Business negotiations is a complex process - for both seller and buyer. It is therefore not surprising that both parties use a variety of techniques to secure their position. One of the most popular is “back door selling”, which sometimes borders on business ethics.
High-level managers are increasingly aware of the dangers of back door selling. And it is worth noting that this strategy can have a negative impact on both financial performance and the achievement of the company's most important objectives - including building a positive customer experience.
What is back door selling?
Back door sales are all activities undertaken by salespeople to obtain critical information to gain a negotiating advantage and increase the chance of winning business. The effect of these activities can be to reduce the role of the purchasing department in the business negotiation process.
Business negotiations without a purchasing department?
Why are retailers seeking to minimise the role of the purchasing department? The answer to this question is very simple. Reaching out to the decision-makers and, at the same time, not being responsible for the purchasing strategy, on the one hand, significantly increases the chance of selling the product and, on the other hand, allows high margins to be maintained.
„The most successful” vendors aim to build and develop relationships with the direct users of their solutions, the people whose SATISFACTION influences the decision to choose a vendor. These are the so-called „stakeholers” or „stakeholders” of the purchasing department. This allows them to control the entire negotiation process and influence the decisions made by those outside the formal negotiation team.
Critical information to help business negotiations
Contact with employees or department managers is also helpful in building a negotiation strategy. This is because it allows a lot of critical information to be obtained that strengthens the supplier's position.
Experienced and well-trained salespeople easily obtain the information they need in conversations with often uninformed employees or managers. They use natural communication processes to do this. They ask seemingly irrelevant questions that allow them to increase their own influence and significantly weaken the buyer's negotiating team.
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