Empower Your Business with Prospect Management Software in Vendor Negotiations

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hi i'm devin deen content director here at projectmanager.com in today's whiteboard session we're going to learn a little bit more about negotiating rates with your suppliers now there's four key points that I go through when I'm negotiating these rates on the projects that I manage first off really know what you need second know what the market rates are thirdly get a hold of your bargaining chips when you're working with the suppliers and lastly it's really important to get some help from procurement now in the first part knowing what you need it's important to weigh up do you need a contractor or do you need a consultant from a consulting organization both provide a good level of service but they are to be used in a way specific for your project so consultants you'd bring on for example when you've got a high level of risk on your project or scenario expertise that the general market doesn't have available contractors are really good for general skills you can generally get them for a lot cheaper rates than at consultants but once again they're the type of people who fill up the masses fill up your project team and you wouldn't want to use them on your high risk areas in your project so know what you need before you go after it next know the market rates you can talk to some recruiters maybe in some of your networking sessions with other project managers discuss outside of work some of the rates that they're getting from suppliers really it's important to know what your market rates are so that when you enter into that negotiation with the supplier you have a good firm foundation in which to start bargaining chips now there are a lot of bargaining chips I've worked as a project manager I've also run professional services firms so I've seen it from both sides these key bargaining chips are important to keep in mind when you're working with your suppliers first off you really want to know what sort of work you're going to give your supplier so is it just a person on a project team or is it a couple of bodies a couple of key resources for your project team how many project team members do you need from this one supplier or how many project team members does this supplier have working in your organization those are key factors that weigh in to the rates that you'll be able to negotiate with the supplier likewise is the project work going to be contiguous so that you allow your supplier some good continuity on your resources and allows them to plan overtime or is it going to be Cecotto a week here a week there and maybe a week a month from now if you've got longer contiguous work you're definitely in the running for having a better lower rate from your consulting organization or your con acting body staccato work always gets the higher rates get help from procurement now this is a key part you want to be careful about this procurement are used to dealing with suppliers every day that's what they do for a job but when you bring them in to help you with negotiation they may come with a certain requirement from their bosses on what rates are acceptable or not be careful when you go into procurement make sure you tell them what sort of are your key key success criteria for negotiating a contract with your supplier please be aware that it's not a good idea to bring procurement in if you're just looking to screw down your consulting organization or your contracting body on rates if you're going to pay peanuts you're going to get monkeys make sure when you bring procurement in they've got a clear brief on what you're looking for with all these factors in play you should be able to negotiate good rates that are fair with your suppliers and be able to assemble the best possible project team that your money can buy for more whiteboard sessions and all your project management needs come see us at projectmanager.com