor prospects until they buy or die
  • Start doing Facebook ads. The more you spend, the better. Leads, baby, leads – that’s where it’s at

<STOP>

Wrong.

Speaking is just one distribution method for your expert-based business.

We’ve always mentored our clients to diversify their distribution methods:

  • Speakers can consult, coach, and work with corporate sponsors
  • Trainers can create webinars, build online courses, and facilitate
  • Coaches can do group coaching, virtual masterminds, and councils
  • Consultants can sell video series, license their IP, and host CEO roundtables

Any expert who only has 1 profit center is at risk.

That was true before Covid-19.

And, naturally, it’s true now.

You can’t be a one-trick pony in any economy.

The secret?

Diversify while still specializing.

You have a speaking-driven business – NOT a “speaking” business.

You’re in the IDEA business.

And your clients need your ideas now more than ever – online, offline, on video, in person, on webinars, in groups, and privately.

Even if you call yourself a “speaker,” is that the business that you’re really in?

Is the speaking business dead? What do you think?

In this training I help you uncover your 3 critical success factors: Clarity (who you are, what you offer, why it’s different); Focus (who you serve, what problems you solve); Decisions (marketing tools, how to find prospects, get profitable fees) – sign up here <<<