The first thing required for successful communication - be it 
in sales or something else - is to find a common interest. 

Success is achieved when two individuals agree they have the 
same goal and are discussing which of them is going to do what 
in order for them to reach their common goal faster, easier and 
with greater certainty. 

If the person you are talking with feels, even slightly, that 
he has been cheated or that you took advantage of him - by him 
being your means to reaching your goals - he folds from the 
game. Often, this other person could be a customer who feels 
your greatest desire is selling your product - without 
considering whether that product will meet his needs or 
desires. 

If you don't first harmonize, by finding a common interest, 
you end up creating a situation wherein each party is engulfed 
in defending their interests: one is proving why something is 
good and beneficial to the other and the other is defending 
himself by proving why that same thing is of no use to him 
and doesn't suit his needs. 

By doing this, you presume:

1) You will convince the other party to accept your truth, or 
   worse ...

2) You can make the other party feel so "good" about the 
   purchase that they will be back to buy more from you!

This is often impossible. Sure, your prospects may actually 
buy, sometimes - but this doesn't come even close to securing 
a long-term relationship with them and ensure they will 
repeatedly purchase from you. 

The solution is somewhere else, and a very simple one at that: 
once you discover the common goals you and your prospect share 
(such as ensuring greater success for your prospect's company), 
you help him realize those goals. 

Mr. Ron is a sports shoe importer. He was always having 
problems negotiating with his suppliers. Then he changed 
something. Before he sat down at the table again to negotiate 
with his supplier, he said: 

"Look, we all have the same goal - getting your top-notch sport 
shoes to the public. Let's not waste time arguing and fighting 
over petty issues. Why don't we imagine there's a customer 
standing here in front of us right now. Let's all put our 
suggestions on the table and discuss how each one of us can 
help make this customer's decision easier and faster and what 
we can do to make him want to return more often and buy more 
of your shoes from me." 

Just saying these few sentences placed him and his supplier on 
equal and common ground to negotiate. A few days later, he sent 
me a note saying this was the best and fastest deal he ever 
made. And it was so simple ...

   How an Importer Cultivates Loyalty From His Customers - 
   Even When "The Competition Offers Higher Percentages" 

How do you "negotiate" in the real world? How can you convince 
your prospects to buy something from you and keep buying it 
over and over again? The easiest and most successful approach 
is helping the store (in any way possible) sell your goods as 
fast and easy as possible so that they will see buying from 
you as an opportunity and not like purchasing from you is a 
liability. 

That said, the best starting place for negotiating is: develop 
an efficient marketing system for your product (purchasing, 
logistics, marketing, sales, after-sales activities, follow up, 
etc.), test it in the real world and then offer it to the store 
along with the product. 

This way you're not just selling your product as if you were 
saying: "Here it is, now make the best of it ... and by the 
way, we're not through yet; whether you buy something from me 
today or not, I'll be back soon to sell you this product (if 
you decide against purchasing it today) or a new product..."

Offer the tool and the solution. The fabric and the scissors. 

When would you rather buy an unknown product from someone to 
sell? Would you choose the untested product or the one that 
that has been market tested, comes with a case study that 
precisely shows the marketing system they used and how to 
handle its marketing, sales, product education, market 
approach and similar?  

And what if they could even forecast the actual and approximate 
sales success for this product, on the basis of previous 
experience, based on your sales team working according to 
the suggested system (in other words: if you already knew 
approximately how much risk the product presents for your 
company)?  Or, what if they even showed you how all these 
processes work in practice? Or even further, what if they 
offered you sales team training along with the product?

If you offered all this, you really wouldn't need to have any 
polished "negotiating skills" to generate the client's 
interest - you are already offering them exactly what they 
want and need ... and more. If you did all this consistently 
and as part of your work ethic, you would find yourself in 
the desirable situation of you being able to choose whom to 
trust to sell your product. The sales people would be seeking 
you out instead of the other way around! 

This is negotiating for the "new era" that is not only marked 
by greater sales success, but also by deeper and more friendly 
human relationships, an excellent flow of information, the 
ability to act without fear or bad feelings, and above all, 
a lot of satisfaction, pleasure, respect and joy. This is 
what happens when you solve problems where they begin: at 
their cause!