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Why are so many salespeople uncomfortable negotiating?

Posted by Carole Mahoney on 3/31/20 7:30 AM

Howie Kra Negotiating

Howie Kra is a man that has a lot of experience in dealing with negotiations. From his experience, we had to ask-

Why are 41% of salespeople uncomfortable negotiating or having strategic financial discussions?

Check out what Howie has to say in this clip!

 

 

Carole Mahoney: Based on your experience in Wall Street and leading sales teams and investing in startups, you deal a lot with negotiations or finding ways for people to finance their ventures. So why do you think it is that so many salespeople- 41% of salespeople - are comfortable talking about money, which leaves 49% that aren't.

So why do you think that is? Why do so many salespeople worldwide have such a discomfort talking about money?

Howie Kra: It's something that I see every day, I'm still managing a big sales organization, is that you have to have confidence. You have to have the knowledge in whatever it is you're trying to sell. And I think people think small too. If I drive a $10,000 car but I'm selling a $100,000 car, I might not believe that I'm ever going to own one of those cars. And I feel weird trying to sell somebody a $100,000 car because I'm not their equal.

But you know what? They need to be sold. So it doesn't matter what car you drive, it matters on how much knowledge do you have in that $100,000 automobile? How great is that fit for that person? And then you present that opportunity to that person so that they're well-informed, they were confident in your knowledge into that product, and it should be a sale.

So a lot of times key words need to be used, too. I watch people beat around the bush. When they go to ask for an order, they go, "I'd like you to pick up $100,000 worth of XYZ." What is pick up? I grew up, pick up was a game, pick up sticks. Do you remember that game?

Carole Mahoney: Yeah, so pick up for me is like, you go to the bar and someone's trying to pick you up. So totally different context.

Howie Kra: Well, that's another conversation that I'd love to have because I'm loaded with information there too.

Carole Mahoney: Totally every kind of sale.

Howie Kra: So, seriously though, you have to ask for the order. You have to say, "Carol, I want you to buy $100,000 worth of X, Y, Z. How can we proceed?" There you go. I asked you for it. I had confidence. Because most of the time the initial ask gets the initial response of, "No."

Carole Mahoney: Yeah. I can't even tell you... There are so many sales calls that I've listened to where they it's either conversations around budget or as you said, just even asking for the business. "Is it worth it for you to spend X to get Y?" And they skirt around it like it's thin ice that they don't want to step on because they're afraid of falling through or something. You can physically see reaction in people. Why do we have such issues talking about money? Is it an emotional thing? Is it, like you said, a confidence thing? Why do you think that salespeople are still struggling with it?

Howie Kra: Well, I think there's a stigma around money. I think that this society does not do a good job at the earliest stage of teaching kids in school about money. They're dissecting frogs. They're learning how to play classical instruments, maybe. They're learning about biology and ... All great, but how about a simple class in money?

Carole Mahoney: Yeah.

Howie Kra: How about how to buy a house? What's a mortgage? Insurance. Real life issues. So I think it's deep rooted and goes back. And then people are very secretive about what they make, what they invest... So it's like this stigma.

So then you throw people that are uncomfortable about money because of their upbringing, and then you throw them into a world where now they have to go ask for money. They're all messed up about it. So I think the best sales people are just able to take the stigma away from it. It's just money. It's just a thing.

So if I asked you to buy something for $100,000 and you say yes or no, well, now we can deal with what really stops you. Because I have never sold anything where when I ask for the order, they just say yes. I mean, I work for one of the greatest CBD companies in the world and we still have to ask and ask and ask... And so much of selling goes into the prospect. Did you qualify the prospect? Because what I see is if you do the hard work up front and qualify the right buyer, you can sell your services.

But if you did a lousy job at qualifying your buyer, you have no shot at selling, so you're just spinning and wasting your time. That why asking for the order is paramount because you'll find out right then and there, are they the decision maker? Are they the people that could say yes? So your time is so valuable.

Carole Mahoney: Absolutely. And to your point too about having kids learn about money earlier, one of the things we talk about in coaching a lot is where does this stigma for money and talking about money come from? Well, not only are they not teaching you in a practical way about how think about money as a tool in order to get to a certain thing or to have a certain thing, it's also the conversation that parents have around the dinner table where you were ... I was told as a kid you never ask people how much money they make. That's rude. You certainly don't ask them how much something costs. And it's like this stigma is cemented not only in the lack of education, but in the things that we're told as a child.

I remember when my husband and I sat down to dinner once and I would have this financial conversation. He's like, "We will talk about it after dinner when the kids aren't around." I'm like, "No, we're talking about it right now. This affects them too, and they should know what's going ..."

It's funny how we carry these things with us and we then apply them to our everyday conversations.

 

Stay tuned to learn more!

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Topics: What Sales Can Learn From Series