He had been in the pool deck and resurfacing industry for about 40 years – and he was a talker. He was also the fourth sales professional I met that day. But I was all ears. Why?
Because my wife and I weren’t yet firm on what we wanted for our pool decking and patio. We knew the pool needed to be resurfaced. It was built in 1993 and had lasted well over its useful lifetime. The decking, however, was another story.
Interestingly, we thought we knew the deck option we wanted before we met with anyone. We had done some online research, spoken to a few folks, and had picked out our preferred option. But after meeting with these professionals, we learned of more and probably better options.
And this is a core benefit in negotiations to a) getting multiple bids for work you need completed, and b) meeting and interacting with possible vendors/contractors.
While we should educate ourselves and get as much information as we can on our own, there’s just no substitute to the information exchange environment that takes place in meeting with subject matter experts. And excellent sales professionals have this expertise.
What should you be exploring, sharing, and finding out? Here is a non-comprehensive list:
– Share your needs and interests and what and why and when you need or want the work done;
– To what extent is this a one-shot deal or do you (and they) want and expect a longer-term relationship;
– Find out their needs and interests and expert recommendations based on your interests;
– Explore what options may satisfy your and their interests and the advantages and disadvantages of each; and
– Ask how they differ from their competitors and the factors underlying how they would make your decision, if they were in your shoes.
I initially didn’t want to spend a lot of time meeting with these contractors, even though I knew it was important. After I had met them, I couldn’t believe how much crucial information I learned. They were all very good sales professionals – and this made our decision a lot better.
Latz’s Lesson: Don’t underestimate the value of actually meeting with potential contractors or vendors – you will get a ton of crucial information that will almost certainly enable you to make a better choice.
* Marty Latz is the founder of Latz Negotiation, a national negotiation training and consulting company that helps individuals and organizations achieve better results with best practices based on the experts’ research. He can be reached at 480.951.3222 or Marty@LatzNegotiation.com.