If another company has something that you need and you have something that they need.
How do you start the negotiation?
Here are three steps for starting productive joint venture negotiation.
First things first, start with a pleasantry or short casual conversation. Depending on who you’re talking to.
Two examples of pleasantries from the Selling to Vito book are “thanks for taking my call” and “you’re just the person who’ll appreciate this.”
For example:
You: Vito? Vito: That’s me. You: Thank you for taking my call. Have you ever thought about partnering with a bicycle company to sell more helmets?
Selling to Vito techniques should be used when talking with a C suit member or busy high performers.
If your contact is a bit more laid back and open with their time, start with casual small talk. Like how was your week? Or where are you calling from?
Follow what Jordan Belfort teaches and don't fly off into Pluto, And talk about the price of tea during COVID.
In less than a minute, acknowledge their response. And transition into the reason for your call.
You: Hey, is this John? John: Yes You: Hey John, this is Ed. I was calling you about partnering with a bicycle company to sell more helmets. How’s your week going? John: Good, I’ve been busy. You: Same here, so have you ever thought about partnering with a bicycle company to sell more helmets?
2. Now, from here, you want to let them talk while taking control of the call.
To set the trajectory of the call, you could say, “based on my research, it seems like there is definitely an overlap in our customer demographics. I’m just going to ask you a few short questions to see how we could best leverage each other’s resources.”
They will either say yes or that they have to get off the phone. At that point, tell them exactly how many customers you have to offer them and schedule a follow-up call.
Vito: I have a meeting in 2 minutes.
You: Our email list has 20 thousand hyperactive subscribers that you could sell your helmets to. Could I email you my open time slots for next week?
If you missed a part of their email, verify it, and correct it, you might not quickly get a second chance.
3. The third thing that you must do is understand their pain and business with strategic questions.
How many helmets have you sold over the past year?
How big is your email list?
How much of last year’s sales were from your email list?
What are your top forms of lead generation?
What is your best-selling product?
The key here is to poke the first pain point that you get.
If they say they only sold 5 thousand helmets over the past year.
Say, ouch, that sounds rough, why is that?
They’ll say something like the competitor came out with a new line.
You would want to use a Chris Voss label here.
"The competitor came out with a new line?" - with a confused tone.
They’ll go into more detail, and you’ll label whatever they say.
It seems like the competitor is eating up your market share.
They will acknowledge you, and at that point, you will go into the benefits of a joint venture between your businesses and go for the close.
If you’re interested in any of the three books mentioned here, check them out on Amazon:
May your next negotiation be a masterful one!
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