– How much is this PCB?
– $1
– You’re joking! I can buy it anywhere for $0.15!
– It’s hard to find this good quality. But you can have it for $0.35.
– Not a cent more than $0.20.
– Oh, come on, you know it’s worth at least $0.30
– Well, maybe I can stretch to $0.23
– $0.29
– $0.24
– $0.28
– $0.25
– …

Often, a negotiation is about price. The basic idea is that the more you get, the less will be left for the other person, so you need to make him or her back down. But that doesn’t build strong relationships, and here at NCAB, we want to build strong relationships.

Our sales process is to HEED our customers’ NEEDs so that we can focus on value also when we negotiate about getting an order.

So, how do you do that? Back off and leave money on the table? Of course not! We want a healthy gross profit so we can be a sustainable business – we want to be our customers’ supplier for many years. This negotiation course is about how we can have it both ways:
– How can we create value, instead of just fight over price?
– How can we build a strong relationship without sacrificing our business interests?

If we do both well, the outcome will be good for both us and the customer. Welcome to my course in negotiation!
– Hey, it’s my course too!
– Well, maybe you did 30 %
– What? I did at least 70 %
– OK, I’ll settle for 40 %
– Not one bit under 60 %
– 45 %, that’s my final offer
– You’re being unreasonable now, but we can say 55 %
– 47
– 53
– …