Best Negotiation Strategies for Online Marketers
Most times, marketers have little choice on whether to negotiate or not. The only option is how well marketers end up negotiating. Without practical negotiation skills, a marketer stands to fail in reaching their target market and may lose out on business.
How you negotiate often depends on the other side’s approach. Choosing a strategy that best responds to the other side’s approach can allow marketers to fulfill a client’s needs. To effectively adapt your strategy, it’s crucial to enhance your negotiation skills with SNI’s systematic process, which offers valuable insights and techniques.
Table of Contents
#1. Prepare in Advance
Online marketers often negotiate with clients, colleagues, and media platforms. Avoid the pitfall of merely reacting to what others propose. To increase earnings and improve the quality of your projects, plan ahead.
Whether you’re meeting face-to-face or want to bolster your online negotiation skills, prepare in advance by asking yourself what could go wrong. What if the client doesn’t like your first proposal? What if you don’t agree on fees? Preparing well involves:
- Outlining objectives
- Knowing both side’s strengths and weaknesses
- Learning which terms aren’t negotiable
- Deciding when to walk away
#2. Learn Active Listening
Most negotiation scenarios are an ongoing process of discovery. You want to uncover as much information as possible to create value and secure the best deal. Marketers can achieve more by practicing active listening.
Active listening requires you to:
- Concentrate
- Understand
- Respond
- Remember
You need to be fully present and not just waiting for your turn to speak.
To get what you want, you likely have to give the other side something they want. To assess what the other side wants, first listen without interrupting orjudging. Express a real understanding of where they’re coming from. If the other side’s concerns are unclear, ask questions to clarify their position.
#3. Prepare MESOs
Many discussions break down due to not understanding the other side’s expectations. To overcome this stumbling block, online marketers can create Multiple Equivalent Simultaneous Offers (MESO). The offers may be of equal dollar value but have different terms and conditions. Using MESO shows you are flexible and committed to creating value.
For MESO to be successful, a marketer needs to break the process into three steps:
Identify and prioritize issues
What may be important to you may not hold much value to the other side.So invest your time in figuring out what your client is most interested in, and how you can best leverage this in your favor.
Identify likely outcomes
Assign points to each issue. Then, determine which options may appeal more than others.
Develop at least three equivalent offers
Create more than one offer, each of roughly equal value.
Have Other Alternatives
Apart from having MESOs,online marketers need to realize that talking to only one prospect can put them at a disadvantage. Considerfinding other prospective clients and encourage competitive bidding to boost your negotiating position. Locking yourself into exclusive talks may expose you to less favorable terms.
Options can empower you and build your confidence. A powerful way to reduce your risks is to have a best alternative to a negotiated agreement (BATNA). A BATNA provides you extra leverage to ask for more. Relying on a single deal reduces your advantage and increases your risks.
The best online marketers work towards mutual gains with their clients. The most effective negotiations aren’t always about winning for yourself. Aim to create extra value for yourself and the other side. Mutual gains build positive working relationships, which can be crucial in future deals.
So, what does value creation mean for online marketers? During negotiations, both sides should find ways to increase the amount of benefits to divide between them. The best way to create extra value is by focusing on each other’s underlying interests. Why does the other side want what they want? Sharing information can speed up the value creation process.
#4. Offer Extra Services
When discussing content creation, you might uncover that the client needs extra services – like video optimizing, for example. Instead of the client hiring another service provider, if you have the expertise, you can offer to optimize the video too.
The client pays lower for a bundled service than for two separate projects. The client also has the convenience and velocity of working with a single provider. You earn higher by adding to your offering. It’s a win-win for both the marketer and the client.
#5. Use Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is a key part of a negotiator’s skills. Online marketers need to have EQ to figure out what their clients need and how best to deliver. In his book Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman divides EQ skills into five key elements:
Self-awareness
Self-awareness involves bringing our emotional experience into our conscious awareness. By acknowledging our emotions, we exercise more control over our thinking and actions. Without self-awareness, our feelings tend to:
- Cloud judgment
- Limit our abilities
- Impede our decision-making
When in discussions, a self-aware marketer is less prone to giving in to anger.A marketer who knows their own thoughts can also bounce back faster from rejection and disappointment.
Self-regulation
Regulating your emotions means being in control of them. When you are more in control,you are better able to resist impulses driven by emotions. Online marketers with this skill can maintain open and non-judgmental attitudes. In a disagreement, you will be better able to decide whether the other person is frustrated at the situation or angry at you.
Self-motivation
Self-motivated people tend to regard failure as a chance to learn. Online marketers with strong internal motivation achieve more and better results. Self-motivated marketers often look forchances to build up their skills. These marketers may take actions such as signing up for training and mentorship programs.
Self-motivated marketers are often open to new ideas and activities that drive them toward their goals. When you can motivate yourself, you are likely to be more assertive in creating extra value through new ideas.
Empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand other people’s perspectives and respond in a way that shows you understand. In negotiations, empathy allows you to understand the perceptions and emotions that drive the actions of others. Once you gain that understanding, you are better equipped to influence others’ behavior in a lasting way.
Social Skills
Strong social skills involve knowing how to communicate clearly and interact well with others. When you can communicate well, you can better understand other people’s emotions and influence action.
Effective Negotiations for Online Marketers
Choosing the right negotiation strategy can depend on what you want and the other side’s tactics. For effective negotiations, always start with preparing well. Be ready for different scenarios and have viable alternatives. Aim to create extra value. Emotional Intelligence can smoothen the process while extending your influence.
