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Implement Your Negotiation Strategy More Effectively

Better implementation leads to better outcomes.

  • Forty-eight percent of CIOs believe their budgets are inadequate.
  • CIOs and IT departments are getting more involved with negotiations to reduce costs and risk.
  • Not all negotiators are created equal, and the gap between a skilled negotiator and an average negotiator is not always easy to identify objectively.
  • Skilled negotiators are in short supply.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Preparation is critical for the success of your negotiation, but you cannot prepare for every eventuality.
  • Communication is the heart and soul of negotiations, but what is being “said” is only part of the picture.
  • Skilled negotiators separate themselves based on skillsets, and outcomes alone may not provide an accurate assessment of a negotiator.

Impact and Result

Addressing and managing critical negotiation elements helps:

  • Improve negotiation skills.
  • Implement your negotiation strategy more effectively.
  • Improve negotiation results.

Implement Your Negotiation Strategy More Effectively Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should create and follow a scalable process for preparing to negotiate with vendors, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

1. During

Throughout this phase, ten essential negotiation elements are identified and reviewed.


Workshop: Implement Your Negotiation Strategy More Effectively

Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Module 1: 12 Steps to Better Negotiation Preparation

The Purpose

  • Improve negotiation skills and outcomes.
  • Understand how to use the Info-Tech During Negotiations Tool.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • A better understanding of the subtleties of the negotiation process and an identification of where the negotiation strategy can go awry.
  • The During Negotiation Tool will be reviewed and configured for the customer’s environment (as applicable).

Activities

Outputs

1.1

Manage six key items during the negotiation process.

  • Sample negotiation ground rules
1.2

Set the right tone and environment for the negotiation.

1.3

Focus on improving three categories of intangibles.

1.4

Improve communication skills to improve negotiation skills.

1.5

Customize your negotiation approach to interact with different personality traits and styles.

1.6

Maximize the value of your discussions by focusing on seven components.

1.7

Understand the value of impasses and deadlocks and how to work through them.

1.8

Use concessions as part of your negotiation strategy.

1.9

Identify and defeat common vendor negotiation ploys.

  • Sample vendor negotiation ploys
1.10

Review progress and determine next steps.

  • Sample discussion questions and evaluation matrix

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst

Get the help you need in this 1-phase advisory process. You'll receive 10 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

  • Call 1: Managing six key items during a negotiation.
  • Call 2: Setting the proper tone for the negotiation sessions.
  • Call 3: Focusing on three types of intangibles to improve your negotiation skills.
  • Call 4: Communicating more effectively verbally and non-verbally.
  • Call 5: Understanding and dealing with personality types.
  • Call 6: Managing seven key aspects of your negotiation discussions.
  • Call 7: Dealing with deadlocks and impasses and understanding their value.
  • Call 8: Granting concessions and evaluating concessions received.
  • Call 9: Identifying and defeating common vendor negotiation ploys.
  • Call 10: Deciding whether to continue and how to walk away gracefully.

Author

Phil Bode

Contributors

Six anonymous contributors

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