It’s crunch time for sellers, and I wanted to share with you my #1 negotiation tip to help bring your deals over the finish line in Q4. Never offer incentives or discounts until you’ve done this: 👇👇👇

#1 Tip: Always confirm that they want to move forward with your solution before offering incentives or discounts!!!

This may seem obvious, but WAY too many sellers offer Q4 incentives as a way to close the deal before validating that the customer is ready to move forward! 

They may still have unspoken concerns, such as technical fit, implementation support, timing, or higher priorities. 

If you try to negotiate before addressing these concerns, you are simply negotiating against yourself. 

Even if they mention price as a concern, you still need to validate that it’s their ONLY concern before negotiating. 

Here’s a great question to ask before ever offering an incentive or discount: 

“Before we discuss any Q4 incentives, I just want to confirm that you are ready to move forward and have no other questions or concerns we should address besides pricing.” 

If you get their confirmation, then ask about their pricing concerns before sharing what you can offer. You need to make sure your incentive is mapped directly to their concerns. 

For example, if their concern revolves around the contract length, you can offer to provide them with the 60 month rate on a 36 months term if they move forward this month. 

If their concern is around cash flow, you may be able to offer semi-annual or quarterly billing. 

If their concern is about license or consumption commitment, you may be able to do a ramp plan. 

The main point is that you need to make sure PRICE or COMMERCIALS are the only concern before you negotiate or offer anything. 

And always, always making sure you are negotiating directly with the decision maker who can say yes. Otherwise, your incentives will likely miss the mark. 

In today’s training video, I share a great talk track to begin negotiations, as well as several other strategies to ensure your negotiations are successful. 

PS – I just released a FREE COURSE to help you close more large deals in 2025. It’s called Fundamentals of Elite Tech Sales. You can get it here!