4 Simple Steps to Ensure Win-Win Negotiations at Strategic Accounts Are Pointed in the Right Direction

You have heard a lot about win-win negotiations…where both sides are satisfied with the final agreement. When strategic account planning with your team, you should be prepared for multiple negotiations as you solve each customer’s need and agree upon solutions and their cost. To support your major account at the same time as you craft a good deal for your organization, you need to plan well. You need to look ahead a few moves to put together a deal that makes short- and long-term for you both.

Here are 4 simple steps to get you pointed in the right direction:

1. Clarify the issues. Determine clearly what needs to be on the table both for your customer and you.
2. Understand the issues from your customer’s point of view.  What is most important to them? Where is there some flexibility?  How important are these issues to key internal and external stakeholders?
3. Identify the negotiation boundaries.  Know what you and your team need to “win” and what concessions you can afford to make.
4. Be on the same page with your team.  Develop a strategy for the inevitable “give and take” that occurs with every negotiation.

Manage your account strategically, looking forward and backward, to build and retain your customers.