Win/Win Negotiations
Jim Inglis
Author - Breakthrough Retailing, How a bleeding orange culture can change everything!
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In his book, Gateway to America, Tony describes a meeting many years ago at the National Hardware Show, where he and his associates were planning to announce to The Home Depot that their company, Graham & Brown, was going to sell their wallpaper through Walmart. At that time, Home Depot was Graham and Brown’s largest customer:
?“Jim Inglis routinely held high level Home Depot key vendor meetings during the show in his suite.? He agreed to slot in David and Roger.? The day arrived and it was determined that David would lead the topic and announce our intent to sell to another major national retail chain.? Jim and his large team of senior merchants were in the suite - it was a formidable group, and I was very nervous - Jim was a strong and seasoned VP of Merchandising, known for his lack of patience with vendors who either did not perform or did not please him!
?David was the bad guy and handled the announcement that we were planning to sell Wallcoverings to another ‘national chain retailer’ - the room was silent - everyone looked at Jim who said - “Who might that be?”? David answered the question - this time a longer silence!?
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?Jim cleared his throat and said, “David, I just do not believe that such a move will gain you any significant market share improvement.? What can we do at Home Depot to better support your business to the point that you will not feel it is necessary to expand your retail distribution in the US?? Perhaps you can document your response with specifics on how we can strengthen our business together and expand your wallpaper sales and market share growth throughout the Home Depot national network of stores”
?The tension relaxed significantly in the room!? We agreed to follow up as Jim had requested and the meeting concluded with firmer than normal handshakes!
?We re-grouped after the meeting and determined that our long-term future and business growth in the USA was best tied to Home Depot. We drafted an agreement between Graham & Brown and The Home Depot which essentially asked that they would purchase Paintable Textures exclusively from us and that their wallpaper program would represent an agreed to % of their total core assortment.? They OK’d the plan, and we moved forward with a strong and co-operative business relationship.? Our partnership continued to flourish and in the year 2000 our sales to them surpassed $30 Million.”
?This is an example of win/win negotiations where both parties benefit.
Entrepreneur & Ops Consultant | Helping Mission Driven CPG Companies Grow 3x | Fractional Operations | Wellness Community Builder & Advocate | Mission 200lbs | Help 100m Kids Globally
6 个月I think you're absolutely right, Jim. What's the root cause? Having worked in retail the buyer answers to the director, the director answers to the vp, the vp answers to the svp, the svp answers to the president.
Unternehmensinhaber bei Ulrich Cone Strategy Consultants
6 个月Two persons are sitting at a table talking about prices and conditions for a product. One of them is open in his calculation and the other is closed. Question: Who is the vendor and who is the buyer? ?? Win Win is a Imagination.
Consultor, Gestor comercial e executivo de vendas
6 个月Jim, in Brazil, there is a maxim that you always have to win and your opponent loses...this only happens once...however, in a win/win negotiation, everyone benefits from the results, it strengthens the relationship and brands and creates a bond of trust for future business...