You're listening to Business English Pod, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Welcome back to Business English Pod.
My name's Edwin and I'll be your host for this episode, the third of a three-part series on discussing a proposal with a vendor.
Meeting with a vendor to discuss a proposal is partly about getting information and partly about negotiating a good deal.
Your conversation is like a dance, in which you and the vendor are trying to get the most out of a possible deal.
You need to come out of the meeting feeling confident about the vendor's abilities and sure that you are getting as much as possible at the best possible price.
Last week we looked at how to show concern about cost, introducing topics with tact and showing tactical hesitation.
In this episode we'll focus on the negotiation phase.
That will involve highlighting concerns, getting concessions and making a counterproposal.
We'll also look at how to set criteria for evaluation and how to maintain momentum at the end of a meeting.
In today's dialogue we'll rejoin Steve, who wants to hire a vendor to run language training, and Karen, whose company has bid on the project.
As you listen to the dialogue, try to answer the following questions.
One, how does Karen respond to Steve's concern about cost?
Two, what changes to the proposal does Steve suggest?
3.
What will probably happen next?
I see.
Well, I do find the blended model appealing.
It's just that, well... Yes?
Well, I keep coming back to the issue of cost.
We are willing to pay for good work, but my fundamental concern is that we're going to sink all of this money into it and find out that it doesn't fit our needs.
This is a significant investment.
I don't want to have to revamp things down the line.
Of course not.
You want something that fulfills your specific training goals.
Exactly.
So how can we be sure of that?
How can we somehow guarantee that we get exactly what we need?
Well, perhaps there's something we can arrange in terms of milestones.
Definitely.
That's a great idea.
Here's what I'd like to do.
I'd like to attach a contingency to the tailoring fee.
Okay.
Um, how might that work?
Here's my idea.
Halfway through the course, we do an assessment and collect some feedback to measure outcomes.
If those two things satisfy certain minimum requirements, then everyone's happy and we deliver on the tailoring fee.
Okay.
Well, I'll have to run that by my boss, but it sounds like something we can handle.
Great.
If you can get back to me tomorrow, then I can sit down with my management team on Wednesday and, if all goes well, we'll draw up an agreement and we could be in business by the end of the week.
How does that sound?
Sounds like a plan.
All right.
Let's look more closely at what's happening in this dialogue as we go through it step by step.
I see.
Well, I do find the blended model appealing.
It's just that, well... Yes?
Well, I keep coming back to the issue of cost.
We are willing to pay for good work, but my fundamental concern is that we're going to sink all of this money into it and find out that it doesn't fit our needs.
This is a significant investment.
I don't want to have to revamp things down the line.
Steve and Karen have come to basic agreement on a blended delivery model and they are about to get into negotiating terms.
At this point, Steve wants to highlight his main or fundamental concern, cost.
He's worried about getting real value on his company's investment and shows that he continues to worry that things might not work out.
Let's practice a few more phrases you can use to highlight your concerns during this type of meeting.
I like the idea of social marketing, but I need to know exactly how much time it will require.
The bottom line is this.
Will it help us increase customer satisfaction?
We can talk about this for hours, but I still need to know that we are protected legally.
Okay, so why does Steve highlight his concerns about cost and effectiveness?
Well, he wants to put himself in a strong position during negotiation, as we will hear.
Of course not.
You want something that fulfills your specific training goals.
Exactly.
So how can we be sure of that?
How can we somehow guarantee that we get exactly what we need?
How can Steve be sure of the training's effectiveness?
Well, he is asking for some sort of guarantee.
Now, he's certainly not hoping simply to have Karen promise that they'll do a good job.
No, he wants concessions.
He wants Karen to agree to terms that favor Steve and his company.
Steve has set this up quite nicely by constantly coming back to the issues of money and quality.
If he had not seemed worried, he probably wouldn't be able to extract concessions or guarantees as he is doing now.
How else can we extract concessions during negotiation?
Here are a few more examples.
If this agreement has any hope of succeeding, we'll need to make some changes.
I really can't take this back to my colleagues as is.
I'm truly impressed by these designs but we may have to go somewhere cheaper.
It's going to be very difficult to justify this expense without some clear conditions.
Okay, back to Steve and Karen's negotiation.
Well, perhaps there's something we can arrange in terms of milestones.
Definitely.
That's a great idea.
Here's what I'd like to do.
I'd like to attach a contingency to the tailoring fee.
Perhaps Karen wasn't quite ready for Steve's clever negotiating skills.
But at this point, she needs to respond to his concerns in order to get the project.
She suggests arranging milestones in some way to guarantee the work of her company.
Steve grabs this opportunity and gives a very clear and specific suggestion.
He wants to attach a contingency to the tailoring fee.
In other words, part of the payment will only be delivered if things work out well.
This is, in effect, a counterproposal.
He's suggesting different terms to the proposal than the ones originally laid out by Lexis Training Solutions.
And he does this in a way that makes it seem like it was part of Karen's idea.
Now, let's listen to some other good ways to make a counterproposal.
What would you say to increasing the down payment and stretching the payment term?
I have an idea.
If you remove the cost of setup, I'll refer you to our clients.
Maybe we could break this into two separate projects?
If you can knock 10% off the top of this quote, we have a deal.
With his strong counter-proposal, the balance of power in the negotiation seems to be shifting in Steve's direction.
Okay, um, how might that work?
Here's my idea.
Halfway through the course, we do an assessment and collect some feedback to measure outcomes.
If those two things satisfy certain minimum requirements, then everyone's happy and we deliver on the tailoring fee.
Karen sounds a little unsure of herself.
She asks for more specifics about Steve's counterproposal.
In doing this, she is letting Steve take control.
Steve is very clear about what he wants.
He has either thought about this carefully or is very good at coming up with good ideas in the middle of negotiation.
His counterproposal is to make part of the fee dependent on outcomes or results.
To measure those outcomes, there need to be criteria.
That is, what exactly will they look at to determine whether the training has been successful?
Steve suggests doing an assessment and collecting feedback from the participants.
Notice how the following examples also establish criteria for evaluation.
I think we need to look at three things here, cost, quality, and timeliness.
If this new website gets good feedback from customers and sales staff, we'll deliver on the final payment.
After three months with these ads, we'll have to measure the increase in sales and the increase in brand recognition.
If this saves us both money and time, we'll sign on for a full year.
So, Steve suggests attaching part of the fee to evaluation.
And how does Karen respond?
Okay, well, I'll have to run that by my boss, but it sounds like something we can handle.
Great.
If you can get back to me tomorrow, then I can sit down with my management team on Wednesday and, if all goes well, we'll draw up an agreement and we could be in business by the end of the week.
How does that sound?
Karen seems positive about Steve's counterproposal, but just needs to confirm with her boss.
This is certainly a success for Steve.
He has not only reduced the cost by agreeing to a blended training course, but he has also got Karen to agree that part of the fee is dependent on customer satisfaction.
What Steve wants to do now is maintain momentum to see things through and get a contract in place so that the real work can begin.
To maintain momentum, Steve suggests a timeline.
He wants Karen to contact him the following day so that he can meet with his managers and sign a contract by the end of the week.
It's very important to end a meeting with a sense of purpose and to make sure the positive momentum continues.
How else can we do this?
Let's listen to some examples.
I want to move on this soon, so let's get an agreement done by the weekend.
Expect to hear from me very soon.
Very good.
I'll get the specifications to you this afternoon and please get back to me in the morning.
All right.
Steve and Karen have finished their meeting and it sounds like they're in business.
Now, let's practice some of the language we've covered in today's lesson.
First, we'll practice language you can use to highlight your concerns about a proposal.
In a moment, you'll hear a statement from a prospective vendor.
Then, you'll hear a prompt.
Use the language in the prompt to highlight your concerns about the proposal.
For example, if you hear... We have a great team of writers who can do the copy for your website.
Worried.
Quality.
Right message.
You can say Okay, but I'm still worried about the quality and giving the right message.
We'll play an example answer after each practice.
Ready?
Let's give it a go.
Situation.
Eastern Europe is an increasingly popular option for companies looking for outsourcing solutions.
Heard problems communication example answer.
But i have heard that there are often problems with communication situation.
We can have the new packaging ready in a couple of weeks impressive.
No customers like?
Example answer.
That's impressive, but how do we know that customers will like it situation.
I'm sure that we can give you a discount for volume thanks.
Deliveries on time example answer.
Thanks, I still worry about deliveries being on time situation.
Our editing services are used by some very large corporations.
Guarantee Quality Satisfaction Example Answer.
But how can you guarantee a certain minimum quality and client satisfaction?
Now, let's practice useful vocabulary and idioms.
You'll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a beep.
Repeat the whole sentence, saying the missing word.
For example, if you hear... You can say...
The consultant said that the fundamental problem with our company is the lack of training.
After each response, we'll play the correct answer.
Let's begin.
Answer.
Ned hired a lawyer to help him draw up the contract.
When Rita asked for time off, Gus said he would have to run the manager.
Answer.
When Rita asked for time off, Gus said he would have to run it by the manager.
To hire the best people, we need to completely our recruitment policies.
Answer to hire the best people, we need to completely revamp our recruitment policies.
Martin had to a lot of money into renovations on the old building.
Answer martin had to sink a lot of money into renovations on the old building.
All right, we've reached the end of this episode, the third and final part of our series on meeting with a vendor.
Today, we've looked at a variety of strategies used in negotiation, including extracting concessions, highlighting concerns and making a counterproposal.
For more practice, premium members can access the online quizzes and study notes for this and other episodes on the website.
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Thanks for listening and see you next time.
