Win 14% more B2B deals with these 4 tactics - Insights from 2 year Long research

Intro

In this post you will learn what works for email negotiations of B2B deals acc to the research paper titled “Business-to-Business E-Negotiations and Influence Tactics” by Sunil K singh, Detelina Marinova and Jagdip singh

In B2B sales, email is key for negotiating due to the lengthy cycle and multiple stakeholders involved.

You will learn about tactics that have been scientifically proven to help win deals.

Key takeaway

You should be using the following influence tactics when negotiating over email to win more B2B deals:

1. Assertiveness tactics

2. Promise tactics

3. Information sharing

4. and recommendation tactics

I will explain these below!

Research Findings

• One standard deviation increase in buyer attention results in seven fold increase in the likelihood of contract award.
  
  Buyer attention basically means how much focus does the buyer give to your proposal and emails and how much they engage with them.
  

• There was a 14% lift in buyer attention when assertiveness and promise tactics were used concurrently.
  
  Assertiveness tactics include clearly articulating the value proposition, setting firms terms and even pushing back against unreasonable demands.
  
  Promise tactics include promises made regarding the quality of the products or services, promises about turn around time or delivery and other kinds of promises about the product or service in response to buyers’ objections
  

• Concurrent use of information sharing and recommendation tactics led to a 15% increase in buyer attention.
  

  Information sharing means sharing more information about the product or service and its different attributes. The more you share, the more is the prospect impressed.
  
  Recommendation tactics include learning about the buyer’s requirements and then recommending particular product(s) or service(s) from the different ones you offer.
  
  basically not making the buyer go through the tedious process of evaluating different products/services you offer.

Underlying causes

• By using recommendation tactics you are reducing the cognitive load of the buyer and making it easier for them to make a decision.
  

• The more information you share, the more transparent you appear. This reduces the uncertainty in the minds of the buyer.
  

• With assertiveness tactics, you appear to be more honest. If someone is planning to fool you in a Business transaction, they will agree to whatever demands you make.
  
  Because they just plan to take the money and run. But a legit business will have rules and policy on what they can and cant offer in a business deal.
  

• Using promise tactics, you reduce the uncertainity in the Buyer’s mind. Promises are powerful especially when you have a strong brand and they trust you.

Putting it into practice

• ask the potential client what their requirements are and recommend a particular offering from your various offerings instead of sending them a list of offerings to choose from
  

• Don’t bend of backwards to win a deal. Doing so conveys dishonesty and desperation. This does not mean you shouldn’t follow up relentlessly with a lead though.
  
  Follow up a lot with leads but if they make unreasonable demands, push back against them but keep following up until they explicitly say they are not interested.
  

• Reduce uncertainty in the minds of the potential buyers by making promises about things and results they care about (only when you can deliver on them though).
  
  secondly, share as much information with them as they require about your offerings. Getting lazy can kill the deal.

About the study

The research setting involved a global B2B industrial manufacturing firm with a market of $1.6 billion. 47 distinct email sales conversations of its salespeople and the buyers was observed over 2 years.

The Research paper

Business-to-Business E-Negotiations and Influence Tactics” by Sunil K singh, Detelina Marinova and Jagdip singh