A brief discussion on quotation skills in international trade operations
The main content of commercial negotiations is the four major items of price, delivery time, payment method and guarantee conditions, and the price factor is the negotiation in focus. In negotiations, quotation is an essential and central link. So, which party should make the first offer? Is it better to quote first or later? Is there any other way to quote?
Now, let’s talk about these issues in detail.
According to convention, the person who initiates the negotiation should make the first quotation. The bidder should make the first quotation between the bidder and the tenderer, and the seller should make the first quotation between the seller and the buyer. The advantage of making an offer first is that it can influence and restrict the other party in advance, limit the negotiation within a certain framework, and finally reach an agreement on this basis. For example: if you offer 10,000 yuan, then it is difficult for your opponent to expect to counteroffer to 1,000 yuan. Clothing vendors in some areas in the south mostly use the method of quoting first, and the price they quote is usually one or even several times higher than the price the customer intends to pay. If a shirt sold for 60 yuan, the merchant would be satisfied, but they quoted 160 yuan. Considering that few people have the nerve to bargain to 60 yuan, only one person in a day is willing to bargain on the basis of 160 yuan for the vendor to make a profit.
Of course, the seller’s first quotation must also have a certain “degree”. He cannot ask for a price that is too high to make the other party disdain to negotiate. If you go to the market and ask the hawker how much 1 catty of eggs is, the hawker will answer 300 yuan. 1 kilogram, would you still bother to bargain with him? □Although it is beneficial to quote first, it also leaks some information, so that after the other party hears it, he can compare the hidden price in his heart with it, and then make adjustments: if it is suitable, make a deal, if not, use various means Make a bargain.
□ When the famous American inventor Edison was working as an electrical technician in a company, one of his inventions was patented. The company manager expressed his willingness to buy the patent and asked him how much it would cost. At that time, Edison thought: As long as it can be sold for US$5,000, it would be great, but he did not say it out loud. He just urged the manager and said: "You must know the value of my invention patent to the company, so I still ask you for the price." Tell me about it yourself!" The manager quoted: "How about 400,000 yuan?" What else can be done? Of course, the negotiation ended smoothly without any trouble. Edison received an unexpected huge amount of money as a result, which provided funds for future inventions and creations.
□ There are advantages and disadvantages to both quoting first and quoting later. In negotiations, whether to decide whether to "strike first" or "strike later" must be handled flexibly according to different situations. □ Generally speaking, if you are well prepared and know yourself and the enemy, you should try to quote first; if you are not an expert and the other party is, then you should be calm and quote later, obtain information from the other party's quotation, and revise your thoughts in time; if Your negotiating opponent is an outsider, so whether you are an "expert" or an "amateur", you must make an offer first and strive to contain and induce the other party. Most experienced traders in the free market are well aware of this. When the customer is a shrewd housewife, they will adopt the technique of quoting first and prepare the other party to lower the price; when the customer is a careless young man, they will most likely ask the other party "how much" first, because the other party may quote a higher price. The price is higher than the seller's expectations.
□Quoting first and quoting later are strategic issues, while some special quotation methods involve language expression skills. The same quotation, using different expressions, will have different effects. Here are some examples. In order to mobilize liquefied petroleum gas users to participate in insurance, the provincial insurance company advertised that if you participate in liquefied petroleum gas insurance, you only need to pay an insurance premium of one yuan per day. If you encounter an accident, you can receive insurance compensation of up to 10,000 yuan. This statement uses the "division quotation" method. It is a price decomposition technique that uses concepts such as the quantity or use time of the commodity as the divisor, and the price of the commodity as the dividend to arrive at a price quotient with a very small number, which makes the buyer feel that the price is not low. Cheap feeling. If the annual insurance premium is 365 yuan, the effect will be much worse. Because people think 365 is a big number.
And using the "division quotation method" to say that one yuan is paid every day, it sounds psychologically easier for people to accept.
□Think about it from this, since there is a "division quotation method", there will also be an "addition quotation method". Sometimes, fearing that a high price will scare away customers, the price is broken down into several levels and proposed gradually, so that the final sum of several quotations is still equal to the high price that was originally quoted at one time. □For example: a stationery dealer sells a set of pen, ink, paper and inkstone to a painter. If he quoted a high price once, the painter might not buy it at all. But the stationery dealer can first quote the price of the pen, and the asking price is very low; after the transaction is completed, they can then negotiate the price of the ink, and the asking price is not high; after the pen and ink are sold, they can then negotiate the price of the paper, and then the price of the inkstone, raising the price. The painter has already bought a pen and ink, so he naturally wants to "match it" and cannot bear to give up paper and inkstone. It is difficult to make concessions on price during negotiations.
□ Using the "additive quotation method", the seller mostly relies on the series combination and matching of the goods sold. Once the buyer buys component 1, he cannot part with components 2 and 3. In response to this situation, as a buyer, you must consider the serialization characteristics of the goods before negotiating. During the negotiation, you can promptly discover the seller's attempt to "add quotations" and thwart this "temptation." □An excellent salesman rarely asks directly when meeting a customer: "What price do you want to sell?" Instead, he will say calmly: "I know you are an expert and have rich experience, so you will not pay 20 yuan at all. price, but you can’t buy it for 15 yuan.” These words seem to be spoken casually, but in fact they are quotations. In just a few words, the price is limited to 15 to 20 yuan. This kind of quotation method quotes both the high limit and the low limit, "grasping both ends and negotiating the middle", which conveys the message that bargaining is allowed, but it must be within a certain range. For example, in the above example, the bargaining range is implicitly set at 15 to 20 yuan.
□ In addition, sometimes both parties to the negotiation do not make an offer first due to their own intentions. At this time, it is necessary to use the method of "encouraging the general" to make the other party make an offer first. There are many ways to motivate the general, here is just one Weird trick - deliberately saying the wrong thing to get the other party's information. □ If both parties go around and refuse to make an offer first, then you might as well say suddenly: "Oh! I know, you must want to pay 30 yuan! The other party may argue at this time: "Why do you say that?" I'm only willing to pay 20 yuan. "With this excuse, he actually quoted the price first, and you can bargain on this basis. From the above description, it can be seen that the quotation in business negotiations is somewhat similar to the pricing of goods. From some It can also be said that the quotation in negotiation is a disguised form of commodity pricing, so the quotation technique in negotiation can learn from the methods and strategies of commodity pricing.
The other party will generally not give you a price. Yes, even if I give it to you, I still have some reservations.
You just need to make your own quotation.
The principle of quotation is:
1. Don’t be too aggressive and use price to test the other party’s bottom line. This is very dangerous and it is easy to lose your integrity.
2. Strive for accurate prices and decide yourself based on the quality and novelty of the product. Once the profit is determined, the price will naturally come out.
Third, try to make a one-time quotation. If it is adjusted downward, that is, adjust it to 1-3. In this case, even if it cannot be done, you will be able to do it. In the eyes of customers, they are also honest and trustworthy people.
4. Make the quotation as detailed as possible and include as many technical parameters as possible. No one wants to deal with a salesperson who knows nothing. .
Five, pay attention to timeliness, protect yourself as much as possible in the quotation terms, and take into account the price changes of some key materials and exchange rate changes as much as possible.
6. Pay attention. As for the settlement method, it is best to indicate some payment methods that you cannot accept. Don’t waste everyone’s time.
If the other party offers a price, you can understand it in reverse.
Ask him to provide it as much as possible. Converse clauses for the above items