Understand what is happening: procurement is usually measured on the savings they extract, so they are going to ask for something no matter how fair your price is. That means you should have built room in before the conversation started, not tried to hold a line you never had. The rule that keeps you sane is never give a concession without taking one. Discount for annual prepay, for a multi year term, for a logo and a case study, for a reference call, for a shorter payment cycle. Never for asking. Put a deadline on every number you quote so a concession does not become the new list price. And know your walk away point before you get on the call, because a deal that only closes at fifty percent off is a deal that will renew at fifty percent off forever.
4 hand-picked resources, 1 India-specific, 4 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.
Why we picked it Built for the moment procurement shows up asking for thirty percent: how to hold price by trading term length, scope or timing, and how to keep the champion working for you while the negotiation runs.
On 30 Minutes to President's Club by Armand Farrokh and Nick Cegelski 33 min
Why we picked it Kapil Makhija takes apart the belief that Indian buyers only want the lowest price, with real numbers from Unicommerce (10 to 12 thousand dollar annual contracts, pricing at about 1.1 rupees per item processed). Useful ballast when an Indian procurement team is pushing you on price.
On The Neon Show by Siddhartha Ahluwalia 70 min listen
Open neon.fund →Why we picked it Explains why procurement asks for a discount even when your price is fair (they are compensated for it) and why the answer is to price with room rather than to fight the way the world wants to buy.
From SaaStr by Jason Lemkin 9 min read
Open saastr.com →Why we picked it Puts real numbers on what you should trade a discount for: roughly 15 to 20 percent for an annual commit from a smaller buyer, and multiple rounds of give budgeted into enterprise pricing from the start.
From SaaStr by Jason Lemkin 6 min read
Open saastr.com →How running a sales process and closing reads from a different seat.
The same ground, over in Money, pricing & model, our Starting Up track.
The same ground, over in Money, pricing & unit economics, our D2C track.
