6 reasons why sales negotiations fail

The purpose is not to win a deal or get the other party/person to concede with us. The purpose of any sales negotiation is to meet your objectives

When we say negotiations fail, what do we actually mean by it. Is it the fall out of a deal or not reaching a consensus? Let’s first understand what is the purpose of a negotiation. The purpose is not to win a deal or get the other party/person to concede with us. The purpose of any negotiation is to meet your objectives — whatever you have defined for that particular meeting or dialogue. With that in place let me share with you 6 reasons because of which negotiations fail

Wrong mindset:

When you go to the table with the mindset of yourself being the winner and the other party being the loser in the negotiation, you have got it wrong from the very start. Negotiation is not about winning or losing. With this mindset, you tend to hide information and perceiving this, because people are smarter than you assume them to be, the other party does the same. As a consequence you fail to go deep with understanding what the other party means or needs or is open to exploring. There is a communication gap which hampers building of long-term relationship

Inadequate preparation:

If you fail to plan you plan to fail. This applies to negotiations as well. Before going to a sales meeting or a business negotiation, you need to prepare for all the different scenarios that might arise during the negotiation. Go through the planning process not to get adamant with the way negotiation flows but to develop a contingency mindset that prepares you for the various avenues. 

Huge ego:

This stems from the fact that we are influenced by our previous experiences and are not ready to let go of the time, effort or cost that have already invested till this point. As a result of which one does not budge from his or her stance. Ego can negatively influence you by stopping you from seeking and seeing information. 

Emotion mishandling:

A common fallacy is that being in negotiation needs you to be aggressive or strong headed. However, research backs that the use of emotional intelligence in negotiations can strengthen your position. Manage your emotions well and it will help you in connecting and convincing the other party in a much better way.

Giving up too early:

At the first hearing of ‘No’ you give up and stop persisting. However, negotiation is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. It’s a process of having a series of ‘Nos’ to get to the right yes or a series of small ‘yes’es’ to get to the final yes. Negotiation requires creativity and persistence to flip over the problems until you arrive at a solution

Agreeing to vague terms:

The eagerness to reach at the conclusion often results in loose ends, unclear terms, confusions on misunderstanding with could adversely affect the implementation process. If one leaves the door open for parties to interpret the deal in their own way, conflict and ambiguity may arise. So it’s best to get down to the details.

To summarize, the reasons for negotiations to fail are not limited to those mentioned above. But, as a start, take cognizance of these and make a conscious effort to combat them. It can give you the desired results and fulfilled objectives. If you let go of the common mistakes of reaching quickly to judgement about others, your own defensiveness and the tendency to control; you can have a win-win negotiations.