I hope that you have enjoyed the article \u201cHow To Influence A Negotiation Early, Part I.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In teaching our online purchasing classes, I often get questions like \u201cHow do you negotiate differently in a really tough negotiation situation?\u201d And I often answer with a question like \u201cWhat makes a negotiation tough?\u201d<\/p>\n
I particularly enjoy when this type of exchange goes back and forth several times and the student becomes aware of a fact: it is not always the negotiation that is tough, it can be the situation that is tough. And the purchasing professional does have influence over the situation, but that influence may need to start days, weeks, months, even years before the actual negotiation does.<\/p>\n
With policies in place that constrict backdoor selling (or backdoor buying, really) and facilitate Purchasing\u2019s involvement in the design phase, \u201ctough\u201d negotiations can become less frequent. But, make no mistake, putting policies in place can be a lot of work \u2013 a lot of time consuming work.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why there\u2019s no better time than now to start influencing future negotiations \u2013 even if they are months down the road.<\/p>\n