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Price and terms negotiations
The annual negotiations are approaching, a price increase has to go through, or a framework agreement is up for renewal. The other side knows its options and your dependencies, while your own team is still debating what it is prepared to trade.
What is at stake
Annual terms decide the margin for the whole year, often for several. A concession made under time pressure becomes the starting point for every following round, and a price increase that does not go through comes straight out of your own result. Each negotiation also teaches the other side how far you can be pushed.
What typically goes wrong
- Preparation starts when the meeting date is set, while the other side has been preparing for months.
- Sales, finance and management have different ideas of what is acceptable, and the team finds out at the table.
- The target is a single number, so every move away from it feels like a loss and there is nothing to trade.
- The team concedes on price early because it has not worked out what else it could offer or ask for.
- The other side’s dependencies are underestimated, your own leverage is overestimated, or both.
What changes for you
- A mandate agreed internally before the first meeting: targets, limits and what can be traded for what.
- A team that negotiates with one voice and knows who decides during the negotiation.
- A clear view of where value lies beyond the headline price, and a team prepared to negotiate for it.
- A starting position for the next round that reflects your choice, not a concession made under pressure.
How we approach it
We start well before the meeting, aligning the internal team on its objectives, limits and mandate. We examine the other side’s interests, dependencies and alternatives alongside your own, then identify what each side values differently and what can be traded to improve the deal for both. From there, we develop the negotiating strategy, prepare the team for likely moves and define who can decide what as the negotiation unfolds. Where needed, we support the negotiation at the table, helping the team protect its priorities while finding room for agreement beyond the headline price.
What we clarify first
- What is your walk-away point, and does everyone on the team know it?
- What does the other side need from you that costs you little?
- What happens to each side if there is no agreement?
Tell us what’s at stake
Thirty minutes, no pitch. You describe the situation. We tell you honestly whether we can help, and how.