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Hi there.

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It's Sue and thanks for joining me for Tips and Talk

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Day. These are bite sized topics that I pull from community

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questions and things that I'm observing in the world of handmade

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small business.

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If you'd like to submit a topic DME over on Instagram

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at Gift Biz Unwrapped.

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Before we get started,

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I'm gonna share a secret with you.

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One of my superpowers is the ability to get an enormous

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number of tasks and projects done each and every week.

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I easily meet deadlines,

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rarely forget to do something.

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I know at the start of each day what needs priority,

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attention and action type A personality.

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Yes, and a follow through on the Kobe assessment,

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which should have given me the clue,

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but it wasn't until people started commenting to me that I

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realized not everyone naturally knows how to do this.

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It's the biggest single contributor to the growth I always see

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in my businesses without spending hours and hours working either.

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It's about focus and doing the right things efficiently.

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Prompted by all the questions on how I do this,

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I went about finding a way to help you perform at

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a higher level too.

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I analyzed my methods and formalized my process,

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which is one many of my coaching clients now also follow.

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You can use it too.

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It's all part of a tool called the Inspired Daily Planner,

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made specifically for gifters,

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bakers, crafters,

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and makers.

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Make no mistake,

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this is not your ordinary planner.

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First off,

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it comes with a video explaining my productivity strategy and the

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physical planner isn't dated,

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so you can start using it the second it arrives at

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your doorstep,

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and that's not all included for each day is a motivational

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or business building tip and plenty of space to capture and

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book in time for todos scheduled appointments and all those ideas

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that are now getting lost.

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You can watch the video for free and then get your

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inspired daily planner@giftbizunwrapped.com

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slash inspired.

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Negotiating is a valuable skill to have made stronger when you

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think and plan for it ahead of time.

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When you have strategies and pre-thought out actions in your back

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pocket, you won't give away the house or you'll taken advantage

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of. Instead,

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you can lead the conversation,

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offer options that fit the situation and stay in control,

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cool, confident and collected.

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You'll find yourself negotiating mostly around three things,

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price requested freebies or add-ons and returns.

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Of course,

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there are others,

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but these capture 90% of the themes,

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so we'll focus our attention on the most common ones today.

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It's helpful to know that many people consider negotiating a game.

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I know it may sound crazy,

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but they consider it part of the customer seller interaction,

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if you will.

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Here in the states,

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retail negotiating is less common than overseas,

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which is why it feels uncomfortable.

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I mean,

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here you walk into a store and either decide to pay

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the price labeled on the item or you don't.

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Negotiating does happen here at garage sales or at county fairs

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where there are auctions for livestock and such,

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but overall negotiating on a regular basis is not part of

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our sales culture,

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so you may be caught off guard if someone comes up

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to your craft show table and initiates a sale that way.

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When this happens,

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remember it's a game and you can be the driver of

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the result.

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There's no need to get taken advantage of or give in

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to a customer's offer.

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We'll talk about how to manage this here in a minute.

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As I said,

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overseas, you frequently see people bantering back and forth before a

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sale. There can even be theatrics involved.

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One side will get insulted at the offered purchase price offended

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that what they're selling is suggested to be worth so little

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while the other side acts shocked that it would be so

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much people even walk away from a sale only to come

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back later and agree to the final price offered.

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My husband having grown up in Israel is an expert negotiator.

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He learned from his mom observing her purchasing behavior when buying

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vegetables and meat for the evening meal.

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EMA was a pro.

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Michael says the vendors would see her coming and prepare for

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the lively banter to come.

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It was all good natured and they always parted with an

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exchange of goods and smiles.

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So approach any negotiation with this in mind.

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It's a game.

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Another thing,

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your goal is not for one of you to win and

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the other to lose.

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It's for both of you to walk away feeling good about

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the interaction.

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Neither side may have gotten all they wanted,

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but both feel valued and that their needs and input were

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seen at a mutually beneficial agreement was met.

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One caveat here,

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if you're confronted with a belligerent or abusive,

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leave it or take it,

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type intervention,

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choose to leave it from experience.

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I can tell you that if a relationship starts out that

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way, it will be that way forever and that customer will

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become the bane of your business existence.

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There have been several times I've told someone that their demand

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wasn't doable,

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even when I offered solutions to accommodate their needs.

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Guess what happened?

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Most of the time they accepted the solution and became a

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non-combative customer in the future.

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It's like the old saying,

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you teach people how to treat you anyway,

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my point is there are some people where nothing you do

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will please them and you agreeing to something that costs you

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money is never in your best interest long term.

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Let's move into some pre-planning strategies,

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shall we?

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We'll go through responses for the three most common areas where

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negotiating could arise.

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The first being price.

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Of course,

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someone offers to buy your product at a price below what

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is marked.

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Here's where knowing your margins and pricing your product properly will

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be all important.

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As the business owner,

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you can always decide whether you wanna take someone up on

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their offer or not.

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Maybe it's the end of a show and you don't wanna

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take any product back with you,

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or you wanna sell all last season cents to make room

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for the new season specials.

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These would be reasons to accept a lower price situationally dependent,

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of course,

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but in this case,

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make sure you agree to a price that still covers your

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costs and explain why you're willing to drop the price.

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Very important.

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Let me repeat that.

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Explain why you're willing to drop the price.

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You can say things like,

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okay, let's do it that way.

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I don't have to bring them back to the shop or,

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alright, enjoy the last of these fall summer cents and make

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sure to check out the fall cinnamon and pumpkin conversions.

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That'll be available next month.

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Providing justification for a reduced price doesn't cheapen your product and

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also doesn't set their expectation that they'll be able to get

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a lower price next time because they did today.

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Another strategy for you to use when you're asked for a

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lower price is offering a discount on multiples.

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A single bar of soap is seven,

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and when you buy three,

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it's 18.

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That's almost a 20% discount.

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Have these options thought through ahead of time and include them

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on your signage.

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You'll sell more product overall,

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and you have an answer for that customer who wants a

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break in price.

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A third strategy for the price negotiation.

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If you plan to stay firm on your pricing,

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offer them another option to receive your product.

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A raffle is great for this.

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You can say,

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I'm not currently offering lower prices,

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but why don't you enter the raffle and potentially win a

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scarf for free?

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Then of course you ask for their name and email so

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you can reach out to them later and continue the communication,

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whether they're a winner or not,

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that's a win for you and an action for them that

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doesn't feel like a flat out rejection.

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Moving on to freebies or add-ons,

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a second place where you can get into negotiations.

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What I mean here is when people say they'll buy something

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but then want you to include more on top of what

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they paid for the product for free,

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like maybe they'll say,

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I'll take the scarf,

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but can you include a pin at no charge?

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Or, I love this wonderful dog collar,

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I'll get it,

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and will you just include customization or they'll try and switch

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out a more expensive version of your product at a lower

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products price.

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Depending on what you sell.

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Think about these possible scenarios and decide on your response accordingly,

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and don't be afraid to negotiate back.

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Say, I'll do that for you.

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If you take two instead of one,

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you can use the second one as a gift or offer

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them a chance to get into your exclusive club with first

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looks at new designs,

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or give them two punches instead of one on a loyalty

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program depending on what you sell.

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Again, think through these possible scenarios and decide what a good

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response for you would be.

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The third area of negotiation that we'll discuss here is returns.

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Obviously, if there's a return due to an error on your

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part, it's your responsibility to make it right at your cost.

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We're not talking about that here,

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but if someone wants to exchange a product or return it

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because they don't want it anymore,

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have firm rules in place for this.

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When this is an online transaction,

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typically businesses will require the customer to pay for sending a

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product back and pay for shipping again to resend a new

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product. Also,

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remember, in a delivery situation,

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you have other costs like time for preparing the order to

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leave the shop,

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packing materials and things like that.

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That's why you'll sometimes see a shipping and handling fee added

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to a sale at checkout.

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Whatever you decide for returns,

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make sure to explain clearly on your website what the procedures

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are. You may decide you wanna talk to a customer before

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you initiate a return.

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You may send them a return label or request a return

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percentage that is taken off the return credit.

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There are lots of ways of managing this.

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If you're addressing a face-to-face return,

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this is more likely where negotiation could occur.

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The solutions to these will probably fall into the first two

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scenarios we've already covered,

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so once you plan your responses,

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you should be good to go there.

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In conclusion,

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keep in mind that some people want to play the negotiation

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game because they just wanna test the system.

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They wanna ensure that they're getting the best possible deal.

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I found the best emotional approach on your end is to

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stay calm and place no judgment on the event ways of

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interacting. Just like personalities come in all shapes and sizes,

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accept it and join the game.

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You're getting a chance to interact with a current or potential

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customer, and you do have the opportunity and ability to walk

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away from this engagement having left an even better impression than

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if there had been no negotiation at all.

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That's a wrap.

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I'm a get to the point kind of girl,

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and this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

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sessions. Now it's your turn.

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Go out and fulfill that dream of yours.

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Share your handmade products with us.

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We want them and they bring us both so much happiness.