Negotiating Successfully with the Three Ts: Trust, Time and Tactics

“In business, you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.” – Chester Karrass

Successful negotiating requires you have a technique. The clearer you are on strategy before negotiating, the more lucrative you’ll be. At the core of the strategy is what Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter” calls the “3 Ts of Negotiating: Trust, Time, and Tactics.”

Master these as part of your selling skills!

As these 3 T’s of Negotiating when used well will boost your motivation in sales and can increase your profits.

1st T of Negotiating is Trust

The more trust you and other party have in one another, the less need to negotiate. The chance is at knowing if the trust is real or only perceived.

Trust only comes with time and the having quality interactions with your client. Remember quality not quantity is important.

To measure the degree of trust you established, consider what your partner has told you about their company or even themselves. As the more they let you know things that is not known by others, the greater trust they have got in you.

Perceived trust is blind and can get you in big trouble rapidly. It often comes when the other party is an excellent communicator and is easy to get along with.

2nd T of Negotiating is Time

The more time you have before it’s essential to finalize an offer, the higher your leverage.

If time is of the essence to you, then don’t allow the client to really know what your timeframe is.

An excellent negotiator will use time to their benefit by knowing timelines that the other party is dealing with – without disclosing anything apart from what is essential to help close the negotiation.

2nd T of Negotiating is Tactics

Finally, people focus on using tactics when negotiating if they do not have an established level of trust with the other person or they really don’t have time working in their favor. The quantity and type of tactics a person will use is in direct proportion to the lack of trust they have together.

One way of taking a look at the role these 3 Ts play in negotiating is to think about the total of the three equaling 100%.

If you have a high degree of trust both ways in your business relationship, then the use of tactics or leveraging time is not needed. In cases like this, trust might be 100%.

Alternatively, if you have hardly any trust in the other party, then you will need to count on tactics and time to complete the negotiation.

The most detrimental circumstance would be when there is zero time to negotiate and there is absolutely no trust between the two parties. In cases like this, the only real “T” you need to use is tactics.

Your potential to improve the degree of trust will usually allow you to diminish the importance of time and tactics.

Start today paying close attention on the amount of trust that is present between you and each of your clients. We encourage you to you to really think about this, even if you are not currently in a negotiation situation.

Wise salespeople know how to examine each T with each client.The more adept you become at this, the better negotiator you will become.

Will be the three Ts part of your strategy?
They must be.

Talk Soon,

Nicky and Dave Cane