Purchasing negotiation skills

Because of the strength comparison between buyers and sellers, neither party can win by force, so it is necessary to fight with wits; Purchasing personnel should try to hide their willingness to buy, and don't obviously show the mentality of having to buy, otherwise suppliers will be at a disadvantage if they see through the situation of having to buy. Therefore, at this time, the buyer should take a "half-hearted" attitude and start with a tentative inquiry. If we can judge that the supplier has a strong desire to sell, we will ask for a lower price and declare that if we don't agree, we will give up or seek other sources. Usually, if the buyer's bid is too low and the supplier has no desire to sell, he will not ask the buyer to increase the price; If the supplier wants to sell, but the profit is too low, ask the buyer to increase the price as appropriate. At this time, if the demand of purchasing personnel is quite urgent, it should be possible to agree to a slight increase in price and a quick transaction; If the purchaser is not in urgent need, it can be said that the price will never increase, and the supplier is likely to agree to the buyer's low price request.

Divide the difference equally.

As a result of bargaining between buyers and sellers, there is a gap. If both sides don't give in, the deal falls through. Purchasing personnel can't get the necessary goods, suppliers lose the opportunity to make profits, and both sides are losers. Therefore, in order to facilitate the transaction between the two parties, the best way is to adopt the "golden mean" approach, that is, both parties bear half of the bargaining price difference, and both parties win.

When circuitous tactics

When the supplier has the advantage, active bargaining is usually ineffective, and then it is effective to take circuitous tactics. Now give an example as follows:

A supermarket bought a cosmetic from a local general agent and found that the price was higher than that of a company in the same industry, so it asked the general agent to explain the reason and compare it with the price sold to the same industry. Unexpectedly, the general agent failed to explain the reason and was unwilling to reduce the price. Therefore, the buyer entrusts the trader of origin to buy the cosmetics of that country first, and then transfer them to the supermarket. Because the profit of the general agent is high, although the cost of this transshipment arrangement increases, the total cost is still cheaper than the price of the buyer through the general agent.

Of course, the success of this circuitous tactic depends on the feasibility of operation. Some original factories restrict the cross-regional sales of goods, and it is difficult to implement circuitous tactics.

◎ Go straight to Huanglong

Some single-source general agents turn a blind eye to the bargaining requirements of purchasing personnel, and the attitude of "Jiang Taigong fishing, who wants to take the bait" makes purchasing personnel feel insulted. At this time, if we can get rid of the general agent, it is a best policy to seek quotations from the original manufacturers. Now give an example as follows:

A supermarket plans to buy a batch of fitness equipment. After being quoted by the general agent, it has been repeatedly invited to negotiate, but it has always been blocked and dropped. Later, when the purchasing staff consulted the product catalogue. Send a fax to the original factory immediately to ask for a price reduction of 12%, which is actually a matter of trying. Unexpectedly, the original factory called back the next day and agreed to reduce the price, which made the purchasing staff overjoyed and ecstatic.

From the above example, the buyer should identify the so-called general agent in the process of bargaining, because some suppliers claim to be general agents, but actually have not signed any contracts or agreements with foreign original factories, just want to raise prices in the name of general agents and obtain excess profits. Therefore, purchasing personnel will probably get an answer when they make an inquiry to foreign original factories. In countries where the separation of production and marketing system is quite strict, such as Japan, circuitous tactics are not available. Because the original factory will generally transfer the inquiry to the local agent and will not quote itself.

◎ mourning posture

When the supermarket is at a disadvantage, the purchaser should strive for the sympathy and support of the supplier with the attitude of "mourning the soldiers". Because purchasing personnel are unable to bargain with suppliers, they sometimes ask suppliers to agree to sell goods to them reluctantly on the pretext of insufficient budget, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing prices. On the one hand, the purchasing staff should give full play to the bargaining power of "moving with emotion", on the other hand, they verbally promise to "repay the kindness" in the future in exchange for the supplier's intention of "doing something for a long time". At this point, if the supplier doesn't lose all the money, but only cuts the original excessive profit, then the two sides may reach a deal. If the budget of the purchaser is too far from the bottom price of the supplier, the supplier will be indifferent to the requirements of the purchaser because it is unprofitable.

◎ Take a drastic measure.

In order to avoid profiteering by taking advantage of the supplier, the purchaser has to agree that the supplier has a "reasonable" profit, otherwise it will still give the supplier a chance to bargain at will. Therefore, it is usually the procurement staff who ask the suppliers to provide all the cost information. For foreign goods, please ask the general agent to provide all import documents, check the real cost, and add a reasonable profit as the purchase price.

Due to the rapid changes in the environment, such as the turbulent international situation and the lack of raw materials (such as rare metals such as cobalt and chromium), suppliers often take the opportunity to form a seller's market and further raise prices. At this time, the responsibility of the purchasing department is even more important. If bargaining and negotiation skills can be used, sellers can negotiate with each other to reduce the price. During the negotiation, the purchaser can negotiate the price directly or indirectly. The explanation is as follows:

(1) direct negotiation. Even in the face of inflation and rising prices; Direct bargaining can still achieve the effect of reducing prices. The following four techniques can be used in negotiation.

(1) Faced with the increase in sales price, the purchasing staff still ordered at the original price. Suppliers are often reluctant to spend too much time bargaining when raising prices, so if they are their original customers, they can take advantage of this and ask for the original price.

(2) The purchaser directly explains the preset reserve price. In the process of bargaining, the purchaser can directly indicate the preset reserve price, which can prompt the supplier to propose a price closer to the reserve price and then ask the other party to reduce the price.

3 don't pull it down. This skill is a more radical bargaining method. Although it may cause a hot scene, it is still a good bargaining skill under certain circumstances. This method is suitable for:

When the buyer doesn't want to bargain any more.

When the bargaining result reaches the upper price limit acceptable to the buyer.

In both cases, the tough measures of "never pulling down" can often reverse the attitude of suppliers and then make concessions.

(4) Require an explanation of the reasons for the price increase. Supplier price increases are often attributed to rising raw materials, rising wages, too thin profits and other reasons. Procurement personnel should question any unreasonable price increase during the negotiation, so as to seize the opportunity to ask suppliers to reduce prices.

Indirect negotiation skills

In the process of bargaining, a good beginning is half the battle. So there is no need to always use direct bargaining, and sometimes indirect tactics can be used, that is, indirect bargaining. Purchasing personnel can use the following three skills to negotiate.

(1) Don't jump to the point when bargaining. At the beginning of the negotiation, it is best to talk about some irrelevant topics first, so that the other party can be familiar with the things around them, so that both sides can relax and slowly introduce the topic.

(2) Use a "low profile". When negotiating, try to express the difficulty of the price provided by the supplier and say "alas!" "impossible!" Wait, win each other's sympathy with a low profile.

(3) Try to avoid bargaining by letter or telephone and ask for face-to-face contact. Face-to-face conversation has better communication effect. You can often convince each other through body language and expressions, and then ask the other party to compromise and lower the price.

In the process of bargaining, in addition to the above-mentioned bargaining skills for price, buyers can also use other non-price factors to negotiate. Here are three bargaining techniques:

(1) During the negotiation, the supplier is required to share the expenses such as after-sales service. When the supplier decides to raise the price instead of changing it, the purchaser should not give up the negotiation, but change the bargaining policy and demand compensation for other non-price parts. The most obvious example is to ask suppliers to provide after-sales service, such as the maintenance and delivery of large household appliances. In general transactions, suppliers usually add the cost of maintenance and delivery to the selling price, so buyers often ignore this cost. Therefore, when the supplier insists on raising the selling price, the purchaser can ask the supplier to bear all the maintenance and delivery costs without passing them on. This also indirectly realizes the bargaining function.

You can only make a little compromise at a time, so there is room for further compromise.

(2) When compromising, ask the other party to give feedback compensation immediately.

Even if you agree with the other person's opinion, don't agree too quickly.

④ Record every compromise for reference.

(3) Use attentive listening and gentle attitude to win each other's favor. In the process of bargaining, threats and aggressiveness are not the winning weapons. Because even if this cooperation is reached, it is difficult to guarantee the willingness to cooperate next time. Therefore, in the negotiation process, the purchaser should listen carefully to the other party's explanation, and when fighting for the rights and interests of the supermarket, he can use the information or laws and regulations obtained from the other party to conduct reasonable negotiations. That is, "say it with reason, move it with emotion, and bring it to justice."

(2) Make good use of "compromise" skills. In the case of high supplier prices, if the purchaser insists on continuing negotiations, it is often impossible to achieve results. At this time, you can use compromise skills, make concessions on a few unimportant details, and then ask the other party for feedback from the compromise. This can also indirectly realize the bargaining function. However, the following points should be noted when using compromise technology: