Sales process automation tools in Vendor negotiations

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hi guys ian johnson from drive success calm today I want to talk to you guys about some essential negotiation tips for procurement in terms of purchasing managers procurement professionals warehouse employees inventory managers and what I'm doing today is I'm basically doing it from the mindset of having been a salesperson and I want to discuss the best strategies that have worked against me and I've worked in sales and marketing for 20 years I've done a lot of different consulting projects and I've done supply chain management consulting projects where I've helped companies identify the ideal supply chain based on their customers and markets the types of products are offering and everything else so I have a lot of experience in this but what I'm what I want to focus on today is I want to focus on five essential tips that I see the best negotiation people use in terms of how they go about purchasing things from me as a salesperson ok so the first thing I want to talk to you about is I want you to stop or I want you to avoid broadcasting your needs too soon in the process ok so I want you to avoid tipping your hand okay so this is stop broadcasting your needs and what do I mean by this essentially what I mean is a lot of times in negotiation the individuals that kind of tip their hand too soon in the process allow people like me advanced warning in order to be better prepared in terms of how I process the negotiation what I want you to do is I want you to stop mentioning things to certain in the process that you see as critical to moving forward what I want you to do is I want you to save those to the end so you're going to do your typical negotiation in terms of pricing while this vendor is offering this and that vendor is offering that or you don't mention the vendors day but you're saying you know we're seeing this price in the market once you nail down a price with your vendor and you're happy with it okay once your vendor says here's the final price okay this is the final price we're offering then you start as for those things that you need Hey okay so this is the final price what about prepayment what if we prepay what if we pay upfront you give us a discount what if we pay within 10 days okay will you give us one to two percent off if we prepay will you give us three percent off okay will you give us five percent off what if we purchase a higher volume what if we commit to a higher volume so what I'm what I'm trying to do here is I want you to basically wait until that final price do your standard negotiation in terms of this is what we're seeing wait until they give you that final price and then start to hit these things that you can use to narrow or reduce that price down even further okay focus on that strategy the second thing I want you to do is I want you to avoid veiled threats now what do I mean by veiled threats these are threats okay when I get on the phone with a corporate buyer who is constantly screaming or yelling or basically you know boasting about how they're going to take their business elsewhere they never do I can't take it seriously so avoid using veiled threats if you're going to use a threat then basically you know follow through with some kinds of consequence but don't start using all kinds of veiled threats that have no meaning because guys like me I know when you're playing a game I know exactly when you're serious and when you're not serious so don't do it okay the third thing I want you to do is I want you to match I want you to match a concession for a concession in negotiation now a concession a concession is essentially these things up here okay these are your concessions I want you to focus on high-value concession for a high-value concession okay so if you're if your customer if I'm sorry if you're if you're if you're a salesperson you're buying from says okay well you know I can give you 1% whatever and they come back and say but you to buy a higher volume I want you to follow up that that high-value concession request of higher volume with one of equal value I want you to focus as much as possible on trading a high-value request from your sales person with a high value request of your own okay and what you can do is you can actually generate a list of first-tier concessions okay make a box okay come up with a box these are my number one tear concessions these are the things that are really important after I've gotten the price number two these are the the kind of concessions that maybe aren't as important but I'd still like to kind of use them to my own benefit and maybe even a third box in terms of your concessions okay and what I want you to focus on get the offer don't use veiled threats match a high value of concession for a high-value concession come up with a list and focus on a trade-off okay the fourth thing I want you to do is I want you to add a personal touch to this whole process okay now I do this in sales and it's something that I do with my corporate customers a lot of times I have a cobra customer wants to push out a shipment I basically appeal to their better judgment I say listen I understand you want to push another shipment because you're worried about your inventory but please understand you know we got this ready for you we did this we did that it's got my name on it we've gone to great lengths to get this ready so I want you to basically understand it as a purchasing person I want you to get the sales people that you deal with to understand your pressure to understand your situation and why you have to do certain things when they can associate with what you're going through as a corporate buyer they'll separate the individual concerns that you have from your responsibilities and they won't come to villainize you and see you as a bad individual they'll understand that you're working under the same kind of constraints they are it's a great way to build connection okay that's this thing I want you to do is I want you to focus on keep keeping vendors honest what does that mean you may have a great vendor you may have the best price the best delivery the best terms you may have all those things but is natural and human nature for individuals and purchase and sales people to become complacent and somewhat take advantage what I mean by keeping a vendor honest is I want you to continually search for outside bids okay just to make sure that your main source or your main vendor is in line with what the market is now don't play games with an honest vendor okay guys like myself I know what the market pricing is I know how good our deal is I know how great everything is I know what you're getting if you're getting a good deal for me I know it so if you come after me and I know that we're still good and we're still in line with the market and you come after me with a bunch of stuff that I know is not true I'm going to be able to call you on it but if you do your homework and you find out that we're not in line that as a salesperson or a company we're not doing the right things and you come at me with this stuff then I know you've done your homework and I'm caught okay do not get upset with it with a company if this has happened it's human nature all right just keep them honest keep them aware that you're checking up on pricing in the market keep them aware that you know what's going on in the market if they think that you know about things and you're constantly on the ball they'll be proactive and maybe they'll give you a price of discount in advance of you having to ask for one okay so business a business procurement negotiation tips from the mind of a salesperson dealing with the best people in terms of corporate buyers avoid tipping your hand it's not broadcasting your needs too soon in the process save it save it after you get the final price do your standard negotiation but then start knocking them down systematically with these requests after you hit the price what about this what if we do this what if we do that and each one you should try and get a little bit of a price off of it or some kind of a concession avoid using veil threats don't your threats don't use you know you know threats that don't have any meaning because it's not going to work because when you're really serious they're not gonna be able to the difference match a high-value concession for a high-value concession remember the list come up the list so you're better prepared this portion of the negotiation add a personal touch make the guy understand or the girl the salesperson or the saleswoman understand what you're going through okay what the pressures you have to deal with as a procurement professional and keep them honest make them know that you know what's going on in the market so that's it this is the business procurement negotiation tips Ian Johnson drive success calm bye bye