Every salesperson knows that sales are rarely closed in the blink of an eye. Faced with you, the buyer has his own objectives and constraints. That's why the sales cycle usually culminates in a negotiation phase. And if the goal is to sign, it can't be at any price!
The good news is that there is a method for closer in good conditions, and that's what we're going to look at in this article. 😎
Batna stands for "Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement". In French, we use the expression MESORE (MEilleure SOlution de Repli). It's a technique designed to close sales on terms that protect your interests, such as your profit margin or commission.
Batna is therefore the ultimate solution to be activated when negotiations move in the wrong direction. It's a safety net, a fallback solution, designed to avoid influencing the price as much as possible, and to circumvent or limit the prospect's demands.
Your BATNA is the compromise beyond which you refuse to go. The term "reservation value" is used to designate the threshold below which the sale loses money. When this solution is refused by the buyer, the seller must accept it and withdraw from the sale. Because, as a general rule, if the sale is not profitable, it's better to walk away.
We can also talk about reserve conditions: this is your last arrow, and you only shoot it when nothing else works.
The Batna is defined in advance of the meeting, so as to anticipate objections, and have one or more fallback plans when the going gets tough. By preparing his Batna, the salesperson approaches the negotiation in the best possible conditions.
The benefits are quite numerous. Here are the main ones:
It's all the more important to be prepared when you're dealing with a professional negotiator or buyer. This is particularly true for companies that have to negotiate with large-scale retailers.
Finally, Batna is also an effective tool for better time management: instead of being locked into endless sales cycles, you'll learn to surf on the "risk crest". Yes, sometimes you have to force fate, and your Batna will enable you to obtain arbitrations, whether positive or negative. Next!
When objections multiply, or the conditions demanded by the buyer are too far removed from your objectives, you run the risk of missing the sale or (worse!) concluding a sale to your disadvantage. And let's not forget every salesperson's nightmare: signing a shaky contract that is ultimately rejected by sales management, and having to tell the buyer about it.
So much for credibility!
To avoid such abuses, companies define rules that form a framework to be respected by sales staff. In particular, these sales policies stipulate how objections are to be handled, and the margins available for negotiation. It may also include a fallback offer, i.e. a solution to be implemented as a last resort: this is the Batna, or Mesore.
We sometimes hear the term WATNA, for Worst Alternative To A Negotiated Agreement. This time, the party is trying to imagine a worst-case scenario, in the absence of an agreement.
The example most often cited to illustrate Watna is the following: you want to sell your house, let's say for 300,000 EUR. But after months of waiting, one and only one buyer comes forward, for 180,000 EUR.
So you ask yourself: should I agree to negotiate with this potential buyer, or decline his offer? And to answer this question, you compare the 180,000 EUR offer with your WATNA, which is to find yourself with a house on your hands that nobody wants.
But knowing your own limits isn't enough. The art of selling is to rise to the buyer's challenges. That's why good salespeople also learn to identify the buyer's Batna. Because, in reality, your contact rarely tells you how far he's prepared to go (and sometimes, he doesn't even know himself!).
Knowing your limit and that of the buyer allows you to establish a negotiation zone, which the Anglo-Saxons call zone of possible agreement (ZOPA). As its name suggests, zopa allows you to find common ground. By taking into account the latest acceptable offers from each party, you bring out the solution that closes the deal to the satisfaction of both of you.
In this sequence of reflection, you enter win-win mode: a joint reflection with the buyer that enables you to get out of the negotiation-conflict in which each side tries to win against the other.
By default, a good buyer will always try to get as many advantages as possible, especially on the price side.
But, paradoxically, if he finds that the salesperson is systematically making concessions, this will tend to degrade his perception of the product and the salesperson. Indeed, in most industries (and especially in BtoB), a serious salesperson will not sacrifice price or margin, at the risk of being seen as a carpetbagger!
It's therefore essential to defend your position vigorously in order to preserve the value of your offer, whether real or perceived. Furthermore, if the MESORE doesn't work, the salesperson must know how to pull back, i.e. get out of the sale - consistency is a must.
🥇 By learning to say no, you build your self-confidence, strengthen your product's image, and most importantly (surprise 🥳) increase your sign-up rate!
It's often the sales department that sets the limits, especially when it comes to pricing. In this case, the Batna can be a final price below which you cannot go, or a maximum percentage to be agreed on the starting price (you can try, at the outset, to announce a higher price than that indicated in your price list, so as to land on the selling price you are aiming for at the end of the negotiation).
However, BATNA can be based on more than just pricing. In fact, prospects may block on other aspects linked to the offer or the company. You can therefore choose to work on payment facilities, the length of the commitment, a trial period, additional benefits, etc. The only rule is to protect the margin.
To bring out the best ideas, we advise you to work on your Batna collectively with other sales people, and in agreement with sales management. Don't forget that the whole sales team is involved, whether you're a sedentary or travelling salesperson.
Workshops can bring out the best practices observed in meetings, so that each salesperson learns to master the negotiation techniques that work best. CRM software will then play a decisive role in optimizing and evaluating sales performance.
Finally, many companies are creating battle cards. These tools are used to summarize the strengths and weaknesses of one or more competitors, and to take the right countermeasures during sales or negotiation. You can integrate BATNAs to deactivate the perceived added value of each competitor.
