Customers who present competition as an alternative have seen the best outcome in negotiations. To utilize this tactic effectively, reiterate to the supplier that you are negotiating with competitors who can provide similar functionalities at a lower price. Highlight any additional value adds or features these competitors are offering, and emphasize the need to align the pricing with these alternatives to maintain your partnership.
Address any existing product issues or frustrations during the conversation. This tactic serves as leverage to negotiate better terms or pricing. Detail specific problems you've experienced, as this can lead to concessions from the supplier to maintain your business relationship, especially if these issues have required additional internal resources to manage.
If you're planning to increase the number of users significantly, leverage this growth to negotiate better pricing per user. Emphasize that as your company scales, the contract pricing should reflect the economies of scale, thus driving down the unit cost. Clear projections on user growth can be influential in negotiations.
During the renewal discussions, anchor your negotiations around previous budget expectations that did not account for an uplift. Make it clear that the uplift is outside your budget, and request its removal. This can also serve as a point of negotiation to retain or enhance the existing terms while assuring budget compliance.
Argue for the removal of the auto-renewal clause based on your finance team's requirements for flexibility in purchasing decisions. Emphasizing that commitment to auto-renewal is a barrier can pressure the supplier to eliminate this clause, which can improve your negotiation stance.