Strategy

Strategy for the Company

Once we have clear objectives for our company, we must then put a strategy in place. Our strategy is simply a series of preplanned steps which enable us to realise those objectives. In other words, we know exactly what to do, when to do it and how, in order to achieve what we have set ourselves. In broad terms it will include:

• defining which person or people are responsible for the negotiation process;

• training the person or people responsible for the negotiation process;

• planning for negotiation with existing long-term business relationships;

• putting times in the diary for review meetings with customers/suppliers.

My good friend Nick Robinson - Honorary Chairman of the Marketing Guild - talks about the five-month itch and the nine-month itch in any long-term relationship. What he is referring to is the fact that there is bound to be dissatisfaction in any long-term relationship at particular points. The five-month itch occurs for a variety of reasons. Maybe the supplier has not quite met their deadlines. Maybe the buyer's aspirations have not been matched.

The supplier in this case should be defending their corner. They should stay in contact regularly. They should provide reams of paper showing results, reports, savings improvements. They should also stay close, visiting in person every two or three weeks. Around the nine-month point in any contractual relationship, the supplier should be aware that a good buyer is already considering other companies, prices are coming in and preliminary negotiations may well be taking place. Now is the time to romance your client like mad.

If you are the buyer in the relationship, you should be gathering information that will help in a review process, information that will help in the inevitable impending new negotiation phase.

Whether you are the buyer or supplier there is an opportunity here for you. Why not build in a quarterly review, which you drive? You set the agenda, you control the process. Call it a 'health check' and increase your negotiation power in the process.

Strategy for the Particular Negotiation in Hand

Our objective for this particular negotiation must be crystal clear and we must know exactly how we intend to achieve it:

• Who will conduct the negotiation for us?

• What information do we need about the other party and how will we secure it?

• What experts or specialists do we want to take?

• How do we ensure that we are controlling the whole process?

• Where should we hold the meeting?

• What do we need in print?

• What is our bottom line?

• What is our ideal win-win outcome?