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Uh, no, Sparky, you need to get better at everything else so that you NEVER have to negotiate – or at least negotiate 90 percent less.

Negotiation is for people who are lousy at selling, don’t understand buying motives, haven’t provided value, are unable to differentiate themselves from the competition, can’t build trust and have utterly failed at building relationships.

Negotiation is not a problem. It’s a symptom.

Negotiations are all about concessions and back-and-forth bickering about what you provide and how much it will cost. Negotiation “experts” call it give-and-take or win-win. That’s a bunch of crap. It’s lower your price and sacrifice your profit.

I’m in an airplane as many as 20 times a month. In every airline magazine, there’s a two-page pullout advertisement for a course on “effective negotiation.” It’s been in the magazines for years. It must work. I mean … they must be successful in selling the course.

Their latest ad campaign states in bold headlines, “It’s like steroids for your career!” Uh, correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t steroids illegal? Hey, you too can gain an unfair advantage! All you have to do is break the law. Sounds great – where do I sign up?

In the case of negotiation, it’s a violation of the law of fair play, manipulation, ethics and relationships.

Reason you have to negotiate? You were calling on the wrong person or people in the first place.

REALITY: People in the

C-suite don’t negotiate. They discuss, discern and decide. And they do it based on perceived value and trust, not price.

REALITY: Here’s why you have to negotiate:

• You failed to prove value beyond your competition.

• You failed to prove you were

different from others selling the same product.

• You failed to gain enough trust to get a decision.

• You didn’t win on the lowest price, and they called you in to “match the price of the lowest vendor” and potentially win the business.

• You won the business at a low level and were sent to procurement.

Once you’re “in negotiations to get the business,” you’re relegated to manipulating and groveling to get the business – at a lower price, and less (or no) profit. Great move. And you call that making the sale?

The whole concept of negotiation seems like a win-lose proposition. They win. You lose.

If you want to know if it’s likely that you will have to negotiate in order to win the deal or the sale, answer these questions:

How high up in the organization is the person you’re dealing with?

What is your value proposition?

Do you know how the customer profits as a result of buying your product?

What is the customer’s urgency to buy?

How are you perceived?

Do you have the customer’s trust?

How strong is your relationship?

What is your reputation in the marketplace?

MAJOR CLUE: CEOs tell procurement departments what to do. With one phone call, they can eliminate all negotiations and create a purchase order from a now-friendly purchasing agent.

Departments such as plant maintenance, IT, HR, office admin and other low-level (yes, low-level) branches of a business have budgets that they spend. Maybe you should be talking to the people that MAKE the budgets for greater success.

And just so we’re clear, I’m not

saying “don’t take the negotiation course.” Any knowledge on how to win and how to deal with customers could prove to be valuable. I AM saying if you have to use negotiation to win a sale, it’s likely you have given up your profit along the way. Not good.

Jeffrey Gitomer can be reached by phone at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2008 Jeffrey H. Gitomer