KA Store Management Research / Huang Jing Many new salespeople have a fear of negotiations, afraid of being fooled, but don't know how to avoid it. As a result, they lack confidence and presence when communicating and negotiating with retail chains, leading to unsatisfactory outcomes. In negotiations, information is mixed with truth and falsehood, probes are disguised, and tactics are endless. Without professional competence, it's hard to cope. Supplier-retailer negotiations can be divided into three stages: pre-negotiation, during-negotiation, and post-negotiation. To avoid being fooled, you must put in the "effort" at each stage. Pre-negotiation: Do your homework and gather information
- Market environment
- Market trends
- Historical sales
- Product information
- Competitor situation
- Current own status
- Breakthroughs and weaknesses
- Company bottom line, goals, and needs Knowing yourself and your enemy leads to victory. Understanding the above basic information and data is essential preparation before negotiation. It's like going to battle without knowing the terrain, the enemy, or your weapons—you'd be walking into death. Negotiation is also a battle; to win, you must do thorough homework. You can't be lazy! The more complete the information and detailed the data, the more confident you'll be, and whatever the other party says will be within your control, so naturally you won't be fooled. I've seen many salespeople who were easily fooled during negotiations; nine out of ten didn't know the situation. Remember, with food in hand, you don't panic. During negotiation: Observe closely and react flexibly Negotiation is not static; in the exchange of words, laughter, or cautious gestures, much information is revealed. So during negotiation, bring your eyes, ears, and brain! Pay special attention to the buyer's unusual reactions and actions. Remember, retail buyers have received professional negotiation training, so it's not easy to find flaws in their words. It's recommended to judge the buyer's true intentions from their body language. People always have subconscious actions, which often reveal their true thoughts. (For the meaning of various body language, you can search online.) Additionally, when negotiating with buyers, follow a principle: only respond to questions you are prepared for. Don't be led by the nose. Otherwise, once you fall into the trap they set, you'll be passive. If you encounter a question you haven't prepared for, say you need to verify it and get back to them later; don't discuss it in depth on the spot, or you'll suffer losses. Remember to take notes during the negotiation. Record questions, especially valuable ones and those you answered poorly. From the notes, you can often discern the other party's negotiation strategy, which is valuable for future long-term dealings with that buyer. Post-negotiation: Supervise and reflect For most suppliers, the signing of the negotiation agreement marks the end of the negotiation. But in reality, signing the agreement doesn't mean the negotiation is over; it's the beginning. In a sense, whether the retailer will implement the policies you fought hard to obtain is questionable. Therefore, suppliers should strictly supervise the implementation of terms in the contract and agreement. Make the negotiation memorandum part of the agreement; it's also a means for suppliers to protect themselves. Typically, during negotiations, the retailer may make many unwritten verbal "promises" to the supplier. If these promises aren't recorded in a memorandum, they may become empty words later. So the best practice is to record these verbal agreements and promises in a memorandum and attach it to the contract. For important negotiations, analyze and review the negotiation afterwards:
- Were the predetermined goals achieved?
- What were the strengths and weaknesses of our strategy?
- What were the key reasons for success/failure?
- Which reasons from the other party caused us trouble?
- What important information was not grasped? Failure is the mother of success; perfection comes from continuous summary. No one is born a negotiator; negotiation experts are honed through practice. If you don't summarize and reflect, each negotiation passes without leaving lessons, and you repeat the same mistakes. How can you improve? If you stay at a low level of negotiation, how can you avoid being fooled? To avoid being fooled and control the negotiation, you need skill: gather information and data before, observe closely and respond flexibly during, and analyze and summarize after. Develop these good habits, and you'll become a negotiation expert soon! Author: Huang Jing Huang Jing, expert in retail back-end system design, researcher on supplier-retailer relations. With over ten years of professional procurement experience, from large state-owned retail enterprises to foreign hypermarkets, she has served as procurement section chief, procurement manager, procurement director, and training director, with a relatively complete career in the modern retail industry. She has conducted in-depth research on supplier-retailer relations, especially on procurement issues, negotiation issues, fee issues, contract issues, and various conflict resolution issues that suppliers care about. -END-