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 three things were decided in advance. What you are willing to trade, what you will not move on, and the point at which you would rather lose the order.
In one paragraph
Negotiation is the conversation where price, payment terms, scope and delivery are settled. It goes well when three things were decided in advance. What you are willing to trade, what you will not move on, and the point at 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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
A record of what was conceded, per order
One column on the order sheet: what was given, and what came back for it. Read a quarter of that column in the sales review and the pattern is plain.
Result: You find out which buyer has trained you, and which salesperson.
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every monthly report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No lock-in, no guarantees we cannot keep
Three to six months at a time. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
The offer
Start with a free audit of how you sell.
It is useful on its own, whether or not you hire us.
What you receive
- A 90-minute call with the person who will do the work
- A written, scored report on the six places orders leak, within a few working days
- Every fix ranked by what it returns and what it costs
- The one thing to do first, and why
- An honest line on whether you need outside help at all
- If you do, the scope and the fee in writing
No invoice. No obligation. No sales script.
FAQ
Questions owners ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
The buyer asks for a discount before we have even discussed the work.
Our competitor has quoted lower. Should we match it?
They want payment terms our accounts team cannot live with.
When should we walk away?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
How soon will we see results?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
What if we are not happy with the work?
Where to go next
The work that carries this step further.
The rest of proposal and follow-up
Or read the whole sales process in order.