In negotiations, e-commerce companies should make decisions when necessary and should not hesitate all the time, otherwise they may send wrong signals to suppliers and fail to reach a consensus on negotiation matters. The “make decisions when necessary” here focuses on the decision on certain negotiation matters. The core figure of the negotiation is often the leader. When the leader hesitates, the supplier will easily think that the other party has no sincerity in the negotiation. Therefore, e-commerce companies should act according to the situation and make decisions when they should. The most taboo is to discuss a certain issue repeatedly and refuse to give in, which can easily lead to a deadlock in the negotiation.
Xiao Wang is the operator of an online store. In the early warm-up stage of a negotiation, the supplier lowered the price to the ideal range, but he still hoped that the other party could reduce it by another 1 percentage point. So, the two sides launched a fierce negotiation on this 1 percentage point. Xiao Wang believed that he must have an advantage because the supplier only negotiated with him at present. If he did not purchase the supplier’s goods, it would be difficult for the supplier’s goods to be sold
Unexpectedly, the supplier received an order the next afternoon. The customer wanted the goods very urgently and was willing to increase the price. After learning the news, the person in charge of the supplier told Xiao Wang that if there was no definite answer this afternoon, the negotiations would be suspended. At this time, Xiao Wang still thought that the supplier was using time to put pressure on him, so he planned to temporarily put aside the issue of 1 percentage point and continue the negotiation one day later.
But early in the morning of the third day, the person in charge of the supplier called Xiao Wang to tell him to stop the negotiation because a customer had already asked them for goods urgently and gave them 2 percentage points more. In the end, the negotiation was declared over. When Xiao Wang negotiated with other suppliers, he did not expect that the quotes given by other suppliers were higher than the market average price, because the price of raw materials had risen and the previous quotes could not be maintained.
Because of Xiao Wang’s hesitation, he always thought that there was room for negotiation, and as a result, he lost an opportunity to purchase at a low price. This also tells us that when negotiating, we must make a decisive decision and be willing to give up a small profit, because only by giving up can we gain. The market is changing, and only by taking decisive action can we achieve the expected benefits. If the negotiation fails due to indecisiveness, the e-commerce company is likely to suffer unnecessary losses.
Zhang Ou, a senior purchasing staff, once experienced a negotiation. The final result of the negotiation was that the two parties reached a cooperation, and the cooperation process was also relatively pleasant. But what made Zhang Ou feel grudge was that this negotiation could have gained more benefits, but still missed a good opportunity. It turned out that although the result of this negotiation was a cooperation, the e-commerce company represented by Zhang Ou closed the deal at a price 5% higher than the other party’s lowest price. In other words, Zhang Ou not only failed to achieve the expected goal in terms of price, but also paid a higher procurement cost.
During the negotiation, the supplier was very strong, because its goods were indeed in short supply in China, and the quality was also very guaranteed, and many e-commerce companies wanted to get the source of goods. Zhang Ou’s e-commerce company was one of the stronger ones, so the supplier was willing to conduct cooperative negotiations with it.
During the negotiation, the supplier offered preferential conditions, but also asked Zhang Ou to offer equal conditions. At that time, Zhang Ou thought that he had spent so much energy to get the negotiation to this point, and it was about to enter the second half. If he did not agree to the other party’s request, the negotiation would definitely not go on. In the end, the two sides reached a difficult cooperation on this content. Obviously, Zhang Ou was not satisfied, and he still wanted to hold the bottom line in terms of price. The price offered by the supplier was quite favorable. If he could cut it down by another 5 percentage points, he could achieve the expected goal. Zhang Ou thought he was sure to win, so he showed this mentality in the negotiation. He did not refuse firmly, nor did he make a decision immediately. His hesitation did affect the negotiation, but the supplier also thought of a countermeasure. It turned out that the supplier proposed to share information with its brother units before the negotiation, including the price of the goods. The brother unit informed the supplier the night before the negotiation that an e-commerce company was eager to purchase the goods, and the price offered was also very attractive, and the e-commerce company was not very strict about time. In other words, even if the supplier signed a contract with the e-commerce company where Zhang Ou worked, the goods would not be in short supply. But at the negotiation table, the supplier said that his goods were in short supply, and Zhang Ou had to purchase them at a price 5 percentage points higher than the original price, otherwise he would not be able to reach a cooperation. Hearing such a price, Zhang Ou was of course unwilling. The other party said that although the price has increased, they can make certain concessions on the matters that have been reached, so the advantages still outweigh the disadvantages.
Zhang Ou thought that the negotiations had reached this point. Giving up now means that the content that had been discussed before would not count. Moreover, if this opportunity is missed, it would be difficult to cooperate with the supplier again, after all, the supplier has the upper hand. Therefore, Zhang Ou agreed to the supplier’s conditions, and the two parties formally signed a cooperation agreement and carried out cooperation as planned.
Tips
During negotiations, hesitation and indecision are mostly because they do not want to give up vested interests or pay more. Therefore, e-commerce companies must make decisions when necessary and the benefits reach a certain level. It is basically impossible to expect suppliers to give in 100%. If e-commerce companies do not seize the opportunity, they are likely to be caught in a dilemma.