Strategic drift Occurs when the customer and supplier do not work to maintain their relationship and/or work to update strategic priorities. This typically happens after a few good months or quarters. Senior management for either organization “checks out”, moves on to...
Savvy buyers Savvy buyers will often leverage market competition to seek pricing in more than one way, or with greater granularity than they may ultimately contract for. For example, buying organizations will ask for a firm fixed fee and a cost-plus management fee for...
Ok. Exaggeration alert. I don’t hate them the way I hate Okra or cleaning the litter box. But, when stakeholders think that a complex multi-Billion dollar deal can be contracted for a “fixed price” I feel like yelling WHHAAAT??. Which I don’t – or wait until I am on...
reMy client was preparing to make a counteroffer to a vendor asking them to reduce their price, when an announcement to close a division of my client’s organization was made public. The closure impacts the vendor’s relationship with the organization, but doesn’t...
A stakeholder said in front of the supplier during negotiations, “What the hell does ‘G.S.’ (V.P. of Sourcing) have to do with my deal!?” My coaching client and I had to regain control of the conversation immediately. In this article I’ll explain what we did and ask...
Social Norms To Do Business By Reciprocity obligates businesspeople to make fair and balanced exchanges. If one company accepts a business risk, the other must be prepared to do the same. If one company commits to invest time and money in an important project, the...