Failure of Communication , Failure of Deal

Price negotiation is a part of business deal making process. It is business as usual and entrepreneurs should not mind involving in negotiation with customers. 

This is the response from one of the hoteliers in response to price negotiation request:  

Rs. XXXXX/- final.I will give u the old rates.sorry, if u want the experience,you have to be able to pay for it.specially if u want to celebrate an anniversary.

With the above response, deal was closed and customer was lost. 

Learning is when one is engaged in negotiation it is not always about one's affordability. Rather than talking about potential customers' ability, entrepreneurs MUST be able to explain WHY negotiation is not possible. This is true even if you are in monopoly business. 

Customer is a millionaire but he won’t pay whatever he is asked to pay. He will negotiate and will pay full when satisfied that wherever is asked is fair and reasonable considering what he is getting in return. 

Negotiation is not about customers’ ability but it is about convincing customers that whatever is quoted is the best possible quote. 

Following reply could have saved the customer and deal:

We appreciate and acknowledge that this is your special day and you would like to make it memorable by spending a few days with us. Let me assure you we will make special attempt to make it memorable. 

As far as pricing is concerned we have been able to maintain the property in such a beautiful way to offer best possible experience to our customers. You have acknowledged the same by referring to reviews about our property on tripadvisor. 

Therefore I request you please do not negotiate on price and we on our part make an extra effort to make your special day , very special with us. We look forward to welcome you on your special day.

Even if one is not able to afford Rs. XXXXX/- , the above communication could have saved the customer for future engagement and even for referral business. 

Point is ; communication plays very important role in business deals & customer experience creation. It can break the deal or make the deal and can bring more referral customers. 

Its always how you make customer feel while dealing with you, not only while using your product or services but during the entire process.

14 ways to become Interesting Company.

We all are BORING unless we do INTERESTING things. 

On Sunday last I completed one of the finest books on marketing The Referral Engine by John Jantsch. In between I finished other three books in between i.e. Delivering Happiness by Tony , Founder CEO of Zappos.com , Linchpin by Seth Godin & Zen of Social Media Marketing by Shama Kabini. All the four were excellent READ. I am enriched !!!

Author of book The Referral Engine writes that BORING companies are never talked about or referred by any one.  

This is interesting. Not only people but companies are also BORING. This made me think about "Which is a Boring Company??"

- Customers -  talks about the way you do business or your product /services?

-  Do they feel WOW!!! while dealing with the company?

- Media - take notice and cover write up or interviews?

- People - eager to join your company (getting good number of resume) and employee turnover ratio is lowest in the industry? Employees are given opportunities to grow personally? Happiness surveys are part of appraisal process ? 

- Suppliers - can’t afford to lose your contract? Ready to offer more credit, get paid on due dates? 

- Processes - customer friendly, quicker and easier to deal with?

- Project - undertake interesting, large, relevant projects and execute with passion and purpose?

- Experiment - invests in our internal people for their start up ideas? Ideas fly from bottom to the top? 

- Innovation - way of life , failure is respected internally, customer focus is the ONLY focus?

- Unexpected - surprise element is a part of your offerings? 

- Social Media - customer often write great reviews about your offerings? 

- Celebrate - all festivals , birthdays of employees (even customers) and  small successes?

- Social - activities are encouraged internally?  

- Case Studies - business school studies your company for their class room case studies?

- Referral Business - most new business are coming this route? 

- Board of Director - have some interesting/weird member not connected with the business and governance? 

(I invite more real life case studies which makes company interesting) 

If no such things (ideally everything must be happening) are happening , of-course then company can be classified as BORING. 

Boring Vs Interesting !!!Agenda is to make company interesting and exciting. Rest will be taken care automatically.