Recently, we conducted a PulsePoll on the topic of negotiation training. Through this research, we wanted to understand the extent to which B2B sales teams were taking steps to develop and maintain these critical skills. We’ve put together a more complete How Many B2B Sales Teams Lack Negotiation Skills? to share more data and provide our observations, but here’s the headline:
Now…I know it’s risky to interpret polls these days…and I may have to rely on some really sophisticated statistical techniques to make this call…but I’m going to go out on a limb and say that not a lot of sales teams are being trained to negotiate.
And I’ll even go a step further and say that this is not good news…not good at all.
Why? Because a salesperson can’t possibly learn everything they need to know about negotiating profitable sales through osmosis! Because the professional buyers on the other side of the table are continually honing their “margin extraction” skills! Because discounts and price concessions can gut profits and depress customer lifetime values for years into the future!
And the list goes on.
But the good news is that you can close this costly capability gap. It’s just a matter of incorporating negotiation-specific training into your overall sales development program. That part is relatively simple and straightforward.
The hard part…as usual…is recognizing that you have a capability gap in the first place. So…you’re welcome! 🙂
How Many B2B Sales Teams Lack Negotiation Skills?
Recently, we conducted a PulsePoll to better understand the extent to which B2B sales teams were taking steps to develop and maintain skills in negotiation. Explore what we learned in this Research Brief, complete with helpful charts and analysis.
