EDITOR’S NOTE: One of the many things I like about SIG is their way of engaging the expertise of their membership to answer some of our industry’s questions. Having written extensively about negotiation over the years, this latest one really caught my eye. It also gave me the opportunity to reach out to one of the top experts in negotiation I know – LavenirAI’s Clive R. Heal.
So here is the question I received from SIG via email and the subsequent answer by Clive.
“Do you have experience negotiating with the big four? I have a SIG Member who needs your help“
INQUIRY HERE
I have a SIG Member on the Buy-side who is seeking to connect with those in the Community who may have experience and success negotiating pricing for a rate card with PWC or with the other big accounting firms (KPMG, E&Y, and Deloitte).
Please reply to this email with your insights and/or your offer to meet and discuss with this SIG Member.
FYI – responses will be archived here.
Thank you in advance,
Mary
Mary Zampino, CSP, CSMP, CIAP | Vice President – Content, Research, Analytics | SIG
Here is Clive’s answer:
“How to negotiate with the big boys and how AI can prepare you for such encounters.”
All negotiations are potential opportunities to create value. But suppose you are negotiating with a large supplier in a position of strength. In that case, you must develop a negotiation strategy that includes powerful arguments and be personally well-prepared for the upcoming supplier meetings. The specific arguments to use (from the Procurement toolbox of about 40) are situation-dependent. Strategic negotiation is a social process involving human interaction.
Artificial intelligence (for example, through LavenirAI) can replicate the exact business situation and create sales avatars with personas similar to the incoming salesperson. This provides the opportunity for the Procurement professional to develop their strategies and then practice the negotiation (using conversationalAI and sales avatars) many times before the real negotiation event. Negotiation tracking algorithms can provide quantitative and qualitative feedback based on the arguments deployed and the power of the language used.
So, AI can support both the tools (arguments) and techniques (human interactions).
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Procurement Insights 
Alex
February 6, 2024
Negotiating with the big four can be challenging, but it works the same way as all other eventually :
1) ensure you have a clear view of what you are trying to achieve : lowest cost ? Flexibility ? Highest quality ? Etc.
2) sourcing strategy : look at different operating models (daily rate, per objective, salary +fee etc..) and include non “big 4” companies .
3) sourcing execution : e-sourcing and auctions can be set up if the profiles are made comparable.
4) For the negotiation itself, the breakdown of each profile and their rate is critical so as to be able to assess under/over quality. It is also important to ensure contract terms are negotiated as setting the correct KPI/SLAs is often as material as the price negotiation itself.
Happy to provide further insights,
Alex lio
piblogger
February 6, 2024
Great points, Alex.
What are your thoughts regarding previous client performance/results?
Can that be referenced during negotiations?