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The sales process · Proposal and follow-up

The discount was agreed in four seconds and it gets paid for over four months.

Negotiation is the conversation where price, payment terms, scope and delivery are settled. It goes well when you walked in knowing what you would trade for what, and the point below which you would rather lose the order.

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Scope, fee, reporting and term are agreed in writing after we have read your brief and spoken to you.

A small-business owner responds to customer messages beside packed orders

In one paragraph

Negotiation is the conversation where price, payment terms, scope and delivery are settled. It goes well when you walked in knowing what you would trade for what, and the point below which you would rather lose the order.

The meeting had gone well. At the end the buyer asked what you could do on the price, and the salesperson answered in four seconds. Nothing was asked for in return. That discount is now the price for this buyer and, in a small trade, for the two people he tells.

Negotiation is not the closing conversation. That comes next, in the closure stage, and it works far better when price and terms were settled honestly beforehand. This step covers the four things that actually get argued over: the price, the payment terms, what is in scope and when it arrives.

Most of the work happens before anybody sits down. The follow-up in the step before told you who is deciding and what they are weighing you against. Walk in without deciding what you will trade and what you will not, and you will decide it under pressure, opposite somebody who does this every week.

Where this sits

Stage 7 of 10, proposal and follow-up. The meeting where you find out what they need, the quotation you send, and the chasing that decides most of it.

The stage before
Sales qualification
The stage after
Sales closure

If you want this done for you

Stop giving away margin in the last five minutes of a call just to get the deal closed.

Read the negotiation training page

The work

What this step is actually like.

  • “Write the concession list before the meeting”

    Three columns on one sheet: what you could give, what it costs you, and what you want back for it. Fill it in the day before, with whoever owns the margin. The standing limits on what a salesperson may concede belong to the closing step. This sheet is smaller. It covers one deal, with this buyer, on this job.

  • “Trade, never give”

    Every concession leaves the table with something attached to it. A larger first order. Payment on delivery instead of on credit. The second site included now rather than quoted later. Permission to use their name and photographs. For example, a pump supplier quoting a plant is asked to come down on six units. He offers the lower rate only for ten units with an advance. A buyer who gets a reduction for nothing has learned that your first price was not serious, and he will test it again on the next order.

  • “The discount that costs more than the order”

    Price is not where most margin goes. It goes on terms: material you bought and paid for, sitting at a site in Bommasandra, with the balance due after a commissioning date that keeps slipping. Work out what a long credit period costs you before you agree to one. Then ask whether you would rather have given that money away as a discount. It is the same money, and only one version of it is visible.

  • “Knowing the walk-away, and saying it kindly”

    Before the meeting, decide the point below which you would rather keep the capacity free. Say it without drama when you reach it: below this we would be doing it badly, so I would rather not give you a number I cannot deliver on. Some of those buyers come back. The ones who do not were never going to be good orders.

What we do

What you end up with.

The artefacts this step produces, what each one is for, and how you know it is finished.

  1. A concession sheet per live deal

    One page, filled in before the meeting, listing what may be given, what each item costs, and the ask that goes with it. Twenty minutes of work, signed off by whoever carries the margin, which in a small firm is the owner.

    Result: Nothing is conceded that nobody has costed.

  2. A price that changes with the payment

    The same job written three ways: the price with an advance, the price on delivery, and the price with credit. The buyer then chooses, instead of asking you to move.

    Result: A request for a discount becomes a conversation about terms.

  3. What is never on the table

    A short written list: the specification, the testing, the safety items, an advance from a first-time buyer. Everybody who sells for you knows it before the moment they need it.

    Result: A salesperson can say no without ringing the office first.

  4. A record of what was conceded, per order

    One column on the order sheet: what was given, and what came back for it. Lay three months of that column side by side in the sales review and the pattern is plain.

    Result: You find out which buyer has trained you, and which salesperson.

Where this fits

Three pieces of sales work, in this order.

This work sits inside sales process design, at stage 4, presentation and proposal. The audit comes before it, and sales management keeps it running.

  1. Step 1

    Sales audit

    Find where deals are being lost and what to fix first.

    Start here if you cannot say where orders are lost.

  2. Step 2 · you are here

    Sales process design

    One written way to sell, from first enquiry to repeat order.

    Start here if every salesperson sells differently.

  3. Step 3

    Sales management

    A target, a review routine and someone who owns the number.

    Start here if the team has targets and no routine.

Tell us what you need Your brief is read before we call. Scope, fee and term in writing.

FAQ

Questions owners ask before they call.

Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.

Tell us what you need
The buyer asks for a discount before we have even discussed the work.
Answer with a question rather than a number. Ask what he is comparing it against and what the quantity looks like, and say the price depends on both. A discount given before any scope is agreed is not a negotiation. It is an opening bid against yourself.
Our competitor has quoted lower. Should we match it?
Find out what is inside their quotation first, because it is rarely the same job. The exclusions list you put in your own quotation is the tool for that conversation. If the scope genuinely matches and you still cannot win at your price, that is a pricing decision for the owner, not something to settle in a buyer's office.
They want payment terms our accounts team cannot live with.
Say so plainly and offer what does work: a staged payment, an advance against material, delivery in two parts. Do not agree to terms and sort them out later, because later is after you have spent the money. Your CA and your lawyer should have seen the standard terms you offer, and anything outside them goes back to the owner.
When should we walk away?
When the price has gone below the number you set before the meeting, or when the terms mean you are funding their business out of yours. Also when a fourth demand arrives after you thought it was settled. Leave the door open: tell them what would make it work and let them come back.
How much does it cost?
There is no price list, because the work differs by business. The fee is scoped after we have read your brief and spoken to you, and put in writing before anything starts. For sales work it is mostly our time, with production only where scripts, decks or CRM setup need it.
How long is the contract?
The term is agreed in writing after we have spoken, along with the fee and the reporting. It is never a default twelve months, and renewal is decided on the numbers against the baseline recorded at the start.
How soon will we see results?
Fixes to reply time and follow-up are the quickest to show, because the enquiries already exist. Process, CRM and training changes show as the team uses them. Each one is tracked against the baseline.
Who will actually do the work?
The person you speak to before anything starts. We work from one office in Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru, with no account managers in between.
What do you need from us?
To start, last month's enquiries in any format and time with whoever handles them. After that, access to the accounts the work touches, such as the website, Google Business Profile or CRM.
What if we are not happy with the work?
Tell us and the plan changes. Everything is reported against the baseline, so a number that is not moving is visible to both sides. The term is in your written scope, and the refund and cancellation policy sets out the rest.

Where to go next

The work that carries this step further.

Services

The rest of proposal and follow-up

Or read the whole sales process in order.

Your next practical step

Tell us what you are trying to grow, and we will read it before we call.

Eight short steps, mostly taps. Skip anything you would rather answer on the call.

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