Win-Win Procurement Negotiations

It’s with a strategic supplier, or maybe a sole source. It’s a large project and you need to change the specifications. Your supplier tells you this is really going to impact all of their pricing, but you don’t think it should.

Maybe you are trying to streamline your MRO buys and are having problems getting a couple of your best suppliers to conform to your new process.

A sole source tells you that they are increasing your prices across the board, while you are being asked to get price reductions from all your suppliers. Your department is under pressure to reduce component costs on two of your company’s main products. The only way you can accomplish this is to get your three major suppliers to work with your engineers to find ways to reduce their costs and then pass on those cost reductions to you. It’s going to take a lot of work to make this happen.

You feel anxious. You don’t want to knuckle under. You also don’t want to appear to be playing hardball and antagonize your suppliers. How would a good negotiator handle it?

There are some people who always seem to get what they want and still end up friendly with the other person after an agreement is reached.

How do they do it?

• Creative, Both-Win®techniques that will cement your relationship with your supplier and provide areas of real value creation.
• How to uncover your supplier’s unstated wants—the "Hidden Satisfiers" that will help them find ways to meet your unique needs.
• How asking for something in return when you make a concession can lead not only to greater satisfaction from your supplier, but to a better agreement as well.
• Proven techniques for handling price increases.
• How to make negotiations more fun and less aggravating.
• Countermeasures for each of the seller’s tactics.
• How to find a Both-Win®compromise alternative in any negotiation.
• How people trade off what they think they want for what they really want.

Procurement Negotiation graduates typically have the following job titles: Procurement Managers, Purchasing Managers, Procurement Buyers, Contract Managers, Senior Buyers, Buying Managers, Buying Officers, Category Managers, Sourcing Managers, Supply Chain Managers, Tendering Managers, Procurement Officers, Materials Managers, Purchasing Agents, Chief Procurement Officers, Director of Operations, Procurement Analysts. Senior Buyers, Procurement Specialists, and everyone involved in initiatives to deliver savings or value from the purchase of goods, supplies, equipment, ideas, services and managing project spend.

Purchasing vs Supply Chain

Discover Creative Both-WinAgreements

• Altering the specifications to reduce your supplier’s costs and afford you a lower price.
• Utilizing risk-sharing formulas that save money for both parties.
• Adjusting reporting, paperwork, and logistical requirements to save time and expenses for both parties.
• Realizing efficiencies in quality control and inspections to streamline production and delivery schedules.
• Using a better mix of labor, or shared resources, to ensure better quality or on-time deliveries.
• Creating ways of sharing assets, expertise, resources, or purchasing power, to help drive down costs of materials, engineering costs, and manufacturing costs for finished products or components.

Build Your Negotiating Power

• How to lend legitimacy to every position taken.
• How to develop probing questions to uncover your supplier’s real position and real interests.
• Techniques for getting cost and time breakdowns.
• Understand where a supplier may cut corners or charge for work not identified in the initial specifications.
• When and how to use a team negotiating approach.
• How to gain greater insight into the hidden pressures operating on your supplier throughout their organization.
• Understanding how cultural differences affect the way people negotiate.

Make Creative Both-WinAgreements

• How to establish a credible counter-position to a supplier’s initial proposal.
• Why splitting the difference is not necessary and often favors the supplier.
• How to say “NO” in a way that minimizes resentment from your supplier.
• How to trade minor concessions for major supplier concessions.
• Using the "quid-pro-quo" technique to build a strong agreement.
• Identifying easy concessions to gain from the supplier that may have much greater value to your organization.

• Presentation & Slides
• Audio Visual Aids
• Interactive Discussion
• Participatory Exercise
• Action Learning
• Class Activities
• Case Studies
• Workshops
• Simulation