Click the blue text above to follow "FMCG Distributor Professional Consulting" for more marketing and distributor management insights.

As a sales manager, you deal with procurement negotiations daily. These buyers are typically trained before taking their positions, so they will always remember to use the negotiation techniques they've learned when negotiating with you.

As a sales manager, if your company hasn't provided professional training—especially for newly appointed sales managers—you may find it difficult to see through the tactics buyers use. Not realizing these are just their habitual tricks, you might end up with no gains or unconditionally concede to the buyer's demands.

Therefore, companies should first provide basic negotiation training to newly appointed sales managers, helping them understand and become familiar with buyers' negotiation tactics and how to counter them. Unfortunately, many companies fail to do this, leaving many sales managers panicked and at a loss when facing buyers.

Below, based on the common negotiation tactics used by key account (KA) buyers, I've found counter-strategies that I hope will help sales managers. These are the thirty tactics to counter buyer negotiation techniques.

Buyer's tactics are abbreviated as "B"; Salesperson's counter-strategies are abbreviated as "S".

1. (B) Never try to like a salesperson, but say he is your partner. ---(S) Always like the buyer, and always treat his boss as the enemy.

2. (B) Treat the salesperson as our number one enemy. ---(S) Treat the buyer's boss as our number one enemy, and treat the buyer as a friend.

3. (B) Never accept the first offer; make the salesperson beg. This will provide us with a better deal. ---(S) Never give only one price; exchange it for something you need.

4. (B) Always use the slogan: "You can do better." ---(S) "Actually, I do better at your competitor's store."

5. (B) Always keep the lowest price record and keep asking for more until the salesperson stops offering discounts. ---(S) "I'm telling you this is my bottom line, and I'll stop supplying my products to you. This is my boss's decision."

6. (B) Always consider yourself as someone's subordinate, and think the salesperson always has a superior who can offer extra discounts. ---(S) "My boss doesn't understand or value our deal; he has no concept, but he has principles."

7. (B) When a salesperson easily accepts, or goes to the restroom, or makes a phone call and gets approval, consider what he gave as easily obtained and ask for more. ---(S) "Before calling, ask if there are any additional conditions."

8. (B) Be smart, but pretend to be foolish. ---(S) Use the same tactic.

9. (B) Don't make concessions before raising objections. ---(S) Remember: you lose something, you gain something; and gain ≥ loss.

10. (B) Remember that when a salesperson comes to ask for something, he has some conditions he can give. ---(S) Tell him: "If you don't agree to do (something), your competitor is waiting for me to do (something) there."

11. (B) Remember that salespeople don't ask; they are already waiting for the buyer to make demands, and they usually never ask for anything in return. ---(S) They are deceiving themselves! Now any manufacturer's salesperson knows that input should be proportional to output.

12. (B) Don't feel sorry for the salesperson; play the bad kid game. ---(S) It's his boss's ugly face, not his original intention, so tell him that admitting mistakes and correcting them is what makes a good kid.

13. (B) Use arguments without hesitation, even if they are false; for example: "Competitors always give us the best quotes, best turnover, and payment terms." ---(S) Tell them the data you know, even if it's not accurate, treat it as fact; they will be even more confused.

14. (B) Repeatedly repeat the same objections even if they are absurd; the more you repeat, the more the salesperson will believe. ---(S) Remember: all the objections the buyer raises are nonsense; just listen and don't take them seriously!

15. (B) Don't forget that in the final round of negotiation, you will get 80% of the conditions; make the salesperson worry he will lose. ---(S) In your mind, no deal can be closed in fewer than 3 sessions; negotiate at least 5 times to make the buyer anxious and compromise.

16. (B) Don't forget to learn as much as possible about the personality and needs of the salespeople who visit us daily, and try to find their weaknesses. ---(S) A buyer is responsible for at least dozens of suppliers, while you only handle him; believe you have enough opportunities to find his weaknesses.

17. (B) Demand impossible things to annoy the salesperson; threaten him by delaying agreements at any time, make him wait, set a meeting time but don't show up, have another salesperson replace him, threaten to remove his product, reduce his product's display space, clear out promotional staff, and give him almost no time to decide. Even if wrong, do your own calculations; the salesperson will give you more. ---(S) Support the buyer strongly in daily operations, continuously weaken your competitors, and make the buyer not rely on any of your competitors.

18. (B) Note that discounts have other names, such as bonuses, gifts, souvenirs, sponsorships, subsidies, insert ads, compensation, slotting fees, donations, re-launches, anniversaries, etc.; all are welcome. ---(S) Okay, but keep changing trade terms. Remember, the buyer ultimately looks at the total, and so do you, but you can factor in brand value enhancement, which is not the buyer's expertise. Ask your marketing department for some resources.

19. (B) Don't go into a dead end; that's the worst thing for a buyer. ---(S) "Tell him this is a dead end; if you go in, I'll use extreme measures without hesitation, and get his boss complained about by store and regional managers, so his boss knows this is a minefield and won't touch it."

20. (B) Avoid the topic of "profit" because "the devil avoids the cross." ---(S) Don't care what he says about not making money; when they really don't make money, they'll come begging you.

21. (B) If the salesperson takes too long to answer, say you've already made a deal with his competitor. ---(S) Joke aside, the competitor's sales manager has always wanted to be my assistant; he also needs room for development. Besides, it's good to let competitors do loss-making business; they have a budget.

22. (B) Never let any competitor bargain for any promotion. ---(S) In retail, there has never been absolute monopoly, so ignore it.

23. (B) Your slogan must be: "You sell everything I buy, but I don't always buy everything I sell." ---(S) Even the greatest brand must know which SKUs don't sell well; balance is ideal.

24. (B) Don't allow salespeople to read the data on the screen; the less they know, the more they believe us. ---(S) The data on the computer isn't real either, because it can be modified at will, so we don't even look. Having our own real data is enough.

25. (B) Don't be intimidated by the salesperson's new equipment; it doesn't mean they are ready to negotiate. ---(S) Next time, bring a projector and laptop, make a 100-page PPT, and talk for 2 hours.

26. (B) Don't worry whether the salesperson is old or young; they all give in easily. The old think they know everything, and the young lack experience. ---(S) Salespeople shouldn't be judged by age. Remember the basic principle: your demands ≥ your concessions.

27. (B) If the salesperson comes with his boss, ask for more discounts, more participation in promotions, and threaten to remove his product, because the boss doesn't want to lose an orderly customer in front of the salesperson. ---(S) You are in charge of sales in this region, so never bring your boss with you.

28. (B) Whenever a competitor is running a promotion, ask the salesperson, "What did you do there?" and demand the same conditions. ---(S) Tell him: The secret to market success is differentiation; there's no need to be the same as his competitor. Next time, I'll run a different promotion here.

29. (B) When you can't decide immediately, tell the salesperson you need to report to your boss and can't make the decision. ---(S) This shows two things: 1. Your negotiation skills are high, and he can't handle you; 2. The promotion you offer is important and needs to be reported. But when he makes demands you can't decide on immediately, do the same: report to your boss.

30. (B) Behind a great brand, you can find a salesperson with no experience who relies solely on the brand. ---(S) You also know that the same applies to retail buyers.

Read the original article and report.