Why You Absolutely Must Negotiate With Your Client First

It is poor form to exert more effort extracting a discount from your company than you spend convincing your prospective client to make the investment necessary to produce the results they need. The energy you put into negotiating for a concession from your company should not come close to the vigor with which you negotiate with your prospect.

Your sales manager or you company’s leadership team might want the revenue badly enough to allow you to make a concession, but the fact that they are more easily sold than your prospect is doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do what is right for all parties. You need the courage to “go there” and defend the investment you are asking your dream client to make before you look within your company for money.

Just because it’s easier to negotiate with your own company than it is to negotiate with your prospect doesn’t mean that it’s a wise decision.

When you take money out of your side of the deal, you are really allowing your dream client to take their own money out of the investment they are making in the results you are being hired to produce. A smaller investment means less money is available for all of the things that you need to do to deliver. You are making these investments on your client’s behalf. When you focus your sales efforts on discounting on behalf of your prospective client, you are also making it more difficult for your company to generate results. When you need to spend more money to deliver, when there are problems or challenges that you need to resolve, the money you need isn’t there.

You may occasionally have to discount the original pricing that you quoted your prospect, even though the first time they ask is simply a responsible contact doing their job and inquiring about a lower price. You will also have to negotiate with your dream client from time to time, especially in larger, more complex deals. Those negotiations mean you trade a lower price for something of equal or greater value to you and your company.

If you spent the same effort selling your dream client as you spend selling your management team, you’d have already won their business.