If you're a VAR or vendor, you mostly likely have been in a situation where you walked away from a customer deal, shaking your head, and saying to yourself: "I know I could have done better." Oftentimes, you probably have just "settled" on terms and conditions that you weren't exactly happy with, for possible fear of losing the customer's business. And in these uncertain times, no one can afford to lose any more business. It's nothing to be ashamed of if you've ever been in this situation, as many of your peers and colleagues have probably experienced this, more than once. And because of these feelings, the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA) thought enough to develop the education portion of this year's Inspire Thought Leadership Summit around developing negotiation skills, and how resellers and vendors can get to where they want to be when it comes to cutting deals and adding to their business models.

As part of the education sessions at Inspire, the RSPA invited Bill Garcia of Garcia & Associates, to hold two morning sessions on the conference, appropriately titled, "Negotiating for Success." Held at the Aruba Marriott Resort & Stellaris Casino, the workshop focused on how to "Raise the Bar," when it comes to the negotiation process, as well as "Long-Term Negotiations and Seller's Powers" and "Buyer Behavior."

During the sessions, which VSR had the opportunity to attend, Garcia kept the audience engaged, simply because he didn't just tell them "what they should be doing." He used real-life examples from situations that he had experienced, both in his personal and professional life, proving that we negotiate every day -- in all aspects of our lives -- we just might not realize it! He told attendees how everything is negotiable, whether that's a new customer order for five new computers, or purchasing a boat or car for your family.

 
One of the main points that Garcia brought forth occurred during the first moments of the workshop, when he simply stated that: "Negotiating is not the same as compromising; Negotiating is something you do, not something you simply react to," he told the audience. "It's two parties trying to come to an agreement."

Garcia also noted how the ability to become a good negotiator begins from the time we're children. "Children are master negotiators," he says. "How many times have you experienced a situation where your child will say, 'I'll do this, if you give me this'," he says. On the session's second day, Garcia likened this tactic to the "Yield or Shield," which refers to how "in any negotiation, you will be asked to make concessions...what will you yield, and what will you shield?" He even had attendees pair off, each working together on a role-play exercise on the types of concessions each would make to come to an agreement.

 

For the record, when VSR partnered with one of the attendees, we, in playing the role of the buyer, were able to obtain a year's supply of free Firewall software for five new computers, if we agreed to provide the seller with an exclusive maintenance/service contract for all of our computers and printers for one year -- we even got about $400 knocked off the seller's original asking price!

"Expectations impact outcome, and with a solid plan, the seller has as much, or more, power than the buyer," Garcia says. "We need to recognize that both parties need each other as much as the other party. It's not a one way street. The buyers use tactics...they say I am on my way to your competitor...we show the seller where the tactics are and how to defend the tactic."

A Born Negotiator
Garcia is no stranger to the world of negotiation, and admits that it was something that he always knew he wanted to tap into, but just hadn't done so yet. After receiving a Masters of International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, he landed a job as head of the U.S. sales force of a bearing company, which required its new hires to attend negotiation classes. Garcia remembers entering that class on the first day and how the content sparked his interest and how well the instructor's words and tactics resonated with him. He recognized that he always had the "negotiation bug" already within his personality, and this class just brought that to the forefront.

As a U.S. citizen that was raised throughout Latin America (Argentina, Brazil and Chile), Garcia saw how many of the residents would "haggle" with local merchants until an agreement was reached. This cultural tactic, coupled with his entrepreneurial spirit, led him to establish Garcia & Associates in 1997. Since then, Garcia has provided client-driven, customized, negotiation training to organizations in more than 25 countries on six continents. "The difference between myself and others, is that I find negotiating an easy to learn game that can be fun," he says. "Through negotiating, I've managed to increase my standard of living, as well as significantly impact the net profits of my clients."

Working with the Channel
Garcia is also familiar with the channel and its business model, having worked with ScanSource and Motorola, prior to leading the RSPA Inspire attendees. In fact, Dean Crotty, President of North Country Business Products, who also serves as RSPA's Board Chairman, invited Garcia to his offices last year, to educate his employees on the art of negotiation. Through that session, Crotty says his employees learned what they "can and can't yield, more or less what they are (or aren't) willing to do."

Crotty also said that gained even a few more "take-aways" by attending Garcia's workshop a second time. "This is something that really hits home for vendors and resellers alike, and that's important because the speaker's content really has to manage to do that, and I thought he (Garcia) did this quite well."

Joe Finizio, President & CEO of the RSPA, agreed with Crotty's assessment. "Everyone is having negotiation classes right now, but what Bill did was give a very unique perspective on this topic," Finizio says. "Sometimes when you listen to a speaker, you just get their myopic view on the topic. However, he really connected to the retail POS industry, and brought real-world experiences into the discussion."

He continues: "Lauren (Stark) (RSPA's Education Coordinator) and I said that we needed to raise the bar when it came to education, and having Bill here was just one step in the right direction."