Last updated on October 18th, 2025 at 05:57 am
Are you selling high-touch products and services?
Then negotiating sales effectively is one of the most important skills that you need to master.
That’s why today we are going to discuss five next-level sales negotiation strategies…
What is Sales Negotiation?
Sales negotiation is the process of negotiating deals with potential customers.
That includes negotiating:
- The price
- The timeline
- The deliverables
…and everything else that you need to agree on before signing a contract.
If you want to be successful in business, you need to be able to work out deals that make all parties involved happy.
Otherwise, if you can’t do that, you’ll either struggle to close sales or you’ll be unable to command a fair price for your products and services.
Needless to say, neither of these is sustainable in the long run, so the sooner you learn to negotiate sales, the better!
The #1 Prerequisite for Successfully Negotiating Sales
The #1 prerequisite for successfully negotiating sales is having a product or service that you genuinely believe in. Why?
Because trying to sell a product or service that you don’t believe in means trying to persuade the potential customer to do something that you know isn’t in their best interest.
And we humans have evolved to pick up on non-verbal cues that indicate that someone is trying to take advantage of us.
This means that if you come into a sales negotiation knowing full well that what you are selling isn’t really all that great, the chances are that the potential customer will get a sketchy vibe from you and nope out of that deal.
Moreover, unless you are a Dark Triad personality, shilling low-quality products or services will make you feel bad about yourself. And that’s a good thing. It means that you have a conscience!
Alex Hormozi, an entrepreneur and investor who reached $100M+ net worth by his early 30s, offers a helpful framework for thinking about this.
He advises asking yourself this question: if the potential customer knew what you know about your product or service, would they still want to buy it?
If the answer is no, then you shouldn’t be selling it to begin with!
The Top Five Sales Negotiation Strategies
Patrick Dang, an experienced B2B salesman who now teaches other salespeople how to sell more effectively, recommends using these five sales negotiation strategies:
Sales Negotiation Strategy #1: Look for Win-Win Situations
One of the most common sales negotiation mistakes is going into the negotiation with a “me against them” attitude.
This sets up an adversarial dynamic that is not conducive to building a mutually beneficial business relationship.
Instead, you want to go in with a cooperative attitude. Aim to create a win-win situation.
Everyone, including you, should walk away feeling like they got a good deal!
Sales Negotiation Strategy #2: Expect People to Negotiate Your Price Down
If you think that the negotiation is going to go like this:
You: “Pay me $X”
Them: “OK.”
…it’s time for a reality check!
The potential customer will almost certainly attempt to negotiate your price down.
And sure, you can simply say “This is my price. Take it or leave it.” But that’s not a negotiation!
Plus, this hardline approach might come across as adversarial, ruin the rapport that you have built so far, and damage the relationship with that person.
That’s why it makes sense to start with an “anchor” price that’s higher than the “real” price that you are hoping to negotiate.
Say, if you want $10,000, start by asking for $13,000. Then, you can gradually negotiate the price down to $10,000.
That way, you will walk away feeling that you got a good deal because they agreed on the price you wanted.
And they will walk away feeling that they got a good deal because you agreed to lower the initial price!
Sales Negotiation Strategy #3: Negotiate Things Other Than Money
You can counter attempts to negotiate your price down below your “real price” by keeping the “real price” but adding extra stuff to your offer.
Say, if your “real price” is $10,000 and the potential customer is attempting to negotiate it down to $7,000, you can offer them extra services if they agree to pay $10,000 for the whole package.
The key to making this strategy work is understanding the math behind it: if these services don’t cost you much but increase the perceived value of your offer then you don’t have anything to lose by throwing them in to sweeten the pot.
That way, you will walk away feeling that you got a good deal because they agreed to the price that you wanted.
And they will walk away feeling that they got a good deal because they negotiated extra services!
Sales Negotiation Strategy #4: If You Feel That They are Being Unfair, Tell Them That They are Being Unfair
Sometimes in sales negotiations, you will encounter blatant lowballing where you will feel that the potential customer is trying to take advantage of you.
Say, if you want to get $10,000 and the potential customer attempts to negotiate it all the way down to $3,000.
If you feel that someone is being unfair, simply tell them that they are being unfair.
After all, they are almost certainly aware of what they’re doing, so calling them out will let them know that you are not a pushover.
In all likelihood, if they are genuinely interested in what you are selling, they will stop with the lowballing nonsense and start negotiating in a more reasonable manner!
Sales Negotiation Strategy #5: Be Willing to Walk Away
Ultimately, if you want to have any leverage in a sales negotiation, you need to be willing to walk away.
Of course, that’s not always possible, you might be in a desperate situation where that’s not an option.
But if you don’t need that particular deal to put food on the table and keep a roof overhead, just walk away from it if you can’t work out something that makes sense to you.
After all, if the price that you are asking for is reasonable by industry standards, there are probably a ton of potential customers out there who would happily pay it.
We recommend watching this video where Dang explains these five sales strategies in detail and discusses some subtle nuances that you need to be aware of:
Why You Should Play the Long Game in Sales Negotiations
Make sure to consider how your behavior in the initial sales negotiation will affect:
- Your relationship with that person – What’s the most likely way it’s going to play out?
- Your reputation in your industry – What will they tell other people in the industry about you?
- Your business – What impact will the way you handled the negotiation have on your bottom line in the long run?
Understand that it’s unwise to squeeze every last penny out of a deal even if you have enough leverage to do so. Why?
Because it will make the customer feel taken advantage of. They might agree to it if they don’t have any other options but they will resent you for it.
Consequently, not only they will stop working with you the moment they can do so but they will also tell others that you are a shark.
A much better approach is leaving some meat on the bone so to speak. This can help you set up a cooperative dynamic right from the get-go, build goodwill and hopefully get referrals!
Patrick Dang touches on this in his sales negotiation guide:
Bonus: Close More Sales With Strategic Downselling!
If the potential customer rejects your initial offer, one way to handle it is with strategic downselling.
Alex Hormozi recommends offering them a discount in exchange for them doing something for you: leaving you a testimonial, sending you a referral, etc.
For Example:
“Tell you what. I’ll drop the price in half if you leave me a testimonial. Fair enough?”
Hormozi advises having several downsells. That way, if they reject the first downsell, you can pitch the second one. Then, if they reject the second one you can pitch the third one, and so on.
This is a great approach because it allows you to capitalize on the human inclination to return favors (the principle of reciprocity). How so?
If you keep presenting one downsell after another in a cooperative way, you will come across as being really accommodating.
It will make the potential customer feel that you are doing them a favor by working together with them to come up with a solution.
Consequently, they will start feeling an obligation to return the favor by accepting one of your downsell offers!
This approach also helps you frame your downsells in a way that makes sense and doesn’t come across as desperate. You aren’t begging for a sale, you are negotiating the terms!
Finally, doing this will help you avoid potential awkwardness with your other customers.
In case anyone asks why that person is paying less, you can explain to them that it’s because they agreed to leave a testimonial in exchange for a lower price.
In other words: they are paying less because they are doing more. Seems reasonable, right?
Want to Learn How to Sell High-Ticket Offers With Sales Funnels?
Our co-founder Russell Brunson sells a high-ticket offer called the Inner Circle.
It’s application-only and has three pricing tiers:
- $50,000/year (limited to 100 people)
- $150,000/year (limited to 14 people)
- $250,000/year (limited to 6 people)
So how did Russell get to the point where not only does he not have to make cold calls, chase leads, and negotiate sales in order to sell this high-ticket offer…
But where he also need to reject potential customers all the time because there’s so much demand for the Inner Circle?
Russell’s “secret” is simple: the Value Ladder sales funnel.
Though it’s hardly a secret anymore given that he wrote a best-selling book about it!
We highly recommend reading it if you want to learn how to sell high-ticket offers at scale without having to negotiate every deal yourself.
“DotCom Secrets” is available on Amazon but you can get a copy directly from us for free. All we ask is that you cover the shipping!