Negotiation Tips for Data Circuit Contracts
Try to force the other side to make the first offer first. If they don’t make a reasonable offer try calling them on it rather than making a counter offer. This way you will have a much better idea of what to counter with. Be sure that you know what the going rate is for the type of service your requesting. Be sure that you ask for more than you expect to get. It is perfectly fair game to put items on the table you either know you won’t get or don’t care about getting if it is something the other party values. Lawyers sometimes ask for something quite outrageous to protect negotiating items they might be expected to give up latter. Remember you will be expected to give up items later in the process and what better than something you don’t really want anyway? When you give it up do it slowly and reluctantly; you want it to be a bartering chip not a stolen pen.
If contract negotiations are going to last for any period of time it is frequently unpleasant. Be sure you are well rested, comfortably fed, and not in need of the rest room when you start the negotiations. The clothing should be professional but comfortable so you can hide negative reactions and feelings about the process rather than fidgeting. Remember it may not be pleasant for the other side either. When you are negotiating, keep the focus on the issues not the people. Directing frustrations at the salesman rather than the issues is not going to get you a better price or better terms. It would most likely make it worse. It will be much less unpleasant if it is undertaken with a positive attitude.
Make sure the agreement is set in firm language. Be sure everything makes sense to you as it is worded. Their explanations of the wording is not very relevant. Are there any clauses that are ambiguous? What exactly is best effort and are there any disclaimers? Any claims the salesman made before or during the negotiations should be obtained in writing. If they are not obtained in writing there is little that can be done if the vendor does not stand up to it. Once obtained in writing review it to ensure that it firmly says what was stated verbally. These statements should be obtained before negotiating any contracts so you don’t have to ask for these during negotiations when your also asking for concessions. If they make a claim that they can’t live up to and you never obtained it writing, you can’t do anything about it. If they yield a point during negotiations and put it in the written document vaguely it is probably not going to be something they can be held to.
When you negotiate an agreement never give a concession without getting one in return. Always get something in return, or immediately revoke it. As you proceed with contract negotiations try to make your concessions incrementally smaller. Don’t be too eager to make concessions, sometimes just stalling (discussing the issue without receding) can get concessions from the other side, especially if they are impatient. This author usually finds something wrong with the service or product and ask that it be discounted as a result after contract negotiations have apparently concluded . He lets them respond and makes a counter offer. Anything undesirable will work as long as it creates uncertainty about if the deal will actually be executed. This is simply a gambit to apparently withdraw an offer and reopen negotiations. This effectively forces the negotiations back to the table with their offer effectively being the previously negotiated price and yours being unstated.
After the contract negotiations are complete you can try altering the deal slightly on signing. Make a minor change to the contract and send it to the other side with a note giving a reason for the change. If it works the other side will simply accept the change and sign the modified agreement. In a nutshell this is forcing the other side to choose between certainty (a customer signed contract) and uncertainty (that the customer might not sign). The caveat is it must be a very small concession on their part or they will certainly bring it back to full contract negotiations. When you finally do come to any agreements make sure that it is entirely in witting, anything spoken will be very difficult to enforce, or even to be sure of years latter. Try to get a contract ready for them to sign as quickly as possible after the contract negotiation has ceased. This will reduce their opportunity to play any end game tactics on you once the contract negotiation has completed. Many contracts have a three day period that either party can back out on, look for it and threaten to use it.
Contract negotiations can be very involved and can be very stressful. However this page should help you when your faced with negotiations. There are countless opportunities to negotiate in life besides large business agreements, houses, and cars purchases. Offering creative perks and solutions to the other side can be used instead of money. Each time a communications contract is renegotiated there should be a noticeable decrease in cost (for the same bandwidth). All of the tactics stated on this page they can be used against you as well as by you in contract negotiations.
Good luck!