Before you and your team begin a negotiation, spend an inordinate amount of time (60% of the total negotiation time) pulling together more than the usual data -- sales histories, perceptions, profitability reports -- they aren't enough to position you ahead of competitors. Go on-line and here's what you can use to build strategy: industry and company profiles, including five year financials, SEC reports, quarterly earnings and estimates, media reports which will expose senior management directions and the pundits' opinions. Thoroughly understand the client's marketing strategy; some of our successful clients actually sit on their customer's strategic marketing committees. Distribute the information to all team members paying close attention to who will handle specific issues, and delineate your ranges of flexibility over all issues to be discussed using at least three scenarios, totally packaged. That way you won't throw in margin eating "services" with the lowest price or best terms.

Dollars that you have spent servicing a client are your most credible leverage. Tote up these contributions that are not captured in the price to make them tangible, and review them at the start and throughout the negotiation. A client of ours whose largest customer wanted to pull their business from the vendor, did not do so when presented with the real costs of performance -- they hadn't chatted with their friendly in-house accountants prior to the negotiation -- and they stayed with the vendor. Other sources of leverage: solid feedback from users, translating the buyers' senior management direction (frequently they do not know it), and information on the buyers' customer retention rate, which predicts profitability.

Use objective standards to measure and explain your requests, but don't go home without egalitarian concessions. Plan ahead for what you are willing to concede for equally valued buyer concessions; this is how overreaching clients are trained.