Reed K. Holden - Negotiating with Backbone: Eight Sales Strategies to Defend Your Price and Value

Eight Sales Strategies to Defend Your Price and Value

Reed K. Holden

Vice President, Publisher: Tim Moore
Associate Publisher and Director of Marketing: Amy Neidlinger
Executive Editor: Jeanne Glasser
Editorial Assistant: Pamela Boland
Operations Specialist: Jodi Kemper
Assistant Marketing Manager: Megan Graue
Cover Designer: Chuti Prasertsith
Managing Editor: Kristy Hart
Project Editor: Anne Goebel
Copy Editor: Paula Lowell
Proofreader: Christa White, Language Logistics
Indexer: Erika Millen
Compositor: Nonie Ratcliff
Manufacturing Buyer: Dan Uhrig

2012 by Reed K. Holden
Publishing as FT Press
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America
First Printing May 2012

ISBN-10: 0-13-306476-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-306476-6

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Holden, Reed K.
Negotiating with backbone : eight sales strategies to defend your price and value / Reed K.
Holden.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-13-306476-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) -- ISBN 0-13-306476-X
1. Selling. 2. Customer relations. 3. Negotiation. 4. Pricing. I. Title.
HF5438.25.H638 2012
658.8101--dc23
2012007845

This book is dedicated to my children: Rebecca and
Mark. You are successful individuals in your own
ways with lots of backbone. You make a dad proud.

Books dont happen without the support of others. Im grateful to a wide range of Holden Advisors people for their help as well as clients and friends over the years. All have provided insights and sometimes bruising input to help us craft this new model and the stories that support it.

Starting early in my career with research on buyer-seller relationships, Kevin Clancy of Copernicus, Randy Chapman of University of Michigans Ross School of Business, and Tom Nagle of Monitor were the key influencing subject matter experts. The model evolved with further help from Tom Nagle and Dick Harmer while we were together growing Strategic Pricing Group and working on the second and third editions of The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing. A special thanks to Elaine Kelly who helped us start the first real business and took the brunt of the calls from procurement many years ago.

Later, when the team started Holden Advisors, I expanded the initial buyer behavior model to include the poker player, and Tom Sant of Hyde Park Partners was an early supporter and cheerleader. He helped put us on track, away from dense prose, and initially floated the idea of a book on the subject. The model evolved to its current form with the support of a client in Australia. Many thanks to Neil Wilson, Jeanette Conrick, and Mark Johnson for their initial and continued support, and Andrew Jacka for becoming a strong supporter and collaborator as we evolved this model. Subsequent work in different geographic regions included people who were attentive and constructive, and while too many to mentionyour help was appreciated.

Our internal team of consultants, led by Alison Yama with Alexander Beram, Jacqueline Davis, and Ellen Quackenbush, all worked tirelessly to shape up ideas into true training content for salespeople.

I owe a special thanks to the many procurement professionals over the years. For the sake of reputation, I wont name them, but their stories and interactions helped build this model and refine the tacticsand, of courseprovided some of the stories. Special thanks to procurement professional David Callaghan for his input and perspective.

To help craft content and titles, I relied on a kitchen cabinet of business colleagues. Their input made sure that the high points were clear and that the title and artwork captured what we intended. A special thanks for their efforts to Lewie Miller, Qvidian; Tom Sant, Hyde Park Partners; Andrew Jacka, PricewaterhouseCoopers; Neil Wilson, PricewaterhouseCoopers; Noel Capon, Columbia University; Wayne Gartin, Novarum; Chris Hylen, Innovative Merchant Solutions; Mike Lawson, Depuy Orthopedics; Adele McLean, icanCsolutions; Dino Mele; Brent Melancon, Medtronic; Mike Mickelson, Medtronic; Patrick McCullough, LifeCell; David Phillips; Pete Pichette, Spansion; Chris Provines, Holden Advisors; Andy Slusher, Golden Revenue Solutions; Rebecca Holden, Heidrick & Struggles; Bob Knapp, Neubrand; Vishal Kamar, Acme Alloys (India); and Paul Cutler.

Lewie Miller, CEO of Qvidian, took up this project with a very special passion that I appreciated. He would chew over a question until he had enough answers to find the solution. He provided many great thoughts on the ultimate positioning for this book. And over breakfast in his backyard one Sunday morning, he provided the story of the stomp procurement person in the book.

Im an idea guy and storyteller, not a great writer. This comes with the correct word and turn of a phrase. One of two starting editors of this project is John Kador. This is our second project together, and things just keep getting better each time. This one started on a dime and was a fun evolution of thoughts and words. John is a great editor and has become a dear friend over the years.

Carolyn Holden was also an editor for this project. She is also my business partner and wife. Think about that. Editors need to give feedback, hard feedback. She was persistent and frank with her feedback and positioning. Yet we are still happily married, which tells you something about two thingsthe quality of her feedback and the quality of our relationship. She has truly been my number one fan.

This is our first time working with Pearson Education and we cant be more pleased with their professionalism and speed in getting this book to the market. Our Executive Editor is Jeanne Glasser, someone we have worked with over the years. We have learned to trust her advice and instincts and couldnt have been more pleased when she was willing to work with us. The down-in-the-trenches work is done by the Project Editor, Anne Goebel. We have enjoyed her professionalism and inputs in this process. She has been a pleasure to work with.

A special thanks to my mother, Dorothy Bunny Holden, who has become a great negotiator and always been a great Mom.

Dr. Reed K. Holden is the founder and CEO of Holden Advisors (.

Reed lives in Concord, Massachusetts, with his wife Carolyn and two golden retrievers Sam and Red.

Selling is not as fun as it used to be. That unarguable fact takes its toll on sales professionals and the organizations they represent. If youre reading this, a good chance exists that youre a sales pro who once loved his job. How are you feeling about it today, and more importantly, have you taken a hit on your ability to deliver results? Maybe its the way you wake up every day wondering where that great get-up-and-go feeling got up and went. Clients put you through the wringer with ever-increasing demands. They organize more and more people to participate in buying decisions. You are put through never-ending rounds of negotiation. More concessions are always demanded, and then even if you score a sale, wheres the celebration?