The Players

A sales negotiation rarely boils down to a one-to-one encounter, so you need to identify the different players. Indeed, in everyday life, even when an individual negotiates a purchase on her own, she generally has to compromise with others in her entourage.

Let us take the example of a car. The customer may take into account the opinions of

• his spouse, whose criteria and price sensitivity may be quite different from his own;
• his children;
• potentially, some of his friends or work colleagues whose opinions matter when choosing a model or deciding what is an acceptable price for a particular car;
• his banker, if he wishes to obtain credit.

In the case of business negotiations, the number of people involved is even greater. Looking beyond job titles (“buyer,” “quality director,” “operations manager,” “workshop supervisor,” etc.), what counts are the responsibilities that these people actually fulfill and, above all, the role they play in the negotiations. We traditionally distinguish between the following main roles.

Opinion Leader

Opinion formers are the prime movers. They define a customer’s needs and then directly influence the formal or informal definition of specifications. For example, a logistics manager may define the type of equipment to be used on a packaging line. Opinion formers also guide a supplier’s technical or commercial decisions.

Users

Users are the customer’s employees who will benefit from the product or service once it has been bought. They do not necessarily participate in the negotiations or help to pay for the product, but are closely involved in the choice of supplier. We distinguish between the main user (manager of the department using the product or service) and direct users. The packaging workshop supervisor is the main user of the new equipment, while the packaging line operators are its direct users.

There may also be users within a supplier’s organization. These are the people who will have to work on the product or service (e.g., after-sales service) while it is in use by the customer.

Advisers

Advisers may influence a decision based on their real or presumed skills. Although they may not possess decision-making powers, a customer’s quality director, maintenance company’s technical manager, or the manager of another company plant may contribute ideas on the type of equipment to choose for the packaging line or suggest a particular supplier.

Payers

Payers within a customer company are those paying the cost of purchasing the product or service from their budget. A plant manager may fund the purchase of new equipment from his investment budget. That budget may or may not be broken down between his various subordinates, including the packaging workshop supervisor, who would then be responsible for funding the product selected.

Payers at a supplier are those who will fund the cost of concessions given to the buyer. The identity of the payer may vary depending on the nature of those concessions. The plant manager will pay for product add-ons, but if the customer is granted more flexible payment terms, the finance director will fund them.

Negotiators

Negotiators constitute the interface between their company and prospective suppliers, their aim being to obtain the best deal possible. They are sometimes connected by filters, who only allow limited information to pass in either direction and who may play a crucial role. A buyer may be responsible for negotiations with equipment manufacturers. Since the buyer may be difficult to contact, she may delegate the task of providing new information from suppliers to her personal assistant (PA). Thus the PA plays the role of a filter.

The Decision Maker

The decision maker is empowered to arbitrate between options. The decision maker may be an individual or a group (committee, working party, etc.). Thus a buyer may decide which equipment to purchase with the prior agreement of the plant manager, or a seller may make such a decision with the agreement of the in-house subcontractor.

These roles are merely a reflection of real life. Sometimes the players in negotiations are invisible. Not all are identifiable, but many are, provided you are observant and inquisitive. The key fact is that the principal players are not all operating within customer companies.

• Competitors are major players in the negotiating process: It is they, and not the buyer, who are the seller’s true opponents.
• The customer’s customers are often affected, sometimes greatly, by the results of the negotiations and may influence their progress without even knowing it.
• The supplier’s suppliers also sometimes play a key role, as do both companies’ main partners.

One of the most common errors in negotiations is to only take into account the most “visible” players.