A US paper company needed to renew their HR software contracts with two separate suppliers, but both vendors were playing hardball: prices were set to jump hundreds of thousands of dollars for the client’s three-year renewals. With slim margins and rising costs, however, the paper company simply couldn’t accommodate that kind of increase.
Despite significant amounts of time spent negotiating, the software providers wouldn’t budge on the hefty increases in any meaningful way. And really, why would they? They knew that the paper company’s execs were happy with the relationship and had no intention of switching suppliers.
To add even more challenge, there was internal politics involved on the client’s side of things. While the software was for the HR team, they weren’t actually paying for it: that came out of the IT Department’s budget. So the HR folks weren’t particularly invested in pushing hard for a lower price. To add to the complexity, the IT team was wary of alienating HR by pushing too hard. (After all, you want to stay on the good side of the people who are helping you hire your staff.)
They were at a standstill, so they called in Dark Horse ‒ who immediately saw there was room for a better deal. It was just a matter of taking the politics out of the equation, and knowing exactly how to play hardball back without damaging the vendor/client relationship.
Solution
Restart talks without directly involving the client
Dark Horse took over negotiations on the client’s behalf. Because we weren’t impacted by the internal politics of the situation, we could “step on a few toes” without negatively impacting the relationship. We conducted lightning rounds of discussions with each supplier, countering all their sales tactics with insights gleaned from our (very well-informed) global advisory network of senior IT sales leaders.
After several honest discussions over seven days, we came to an agreement everyone could live with.
Result
Final offer: $150K less
While the prices did go up, the increase was very small compared to what the suppliers had initially insisted was non-negotiable. The IT team was happy, the HR team was pleased ‒ and the relationship with the vendors stayed positive. A win for everyone!
Last-mile negotiations are our specialty
Dark Horse negotiators know IT. We’ve lived it our entire careers, and are skilled at getting the best deals done while keeping everyone happy. Think that “best and final” offer could be better? Send us the contract. We’ll review it in 4 hours at no charge, and if we think there’s room for improvement, you can bring us in to negotiate, either behind the scenes or on your behalf. Give us a call ‒ the review is always free.
