The Authority of Information

Here we must take the time and make the effort to collect as much information as we can about the other side and their organisation.

'W' questions are the method: what, which, when, why, who and how? Too often, busy professional people talk rather than listen. The classic example is when you get an enquiry, on an incoming telephone call. The prospect has found your name in a directory. Let's say he calls and says, 'Can you tell me about your training facilities?'

We answer that we've got ropes, we've got camping facilities, we've got safety certification, we've got brilliant instructors, we've got acres of land, we've got, we've got, we've got! What we've actually got is no power, no negotiation strength and no real perception of his requirements. And worst of all, we have given him a load of information about ourselves and further weakened our position.

When he says, 'Can you tell me about your training facilities?', the reply should be 'Certainly, my name is... - who am I speaking to? And your company name? To enable me to get back to you, may I have your telephone number? Before I tell you, could I ask you...?' And then we move into our power-enriching W questions:

  • What are you looking to achieve from your training?

  • How have you used outdoor training before?

  • How many participants?

  • What previous training have they had?

  • What are their responsibilities in the company or the team?

  • What particularly are you looking for in the successful provider?

  • What difficulties have you experienced with previous suppliers?

That is the key question. It will often expose real need or weakness and will give you a significant point of authority. In fact it's an easy question to remember, any time you want to prise out some important information, it often goes to the heart of some difficulty or pain in our counterpart's world.

Stay in tight control of the flow of information to the other party about your organisation. Take great care in exposing your needs, your dependency, staff shortages, cost breakdowns. The only information we should give the other party is the advantage, the gain, the benefit. Which is why we must ask the W questions.

W questions enable us to uncover what the other person really needs and wants. If we are selling, they enable us to discover with accuracy which unique selling point (USP) is relevant, meaningful and powerful. If you think you have a 'cure-all' USP, but in reality it is not meaningful or relevant to this buyer, it is clearly not a unique perceived benefit at all.

Whether you are buying or selling, you have the freedom to be silent. Don't be under pressure to answer every question. You don't have to talk. Often, if you don't respond to the other person's comment or question, he will speak after a short, sometimes uncomfortable wait. In that situation your counterpart may give away more information - information that he intended to keep from you. Don't be unduly concerned by apparently embarrassing silences.

Because of your silence you will learn more and more, which is to your advantage in the negotiation. Also, remaining silent for a while gives you more time to think, more time to decide on your next move.



How to Negotiate Effectively
How to Negotiate Effectively (Creating Success)
ISBN: 0749448202
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 111
Authors: David Oliver

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