Negotiating without discounting

Trade, don't give. Hold your price by narrowing what 'too expensive' means, and trade every concession for something the buyer can give back.

Part of the Carrow programme. In this sample academy, only the first course, Discovery: the second question, is open.

Lessons

• The first discount is never the last. What a discount teaches the buyer about your price, and what to do in its place.

• Too expensive compared to what? Narrow a price objection to the one comparison behind it before you touch the number.

• Trade, don't give. Every concession goes with a request: a longer term, a reference, an earlier start.

• What you can trade. Write your list of things that cost you little and matter to the buyer, before the call.

• The end of the quarter. Whose deadline it is, and why you don't hand it to the buyer as urgency.

• Silence after the number. Say the price once, then stay quiet. What to do with the pause.

• Walking away, politely. How to leave a deal that only works at the wrong price, and keep the door open.