|
CEO's message: Striving for value critical in challenging economy
We can't seem to catch a break in today's up-and-down economy, mostly down lately. That's why striving for value--and not just price--in negotiations is more crucial than ever. You need to probe to find out what's important to you and the other party. For example, you should identify not only hard costs like purchase price, fees and contracts, but soft costs such as support and training, which can help you derive the greatest value.
The deeper you probe, the better your chance of achieving the desired result. See the testimonial below from a supplier who got a price increase despite tough economic times.
Marty Finkle, CEO, Scotwork (NA) Inc.
|
|
Testimonial: supplier gets 5.25% price hike, even in tough economy
| |
Scotwork's negotiating skills training pays off, especially in this economy. See this recent testimonial from a supplier that put its national account managers, buyers and others through our course.
"Less than two months after completing four Scotwork courses for 48 of our sales and buying executives, we were able to negotiate across our portfolio of customers and get a 5.25% average price increase, resulting in $3.8 million in new revenues. Plus, in our buying group, we got cost concessions or avoidance of $514,000 in net savings."
Executive, major specialty chemicals firm
|
|
Meet Jill Campen, associate tutor
|  With her warm, friendly style, Jill can create an open dialogue that helps drive negotiations to their desired outcome. Her extensive experience in sales and consulting enables her to view negotiations from different angles and then establish the flexibility needed to bring both parties closer to agreement. Plus, Jill brings a track record of streamlining processes to save time and money for high-profile brands such as Pebble Beach Resorts, Microsoft and Disney. Jill's perspective: "I'm all about maximizing outcomes in negotiations. When you know what you want to achieve or avoid and are willing to trade information, time, opinions, resources and more, the results can be amazing." To find out more, email Jill. |
|
Raise revenues, abolish SS ceiling
| |
Eliminate the income limit for Social Security, says Alan Paret, U.S. Army Contract Specialist, winner of the debt ceiling analysis contest. Here's his take:
Without this threshold, business owners and high earners would continue contributing 7.5% on their Social Security, which would boost revenues. Plus, companies would end up kicking in far more Social Security on their highly paid CEOs and other top executives, which may discourage the exorbitant salaries at the expense of other employees and shareholders.
For his enlightening analysis, Alan earned a free seat at an Advanced Negotiating Skills class for the person of his choice.
|
|
Block unreasonable demands (but don't reject them)
| |
Don't automatically argue against an unreasonable demand, because it can put the other party in control. (A proposal beats an argument).
Instead, set a price that exactly mirrors the demand, showing the other side that your condition is a corollary of its demand--a blocking tactic. For example, if a supplier asks for a hefty price hike, ask for an equally hefty concession such as six months of free service. This is known as the over and under approach.
Once you've blocked this unreasonable demand, seize the initiative with a realistic proposal.
|
|
How are your negotiations going? Take our survey, win a bottle of wine
| |
Scotwork NA wants to know how you fared in your most recent negotiations.
Just complete our brief, five-question survey (should take three minutes or less), and you'll be entered into our monthly contest to win a bottle of fine wine.
Complete survey.
|
|
Verizon management: power over unions
| |
Verizon management should get rid of Cadillac health plans, have workers contribute toward their premiums and offer limited coverage to part timers, according to U.S. Army Contract Specialist Vincent Turco. Congrats Vincent, whose ideas earned him a bottle of fine wine! Here's more of Vincent's winning analysis:
Management should pay technicians the average salary for similar work in the Northeast without overtime, which should be eliminated. Part-time workers should be able to fill in for vacationing full-timers. Plus, Verizon should be able to shed excess hard assets and personnel from areas where they're not needed.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lead tutors
| 
Marty Finkle
| |
Sandy Sbarra
Bio Email
 | Rich Waldrop
|
Simon Letchford
Bio Email
-David Boucher
-Jill Campen (see profile)
-Al Green
-Jerry Langlois
-John Leehman
-Gaëtan Pellerin
-Johnna Wellesley
|
Register for
open courses | |
Register here for Advanced Negotiating Skills on Oct. 10-13 or any of the dates below.
Parsippany, NJ
-Oct. 10-13
-Nov. 7-10
-Dec. 5-8
San Francisco
Oct. 17-20
See 2012 dates here.
|
|
About Scotwork
North America
| |
Scotwork (NA) Inc. is the North American division of Scotwork Negotiating Skills, the world's largest independent provider of negotiation skills training and consulting with offices in 35 countries.
Its seasoned negotiators offer consulting and training in 22 languages to more than 9,000 executives and managers worldwide. Scotwork's clients receive an average return of 10 times the course fee within three months.
|
|
|
