“Closerq, a prospect just told me they are entering dual negotiations with us and a competitor. This is new for me, recommendations?” Matt T.
Matt, good question. Congratulations on making it to the final two in your deal. My first reaction is that you are dealing with savvy buyers. My qualifying questions are: Is there a consultant involved? Is this the prospects standard operating procedure? Is this a governmental organization? Do you think you are winning the deal? Do you think you are in second? Do you know who your competitor is? Who is doing the contract negotiations (legal, user buyer, purchasing, senior manager)?
I will offer you several options, based on what you know about the opportunity:
You a leading in the selection process:
o If you believe you are winning, this could be the buyers way of trying to secure the best deal. Work with your coaches to find out if this their SOP, you are dealing with a prospect who has to win and you have to lose, try to determine if they are actually negotiating with the other company or just threatening you. Either way being in the lead is good for you and see my recommendation below. If you believe they aren’t doing dual negotiations, be wary of backing them into a corner because they may start-up dual negotiations because you called their bluff, instead as Steven Covey says, ‘Go For Win-Win’. Win-Win is harder then lose-win because you are going to push back on them on your lose part of the deal. If the prospect is unreasonable don’t be afraid to walk from the deal, in the long run ‘no deal’ is better then lose-win or win-lose. We all have signed deals that in retrospect ‘no deal’ would have been more beneficial then signing a lose-win deal.
o If there is a consultant involved, this could be their strategy. If you have not worked with the consultant before, make sure you work with both the consultant and the client, don’t rely on the consultant in the negotiations.
o It could be your competitor trying to knock you aside by telling the prospect, “What do you have to lose, worse case scenario you get a better deal from them.” Because your competitor knows they will do anything to win the deals from contract terms, pricing, and client expectations. This is also good for you but a little trickier because of the unknowns of your competitor. I would push the value of your solutions and let the prospect know how much time and effort is required on their side for dual negotiations especially if they use outside or counsel and the potential time delays if they are using inside counsel.
You a second in the selection process:
o Based on your question, I will assume you didn’t propose dual negotiations. If you are truly in second, you have some options. If you are ‘column fodder’ and they are only using you to get a better deal, I personally wouldn’t put a lot of time in the deal. You could do as mentioned above and get really aggressive so your competitor has to work harder to win the deal.
o If there is a consultant, have you ever won a deal with this consultant? If yes, great work with the consultant. If not, they could be brining you in as column fodder. I would contact the consultant and ask very direct questions and based on the answers considering walking from the deal.
You are tied:
o I don’t believe you can be tied, most times there is a leader in the prospects mind. You could be slightly ahead or behind and the prospects has entered into dual negotiations because they couldn’t decide and/or they are using the negotiating process to differentiate you and your competitor. You could also be tied because some of the members of the selection committee want you and others want your competitor. In this case work closely with your coach and the members that are voting for you to win the business. In this case you will most likely have to enter dual negotiations and be wary of stepping out of line because snipers who don’t want you to win will be watching you closely in the negotiation process.
My preferred recommendation is to get single vendor negotiations that will benefit both you and your prospect. Based on the specifics of your situation you will need to refine your strategy, assuming you are in the lead (because you said ‘this is new for you’), approach your prospect and tell them the single negotiations will save them time by dealing with one vendor vs. two; and you will save them money by offer them X (this could be a product or services based on your companies offering), if they will give your company a X number of days exclusivity to negotiate a deal in good faith. You are incented to get a single vendor deal done before the deadline expires, so the client will be getting beneficial terms.
‘Good Negotiating.’ Let us know when you win the business! Reader Feedback, please click the ‘comments’ below to give ‘Matt’ additional information on 'Dual Negotiations’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ.
Matt, good question. Congratulations on making it to the final two in your deal. My first reaction is that you are dealing with savvy buyers. My qualifying questions are: Is there a consultant involved? Is this the prospects standard operating procedure? Is this a governmental organization? Do you think you are winning the deal? Do you think you are in second? Do you know who your competitor is? Who is doing the contract negotiations (legal, user buyer, purchasing, senior manager)?
I will offer you several options, based on what you know about the opportunity:
You a leading in the selection process:
o If you believe you are winning, this could be the buyers way of trying to secure the best deal. Work with your coaches to find out if this their SOP, you are dealing with a prospect who has to win and you have to lose, try to determine if they are actually negotiating with the other company or just threatening you. Either way being in the lead is good for you and see my recommendation below. If you believe they aren’t doing dual negotiations, be wary of backing them into a corner because they may start-up dual negotiations because you called their bluff, instead as Steven Covey says, ‘Go For Win-Win’. Win-Win is harder then lose-win because you are going to push back on them on your lose part of the deal. If the prospect is unreasonable don’t be afraid to walk from the deal, in the long run ‘no deal’ is better then lose-win or win-lose. We all have signed deals that in retrospect ‘no deal’ would have been more beneficial then signing a lose-win deal.
o If there is a consultant involved, this could be their strategy. If you have not worked with the consultant before, make sure you work with both the consultant and the client, don’t rely on the consultant in the negotiations.
o It could be your competitor trying to knock you aside by telling the prospect, “What do you have to lose, worse case scenario you get a better deal from them.” Because your competitor knows they will do anything to win the deals from contract terms, pricing, and client expectations. This is also good for you but a little trickier because of the unknowns of your competitor. I would push the value of your solutions and let the prospect know how much time and effort is required on their side for dual negotiations especially if they use outside or counsel and the potential time delays if they are using inside counsel.
You a second in the selection process:
o Based on your question, I will assume you didn’t propose dual negotiations. If you are truly in second, you have some options. If you are ‘column fodder’ and they are only using you to get a better deal, I personally wouldn’t put a lot of time in the deal. You could do as mentioned above and get really aggressive so your competitor has to work harder to win the deal.
o If there is a consultant, have you ever won a deal with this consultant? If yes, great work with the consultant. If not, they could be brining you in as column fodder. I would contact the consultant and ask very direct questions and based on the answers considering walking from the deal.
You are tied:
o I don’t believe you can be tied, most times there is a leader in the prospects mind. You could be slightly ahead or behind and the prospects has entered into dual negotiations because they couldn’t decide and/or they are using the negotiating process to differentiate you and your competitor. You could also be tied because some of the members of the selection committee want you and others want your competitor. In this case work closely with your coach and the members that are voting for you to win the business. In this case you will most likely have to enter dual negotiations and be wary of stepping out of line because snipers who don’t want you to win will be watching you closely in the negotiation process.
My preferred recommendation is to get single vendor negotiations that will benefit both you and your prospect. Based on the specifics of your situation you will need to refine your strategy, assuming you are in the lead (because you said ‘this is new for you’), approach your prospect and tell them the single negotiations will save them time by dealing with one vendor vs. two; and you will save them money by offer them X (this could be a product or services based on your companies offering), if they will give your company a X number of days exclusivity to negotiate a deal in good faith. You are incented to get a single vendor deal done before the deadline expires, so the client will be getting beneficial terms.
‘Good Negotiating.’ Let us know when you win the business! Reader Feedback, please click the ‘comments’ below to give ‘Matt’ additional information on 'Dual Negotiations’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ.
Comments