Contract Negotiations

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…

• Like this post?
  
  • Subscribe
  • Bloglines
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati

The regional bell operating companies (RBOC) frequently purchase DS0, T1, or T3 service from other carriers, as do many other firms. These are then resold to the customer. This was once regulated by the FCC including the price they paid for it which meant they occasionally resold the service to larger customers for less than the actual cable owner would have. They also tend to have access to the providing carrier’s equipment which means they can troubleshoot service issues themselves and sometimes resolve it. They can also offer one support contact for all connections. There are some small businesses that do nothing other than negotiate carrier pricing and terms…

• Like this post?
  
  • Subscribe
  • Bloglines
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati

Just about anything can be negotiated to a cheaper price or better terms if one just asks and data & phone connections are usually a major portion of the network expenses. Even if none of their other customers have asked to negotiate, call their sales number and ask for a manager. Simply asking the manager to wave or cut a setup fee is negotiating!

• Like this post?
  
  • Subscribe
  • Bloglines
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Furl
  • Reddit
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati