Present competition as an alternative to leverage your negotiating position effectively. Explain to Encora that you are evaluating several alternatives, emphasizing a competitor's quote that is significantly lower than Encora’s. This tactic can help you create urgency in the negotiation and secure a better deal.

To maintain flexibility and negotiation power, emphasize the need to remove auto-renewal terms from the contract. This allows you to revisit terms in the future without being automatically bound. Encora should understand this is a requirement from your finance team and is crucial for moving forward.

Anchor your renewal discussions by requesting the removal of any proposed uplift on the existing contract. You need to stress that your expected budget does not account for increases and many suppliers offer better pricing structures as usage expands or is stable.

Propose your willingness to serve as a reference or participate in a case study as leverage to negotiate a more favorable pricing structure. This can create added value for Encora and should be accompanied by a request for better terms.

If your usage of Encora’s services is increasing significantly, leverage this growth to negotiate for lower rates, highlighting the importance of economies of scale where larger user bases should yield reduced per-user pricing.