Sales Negotiation | Sales Research

What do the best sales negotiators—those who achieve their pricing targets, are more confident in their negotiations, and are very satisfied with the outcome of their negotiations—do differently than those who aren't as successful?

What are the best strategies for successfully leading a sales negotiation? What do buyers really want? Which tactics work best for buyers? For sellers? How is negotiating with procurement different?

We set out to answer these questions, and more, in our Top Performance in Sales Negotiation study.

Through the RAIN Group Center for Sales Research, we studied 713 buyers and sellers in a global study. We analyzed data from 449 buyers—including 247 business buyers and 202 procurement professionals—who represent $2.59 billion in annual purchases in over 26 industries across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.

This 81-page report, including 100 graphs and analyst commentary, will give you fresh insights into what’s working today for negotiation success. Get a look into your buyers' minds as they share what works, what doesn’t, and what’s most important to them.

You’ll also get verbatim answers to questions from business buyers, procurement buyers, and sellers around questions, such as:

What metrics were used to determine the success of the specific negotiation?
What’s the biggest challenge you/your team face during negotiations?
What’s the one thing suppliers could do differently to make negotiations more successful for everyone?

Fill out the form to download the report.

What we uncovered in our Top Performance in Sales Negotiation study may very well turn what some thought they knew about negotiation on its head. Key findings include:

Most sellers cave and give into pure price concessions, but most buyers admit to being able to pay more
Top-Performing Sales Negotiators know how to come in high on price and negotiate down
According to buyers, sellers do not understand ROI (even though sellers think they do!)
Many sellers miss the mark when it comes good selling (sharing ideas, articulating value and differentiators, knowing the competition, etc.)
Top-Performing Sales Negotiators are much more likely to receive extremely effective negotiation training (9.3X! more likely to be exact)
The #1 factor most separating Top Performers from The Rest is understanding the power and leverage held by each side in the negotiation
Despite what they tell sellers, procurement professionals cite cost as a negotiation success metric 12X more frequently than quality

Negotiation skills are essential for keeping margins, profitability, and customer satisfaction high. However, many sellers cave to try to close out deals.

With RAIN Sales Negotiation, your sellers will learn to lead confident negotiations that result in better outcomes for both sides.

Learning modules include: