CSE Communication & Negotiation Skills 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which negotiation tactic involves deliberately starting with an extreme offer to anchor the discussion?
- Good cop/bad cop
- Anchoring (Correct answer)
- Nibbling
- Bracketing
Correct answer: Anchoring
Anchoring sets a reference point that influences subsequent negotiation by starting with an extreme position.
Question 2: A sales engineer discovers mid-negotiation that the client has a hard budget cap below your minimum price. The recommended action is to:
- Walk away immediately
- Explore non-price variables such as scope, timeline, or payment terms (Correct answer)
- Offer a steep discount to win the deal
- Escalate to your manager without informing the client
Correct answer: Explore non-price variables such as scope, timeline, or payment terms
Exploring non-price variables can create value and reach agreement without reducing margin below the floor.
Question 3: What does 'mirroring' mean in the context of sales communication?
- Repeating the last few words the prospect said to encourage elaboration (Correct answer)
- Copying the prospect's body language
- Presenting your proposal using the same slide template as the prospect
- Matching the prospect's email response time
Correct answer: Repeating the last few words the prospect said to encourage elaboration
Mirroring in communication involves repeating key words to show attentiveness and prompt the other party to continue.
Question 4: Which questioning technique is best for uncovering hidden business pain that the prospect hasn't yet articulated?
- Closed questions
- Leading questions
- Open-ended discovery questions (Correct answer)
- Rhetorical questions
Correct answer: Open-ended discovery questions
Open-ended discovery questions invite prospects to share context and pain points they might not volunteer unprompted.
Question 5: During a multi-stakeholder meeting, the economic buyer and end user have conflicting priorities. The sales engineer should:
- Side with the economic buyer since they control the budget
- Ignore the conflict and focus on technical features
- Acknowledge both perspectives and bridge them to a shared business goal (Correct answer)
- Ask the end user to defer to the economic buyer
Correct answer: Acknowledge both perspectives and bridge them to a shared business goal
Bridging conflicting priorities to a shared outcome keeps all stakeholders aligned and moves the deal forward.
Question 6: What is the primary risk of using email for complex technical negotiations?
- Email is too fast for thoughtful responses
- Tone and nuance are easily misinterpreted without verbal or visual cues (Correct answer)
- Email creates a permanent record that can be audited
- Email negotiations are not legally binding
Correct answer: Tone and nuance are easily misinterpreted without verbal or visual cues
Email lacks vocal tone and body language, making it easy for nuanced messages to be misread.
Question 7: A prospect uses the 'last look' tactic, asking you to sharpen your pencil one final time before they decide. The best response is to:
- Immediately lower your price to secure the deal
- Ask what specific gap remains before adjusting your offer (Correct answer)
- Refuse and restate your original proposal
- Offer a non-monetary concession as a counter
Correct answer: Ask what specific gap remains before adjusting your offer
Asking what gap remains clarifies whether a real impasse exists before making any unnecessary concession.
CSE Communication & Negotiation Skills 3
Which negotiation tactic involves deliberately starting with an extreme offer to anchor the discussion?