Robert Menard
Free
Purchasing and Sales Negotiationpro and the Voice of the Customer Expert
Robert Menard Quick Facts
- Main Areas
- commercial buy/sell negotiations
- Career Focus
- corporate trainer, consultant, speaker, and author
- Affiliation
- American Purchasing Society, National Speakers Association
Robert Menard, Certified Purchasing Professional (CPP) and Certified Professional Purchasing Consultant (CPPC), is a purchasing & sales negotiation pro and author of You're the Buyer - You Negotiate It! , several CD sets, and multiple online courses. He serves clients worldwide to through professional purchasing, consulting, and negotiation roles. During his 35 year business career , he has written and delivered more than 2.000 seminars, training sessions, spoken to about 25,000 purchasing and sales pros, and served hundreds of clients around the globe..
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Article
Learning Negotiation Skills From Children
Children are good negotiators. They know that 'no' means 'maybe', do not give up easily, and ask for more than they want. They do not take "No" for an answer Kids demand to know "Why". If they move past the parental "Because I said so", they may overcome the objection. The adult equivalent words in the sales negotiation context are, "Tell me about it." This phrase opens the door to frank communication and dislodges the 'No' answer. They are persistent and creative A rejection merely whets their creativity.
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Using Concession Strategy in Negotiation
Plan your concession behavior to enhance sales success and customer satisfaction. Good concessions are donations of perceived value, not demonstrations of gamesmanship. Perceived value means the importance the other side attaches to our concession. Gift certificates as an example Merchants love to sell these because they are priced at retail, they bring customers back, and they have a low redemption rate. As part of a settlement negotiation with an unhappy customer, gift certificates are a common concession.
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Negotiation: A Profit Strategy
Negotiation is the most important business skill we'll ever master, yet it is often among the missing in our profits tool box. We think of labor productivity, equipment, and techniques, as our stock in trade. Certainly, all these are mandatory resources to prosper in the business, but none have the single largest impact on profits, cash flow, and long term viability as negotiation does. Negotiation is a mixture of business arts and sciences that works best when viewed as a set of economic principles.
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Do Buyers and Sellers Have Equal Negotiation Authority?
Purchasing and sales pros alike are fascinated by commercial law. We should be; it is part of our daily experience and we need to be masters of it. The purchase and sale of goods is a matter of contract law and a PO is a contract. Yet very few of us have any formal education or training in purchasing law. Let’s look at a basic question of buyer and seller authority, a frequent bone of contention. Most of the facts cited in this story can be found in the Purchasing Manager’s Desk Book of Purchasing Law (Prentice Hall).
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Supplier Evaluation Takes More Than a Pulse and a Price
The issue of supplier evaluation has caused some misunderstanding in purchasing circles. A coherent supplier management strategy requires this best practice so let’s clarify some of the major points that make an evaluation program a success. Is supplier evaluation the same as certification? Supplier certification or qualification is an initial screening process by which suppliers are approved to compete for business. It means that the supplier meets certain objective standards. For example, a hardware distributor can not qualify to provide catering services.
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Help the Buyer Calculate ‘Best Value’
Ask any twelve buyers to define ‘Best Value’ and you will likely hear a dozen muddy descriptions. In today’s performance metrics, numbers driven environment, we need to speak the buyer’s language. The successful seller specifies ‘Best Value’ by expressing it in quantifiable terms favorable to its sales strategy. The purchasing definition of Best Value’ is the lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Simply stated, TCO is the sum of its four elements of Cost: Quality, Service, Delivery and Price (QSDP).
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How to Find the Best Negotiation Training
In over two decasdes of conducting seminars and workshops for fellow purchasing pros, all have voiced one constant refrain. Everyone’s goal is “to become more comfortable, confident, and competent in negotiations.” Needs and solutions Businesses must constantly train buyers in negotiation, the core competency of the profession. When sales skyrocket, negotiation training controls costs. When sales collapse, negotiation provides much to all of the profitability. In today’s economic climate, the question of which training medium and associated costs is top of mind.
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What Does Win-Win Negotiation Mean?
Win-Win ranks high on the list of overused buzzwords, but many of us have trouble understanding the counter intuitive notion that two sides can win when a product or service is bought and sold. Win-Win is not only obtainable, it is the ideal result. How then does it work? Negotiation strategy always has a profound impact on business. There are four strategies; they are: Win-Win, Win-Lose, Lose–Win, and Lose-Lose. Selecting the appropriate strategy depends upon how the parties value the Issue and the Relationship. A visual aid works well to explain this concept.
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Why Getting to the Best Deal off the Bat is Impossible
How would you answer this question that a buyer might pose: “Why not just eliminate all the negotiation nonsense and just get right down to the best deal?” Well, you can, but only about as often as you get married. Skipping negotiation means trashing the communication and investigation process by which buyer and seller build a relationship. Without a time tested courtship history, we almost guarantee a poor outcome. Trust, like credit, must be earned. Only a fool would extend credit to a stranger.
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