If you address potential problems in advance, your clients will see you as a partner worthy of their trust.

One of the enduring myths of negotiation is that back-and-forth struggle with your client in the final stage of the sale, the “close,” is inevitable. Negotiation, at its best, consists of open, honest and straightforward communication based on mutual respect and trust. When you approach it as such, it begins in the very first conversation and continues throughout the relationship. We refer to this as the “diagnostic process.” When you use this process, there is no high-pressure, last-minute bargaining; there are few, if any, objections; and there is no need for arm-wrestling in the 11th hour of a deal.

This is difficult for many business professionals to grasp. “What, no objections? No negotiating? No closing?” Please note that I’m not saying, “Don’t negotiate.” I’m just saying don’t negotiate at the last minute.

Negotiation takes on a new definition in the diagnostic process, which centers on clear and precise communication and collaboration—a continual series of mutual agreements and understanding. This collaborative approach eliminates dependence on traditional closing and objection-handling skills. By the time a client receives your proposal, you and
she have come to common conclusions and understanding of all the key elements that would otherwise require objection or negotiation when final-hour surprises come up. You will have agreed on the nature and financial impact of these potential problems, your mutual expectations, the selection criteria for a high-quality solution and the financial
value of that solution. In sum, the client has agreed to each element of a quality decision process and does not see any new terms in the proposal that might cause objection.

Step 1: Diagnosing the symptoms

Let’s take a deeper look at this decision process. The first step revolves around the customer’s recognition that he is experiencing some kind of negative impact, due to the absence of the value your solution provides. Consider a feature of your solution that you believe to have the most value and strongest competitive strength.

Ask yourself, “What might the customer be experiencing without this feature? What would he physically be able to see in his business that would show him, and myself, that he is experiencing the absence of this value?” Think of yourself as a doctor. You are looking for the symptoms of the absence of business health in your patient. Relative to negotiations, the symptom either exists or it doesn’t. You and your client will reach agreement on that quickly, and if the symptoms exist, you move on to the next decision: “What are the consequences of the symptoms?” or “How bad is it?”

Step 2: The cost of the problem

The next step in the process is determining the financial impact of the problem you have
defined. It is important to bring your client a process that will guide her through measuring
the financial impact of the problem, just as a doctor can run tests to determine the extent of symptoms. We refer to this as the “cost of the problem.” If you don’t know the cost of the problem, there isn’t a problem.

In other words, if you can’t help your client measure the financial impact of the
problem your solution will address, he or she will be unable to measure the value of your solution. This will likely result in her not wanting to buy your solution at all, or pay the price you ask.

When the cost of the problem is agreed upon, the next decision for the client is, “Is this bad enough to take action?” When the client compares this problem and its costs to other problems he may have or opportunities in which he might invest, where does this one stack up on the priority scale?

Once these first steps have been followed, you have negotiated away a high percentage of the objections you would traditionally hear, those that might lead to no sale. A large number of objections are made because the client receives a presentation or proposal before these preliminary questions are considered; this is known as a “premature proposal.”

Think about it—how often have you given a client a proposal before she decided she really had a problem that needed fixing? How many times have you given a proposal to someone who said he had the kind of problem you solve, but he didn’t know how much that problem was costing him? And how often have you given a proposal to someone who had the problem you know how to fix, but had not yet decided that addressing it was a
top priority?

Step 3: Designing the solution

When the right steps have been followed to make a mutual decision about the problem at hand, the client has decided to take action. Now it’s time to design a solution together. There are six key decisions to be made in determining solution design:

1. What does the client expect the results to be if he goes through the effort and expense of addressing this problem?

2. What does he want his situation to be after a solution is in place?

3. What is the best alternative or approach to achieve these expectations?

4. By how much will the solution reduce the financial impact of the problem?

5. How much money should I invest to make sure these expectations are met?

6. What do I need to measure and compare to guarantee the solution will work?

These decisions are considered in such an order that each provides a foundation of information to support the next, enabling you and your customer to make every
decision with confidence. Each decision creates transparency that precludes
random objections from popping up at the last minute.

The key to successful negotiation is ensuring that each party is well-informed and understands the mutual interests involved. You are working toward an equitable exchange of value and a continuing relationship. When you reach agreement on each critical
point of the exchange, you bring great clarity to the relationship. The foundation of the diagnostic approach is that it is easier to reach agreement on many small points, rather than a single summary of all those points.

If you pattern your sales approach after a quality decision process rather than a sales process, you will be able to stay away from premature proposals, and you will be unlikely to find yourself a victim of 11th-hour negotiations.

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JEFF THULL, president and CEO of Prime Resource Group (primeresource.com), is a strategist and advisor for executive teams of major companies.