11/15/2018

Hone Your Approach To Vendor Negotations

A little bit of honey goes a long way

SmartPulse -- our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership -- tracks feedback from over 240,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our newsletter.

When you have a high performer whose performance starts dropping, how do you handle it?

• I treat them like true partners and make sure we both have acceptable outcomes: 55 percent
• I partner on some things but drive a hard bargain on others: 37 percent
• I almost always drive a hard bargain but let them win occasionally:  2 percent
• I always drive them down as much as possible. They're replaceable: 5 percent

A little bit of honey… The majority of you look to partner with your vendors. That can be a very productive approach because the vendor will be more willing to make concessions, find new opportunities for mutual benefit, and put your interests first if they feel you’re taking care of them and considering their interests. If you’re in the “hard bargain” group, consider if that approach is getting you the best outcome.

Please select this link to read the complete article from SmartBrief.