Post-Event Report: Negotiations Workshop

Arancha Caballero, TSG

  

Photos: Jeff Sauer (instructor) and participants in the GALA-hosted Negotiating to Close workshop.

Sins of Negotiating: A Message for All of Us
We started the workshop by talking about a number of typical mistakes made in the negotiating process. This is not just an issue for providers, since many clients of ours are providers within their own organizations, as is the case for Localization Managers. Among other mistakes was “forgetting that you are giving away your company’s profits”. Let’s remember that to survive and be successful, we have to be profitable. We must understand and highlight that price is related to value, and we should not compromise our value in an attempt to win business.

Nothing New under the Sun
We also focused on how to prepare ourselves for a sale. A provider must have an understanding of the client’s “big picture” to negotiate how his or her products and services fit into that picture. The best relationships are formed when the customer needs the provider as much as the provider needs them. That way, both partners can work to attain their goals together rather than compete for the upper hand at the negotiation table. This can also necessitate becoming involved with the customer long before they think they need a provider’s services.

We spent a good deal of time discussing different ways to conceptualize the client’s needs alongside the supplier’s offerings, including ways to move beyond a transactional relationship. After all, if the client sees your company as a way to improve or add value to their business, then communication becomes a lot easier. However, we also talked about pure negotiation tactics, which some of us have needed many times (even after we think a deal is closed!). These situations arise when the customer is shopping on price and there is no mutual investment. Will you smile as well when you read these scenarios?

Client: Because I like your proposal, I’m going to give this project to you.
Provider: Great! Thank you! (Kneeling in front of them.)
Client: But I need you to decrease your price...
Provider: [Select as appropriate] a) Sure! b) No problem c) What did you have in mind?

Or this one:

Client: If you agree to the following terms in this project, I will give you a bigger project next time.
Provider: [Select as appropriate] a) Sure! b) No problem c) When do we start?

We are usually so eager to sign a contract, that we are easy prey . . . and we complain afterwards about our services not being seen as an added value business, right?

It was also great to spend a day among peers thinking about the ways to better align our services with our client’s needs, to become a valuable a partner to them and not just a “provider”. Clients want to have a partner to deal with, so the question is: Am I seen as a partner by my client? If not, chances are that this is because we have not been smart enough to give value to the service they turn to us for. If we do not build rapport with them, this is not going to change!

If you can become a master in identifying negotiation tactics and using counter-tactics to neutralize what can sometimes be a hostile interaction, you can move on to a more productive discussions about realistic solutions for both sides of the table. You can even leverage these skills to negotiate with your 15-year-old kid who wants to stay out extra late. But of course, this can be as hard as getting a multimillion dollar contract . . .

Arancha Caballero is the COO of TSG and Secretary of the GALA Board. She can be reached at acaballero@tsg-global.com.