Effective Negotiators Look at Buying and Selling in the Same Deal

One of my clients sells PCs and software. They recently negotiated the biggest deal ever in their 14-year history. The contract was to supply PCs and services across Europe. First they looked for a way to earn authority by choosing to take on a small deal worth just a few thousand pounds. They saw the potential not in the job but in the customer. Price was stated to be a key issue, so they enhanced their credibility by going back through the supply chain. The customer wanted extra discount; my client insisted that for an increased discount of 1.5 per cent the order should be increased from 45 to 70 units. The discount didn't cost him; it actually gained him more profit on the whole deal. Because of the discount the customer then discovered some unused end-of-year budget and placed a further £100,000 worth of orders.

My client asked for payment on delivery and got it! In turn, they negotiated 60 days' payment terms from their supplier. They now had the additional benefit of several hundred thousand pounds earning interest for 60 days.

In the purchasing process they went first to distributors and evaluated the distributors on the basis of a similar quote for 40 machines. They tested on interest shown, speed of response, and hunger.

Having decided which distributor they preferred, they then went direct to the manufacturer and negotiated a few extra percentage points. They discussed other ways in which they could improve their margins. The end result was a pleased customer, a happy distributor, a willing and cooperative manufacturer, and a much richer client. They looked at both sides of the negotiating equation.