Insights on Business and Sales Negotiations

Nogotiation Blog

Insights on Business and Sales Negotiation

Join us for insights on how to negotiate a winning balance, where where both sides understand and appreciate the value they receive. As a result, you are more likely to forge a long-lasting relationship that yields more and better opportunities in the future. This idea underpins K&R Negotiations’ Win Wisely™ approach and underlines the importance of using leverage wisely.

Chief Procurement Officer Study: Implications for Sales Negotiators

June 27, 2013

The IBM Institute for Business Value recently released a new thought leadership study (Chief Procurement Officer Study: Improving competitive advantage through procurement excellence) Sellers who regularly deal with chief procurement officers (CPOs) or that CPO’s staff should read it. The paper’s creators surveyed 1,128 CPOs from organizations with annual revenues in excess of $1 billion to understand how procurement has evolved at top-performing companies. The cost-cutting measures following the 2008 economic crisis increased the influence of many CPOs. In 2013, it is clear that top-performing CPOs have evolved beyond traditional procurement cost-reduction practices. They not only toe the bottom line, but are highly innovative, leveraging collaboration and their connections to the…

Negotiator Training Works: ROI for Global Training and Negotiating Firm

May 20, 2013

Client teams that walk out of our negotiating seminars come out with actionable tools they can immediately apply to shorten sales cycles; close bigger, better deals; and build lucrative, long-term relationships with the opportunity for more recurring business. It's one thing to make the claim, quite another when a client's own analysis supports that claim. K&R Negotiations engaged with a global training and consulting firm for complete negotiation training aimed at closing more business for their services, based on the K&R Win Wisely methodology. They were quite pleased (and so were we!) with what they found: The client's closing ratio was 35% prior to negotiator training, with a targeted goal of 50%. After training, closing ratio increased to 73%. The client's goal for margin…

The Best Way to Manage Mistakes at the Business Negotiation Table

May 17, 2013

Imagine that you are in a sales negotiation. As part of your services, you will create a solution for an inventory problem that your customer is having. In the middle of the negotiation, a member of your team tells you that this solution can only be implemented manually, which will drive up the cost $250,000. What do you do? Omit the solution in the next agreement draft and hope the other side forgets the whole thing. Tell the other side that you’ve made a mistake, but you will absorb the cost of the additional $250,000 since it was your mistake. Immediately notify the other side, apologize for this mistake, and tell them that if the solution is still of value to them, $250,000 will have to be added to the price. Say nothing and eat the additional $250,000. Keep silent. Add…

Defining Value in Negotiations: K&R’s ViO™

March 21, 2013

"We're giving you $100K of value for only $60K. This is a good deal!" How often have you heard that sales pitch? Of course, this has nothing to do with business value. Value is derived from outcomes, and a statement like the one above derives from price. Yet defining value is one of the most critical negotiation steps. The strength of your value argument is what ultimately decides your ability to establish a uniquely defensible position and command your own price. Our negotiator training stresses that without a compelling value argument, you're vulnerable to continued discount requests from a potential customer and price cutting wars with your competitors. As a basic exercise in defining sales value, use this simple equation as a test: BENEFIT - COST = VALUE If you fail to calculate…

International Negotiation: Using the MID™ to Cut Confusion

February 6, 2013

“We must have a 10-day shipment guarantee.” “This functionality is a must.” “A price reduction is mandatory.” How often have you heard conditions like these during a negotiation? Sometimes negotiators make every request sound as if it were mandatory. But what are the real deal-breakers? K&R’s MID™ is designed to help you identify and prioritize the issues in any negotiation. Using the MID, you can separate and deal with the truly mandatory goals (or ends) while reducing conflict over issues that may not be mandatory. The MID approach makes deals easier to close. Means are alternate ways of accomplishing goals. The ends are the goals. Unfortunately, many people naturally talk in terms of means; they articulate the easiest way of getting what they need. This can cause…

Negotiation in Sales: Presenting the Value Argument that Wins in Highly Competitive Conditions

January 25, 2013

With pressure to meet earnings and revenue targets, expand new markets and make the most of every resource, today’s global sales force is the difference between success and failure. Communication and online information are leveling the playing field, creating an extremely competitive environment and shrinking margins. Even the best products are one development cycle away from being leapfrogged in the marketplace. Competing on price is the path to becoming commoditized and to being robbed of the ability to present a unique value proposition. Ultimately, it’s your sales people—and their skills and experience—that will help you differentiate yourself, your solutions or your company in a highly competitive selling environment. Watch as Mladen Kresic discusses negotiation…