Just as you would never dream of starting to build a house without a conventional blueprint, you can't build a deal that is worth negotiating without a plan to get where you are going. The processes of data collection and analysis are key steps to what we at Think! call "blueprinting" a deal. Blueprinting is a convenient way to view data-based preparation and analysis in its most basic and raw form; it essentially describes the steps needed to get your arms around all the moving parts in a complex B2B deal.
Since value in negotiation is completely relative to the deal on the table, you need to refine your total value to a unique It, what you have that this customer wants that the competition does not deliver. A truly unique It counteracts all of the buyer's attempts to commoditize since It is, by definition, not "the same thing" as what anyone else is offering.
Example: Defining It at Think! Inc.
When we worked through the three-step process to finding It for Think!, we used the following broad headings and measurable subheadings:
Pre-Training
- what does the supplier do to diagnose root causes?
- what does the supplier do to engage cross-functionally and set success measurement?
- what kind of tailoring and customization is involved?
Training
- how easy is what we learn in the training to integrate into our other processes (like selling or account amanagment)?
- how much of the workshop is applied to live deals versus generic case studies?
- are the sales department and all relevan cross-functional players invovled in the training?
- how easily is the training assimilated by the team?
- what are the skills of the consultant delivering the workshop?
Post-Training
- when it comes to ability to impact business results, how does supplier A solve our business problems better than supplier B?
- what does this company do to assist with coaching and implementing the training?
- which supplier measures return on investment better?
Would you like to complete this three-step process to determine the It for your organization? Request our guide sheet below.