If you make $100,000 a year, that’s about $50 per selling hour. But when it comes to negotiating with a customer you could be making up to $50 a minute, maybe more. It all depends on your negotiation skill and savvy. Let’s take a look at some of the basic issues in becoming an expert sales negotiator.

1. The Impasse

When you reach an impasse with a customer on price, set aside that issue and resolve smaller issues first. Talk about delivery date, warranty, installation and so on, just to build momentum.

2. The First Offer

Never jump at the first offer, no matter how attractive it looks. Be careful you’re not saying yes too quickly, because this automatically triggers two thoughts in the prospect’s mind: 1) We could have done better (and next time we will). 2) Something must be wrong here. If this salesperson is willing to agree to a proposal that we didn’t think she would accept, we’d better check them out further.

So always go through the process of negotiating, even if the first offer is perfectly acceptable, because you always want the other side to feel they won in the negotiations. In fact, I’d almost give you that as a definition of a “good negotiator.”

Two salespeople might be negotiating the same package of equipment with two similar customers. Both come away with the same dollar figure, but the good negotiator comes away with the customer feeling they won; the poor negotiator comes away with the customer feeling they lost.

3. “Nibbling”

This works both ways. You can get things later in the negotiations that you can’t get at the start. Let’s say that, early in the negotiation for an equipment sale, you try to sell your customer an extended service warranty. She says, “We know how much profit there is in those extended warranties. We’re in a good cash flow position, so we’ll just pay for any service calls.”

Don’t panic! After you’ve reached agreement on the equipment, give it another shot. Say, “Could we take another look at the extended service warranty? I don’t recommend it for everybody, but in your case I really think it’s important. I realize that you’re in a good cash flow position, but what you’re overlooking is the preventative maintenance factor. With an extended warranty your people will call us much sooner because they know the call is free for you. And we can spot problems before they happen, so your equipment will last much longer.”

You’ve got a good chance of her saying, “Well, all right, if you think it’s that important, let’s go ahead.”

But look out for people nibbling at you. When you think the negotiations are all over you’re very vulnerable. Say you’re calling on a local assembly plant, you’ve sold a large order and you’re feeling good that everything went so well. The purchasing agent is on the phone to get a purchase order number, and he puts his hand over the mouthpiece at the very last moment and says, “By the way, you can give us 90-day terms on that, can’t you?”

You’re at your most vulnerable point in the negotiation because you’re feeling good about making a sale. When you feel good you tend to give things away that you otherwise wouldn’t. Second, you don’t want to have to go back to renegotiate and stand a chance of losing your sale. You think, “Maybe I’m better off just to give in on this little point.”

The counter gambit to the nibble is to (gently) make the other person feel cheap! With a big grin, you say, “Oh come on! We worked out a super deal here. Don’t make us wait for our money, too. Fair enough?”

4. Flinching

It’s critical that you learn to react strongly whenever the other side makes an unreasonable proposal. Assume they suspect that you’re not going to agree to their proposal, that they’re only throwing it out on the negotiating table to see what your reaction will be. And if you don’t appear to be too shocked or surprised, suddenly they’re thinking, “Well, that didn’t seem to shock them too much, maybe we will get them to do that. Let’s hang in, and be tough negotiators.”

So prepare to flinch at the other side’s proposal. Slap your cheek, gasp, and say, “You want us to do WHAT???” And you don’t have to be negotiating in person to make this work-“phone flinches” can be very effective too.

5. Trading Off

Let’s say that a customer has asked if there’s any way that you could move up a scheduled delivery of the equipment you’ve sold them to two days earlier than planned. You already have the equipment in stock, and you know it isn’t going to be a problem. You have a tendency to say, “Sure we can do that. No problem.”

Don’t do that! Always ask for something in return. Say, “Well, I don’t know. I’ll check with our shipping people and see, but let me ask you this: If we can do that for you, what can you do for me?”

Three things might happen:

1. You might just get something nice, such as having the final payment check waiting for the installer.

2. You’ve now elevated the value of the concession. Why just give something away? Later you can say, “You know how much trouble we had to go through to move that installation up? We did that for you, so don’t make us wait for our money. Cut me the check today, fair enough?”

3. Asking for something in return stops the grinding away process. This is the most important reason why you should always ask for something in return. If they know that every time they ask you for something, you’ll ask for something in return, it stops them constantly coming back for more.

6. Position For Easy Acceptance

If you’re dealing with someone who prides himself on his ability to negotiate, there’s a danger the negotiations will deadlock at the last moment because the ego of the other person as a negotiator will get in the way. Say you’re talking to a buyer for a hotel about furniture for their accounting office and you’re only $200 apart on the price. You can’t believe that it’s suddenly all falling apart on you when you’re within $200. It doesn’t make sense.

What’s gone wrong is that the ego of the other person, as a negotiator, is getting in the way. The accounting manager may have said to the general manager, “You just watch me negotiate with this furniture salesperson. I won’t have any trouble getting them down in price.”

Now they’re not doing as well as they hoped they would, and they simply don’t want to feel that they lost to you as a negotiator. You have to make them feel good about giving in to you. Do it with a small concession made just at the last moment.

So you say, “Look, we can’t budge on the price, but go along with that, and I’ll personally supervise the delivery to be sure that everything goes smoothly.” Perhaps you were planning to do that anyway, but now you’ve been courteous enough to position them to feel good about giving in to you. They can say, “Well, all right, if you’ll do that for me, we’ll go along with the price.” They don’t feel they lost to you, they feel they traded something off.

Learning to improve your negotiating skills is the highest and best use of your time. You can’t make money faster than you can when you’re negotiating well.