Case Study: Three hours of negotiation coaching leads to 10% gain!

“When it was time for our smaller firm to renegotiate our consulting rates with a large, local Fortune 500 firm, we called Jeanette Nyden in for coaching on negotiation.  Previous negotiations had taken 6 iterations and 3 months to complete, netting only 5% increase per year - which was less than the annual increase in the cost of doing business.  After working with Jeanette, our negotiations took one meeting and resulted in a complete reworking of our compensation method with our client - netting a 15% increase in our rates!”

Michael Eshelman, Principal, FSi Engineer Consultants  

Leveling the Playing Field   

FSi Engineer Consultants, a small professional services firm, thought itself at a disadvantage with a Fortune 500 company because the Fortune 500 company was auditing them at the same time they were re-negotiating their annual consulting rates. Feeling pressured by both the audit and the re-negotiation of their contract, FSi hired J Nyden & Co to provide some negotiation coaching and expertise in handling both the results of the audit and the re-negotiation on the consulting rates.

The question that FSi had was how do we leverage this audit to our advantage?

Negotiation Coaching  

In just three hours of one-on-one coaching with Jeanette Nyden, FSi was able to leverage the audit to their advantage, re-negotiate a substantial increase in their fees and all of this in only one negotiation session with representatives from the Fortune 500 company.

Negotiating Price vs. Value

Fortune 500's audit revealed that FSi had delivered outstanding value to them in the more than 10 years of service. Of course, the representatives at the Fortune 500 company did not read the audit that way, but FSi did and made sure that their focal at the Fortune 500 read it that way too. In so doing, FSi shifted the conversation from one of merely price, to one of the overall value that FSi brought to the relationship, resulting in a 10% net increase in fees for fiscal 2007.

What Clients Can Expect

Clients can expect three things from J. Nyden & Co.: A clear methodology for coaching people to negotiate on value rather than on price, frank discussions about the feasibility of options, possibilities and responses, and a sense that you are in control of your destiny with large corporations.

 © Jeanette Nyden 2006

Case Study: Mapping out a competitive advantage

"I highly recommend Jeanette to help strategize for a difficult negotiation. Jeanette facilitated meetings which gave us insight, tools and a plan to more effectively negotiate a complex situation. Her down to earth approach helped us get to the heart of the matter and get a plan in place to move the negotiations forward."

R.S., President Seattle Software Company

At A Distinct Disadvantage

A small Seattle software company ("Small Co.") had been working for several years with a third party ("Third Party"), a large corporation in their own right, to provide products to a European, multinational corporation ("European Multinational").  Due to technological changes in the market, Small Co. realized that Third Party was making hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits from Small Co. products -- profits that Small Co. was not seeing -- by bundling Small Co.'s products with their own to sell to the European Multinational.

Small Co. wanted to re-negotiate a more lucrative arrangement with Third Party so it could start earning its fair share of the profits, but Small Co. was not sure how to go about it. Even though they had fantastic corporate counsel, Small Co knew that they were at a distinct disadvantage when dealing with both Third Party and European Multinational because of Small Co.'s size and a lack of experience in negotiating with very large corporations.

President of Small Co. hired J. Nyden & Co. to help them strategize for an upcoming negotiation between Small Co. and Third Party. With Jeanette Nyden's expertise helping companies negotiate with very large corporations, the president of Small Co. felt confident that with some planning, he could gain a competitive edge at the bargaining table.   

Negotiation Mapping™

Jeanette Nyden was asked to address Small Co.'s number one question, Would it be better to eliminate Third Party altogether and try to deal directly with European Multinational, or is there a strategic advantage to bundling with Third Party? Unfortunately, there was no one right answer to that question.

More Money Today And More Opportunities Tomorrow

After two strategy sessions, not only was Small Co. thoroughly prepared for the negotiations with Third Party, they had gained confidence in re-negotiating the contract. In fact, the negotiation team produced two victories for Small Co.: 1) Third Party would immediately pay more for Small Co.'s product, and 2) Third Party would introduce a new Small Co. product to European Multinational. President of Small Co. was genuinely impressed with the results of the negotiations and credited the team's success to the strategy sessions.

What Clients Can Expect

              You can expect three things from J. Nyden & Co.: A clear methodology for mapping out upcoming negotiations, frank discussions about the feasibility of options, possibilities and responses, and a sense that you are in control of your destiny with large corporations.                                                    

© Jeanette Nyden 2006