Category: Knowledge as an Asset

Every business wants to maximise its Request For Proposal (RFP) win rate – and there’s an easy way to start – Work on fewer, better-qualified RFPs.

Then, assuming you measure Win-Rate as:

(Number of pre-qualified RFPs Won)/(Number of pre-qualified RFPs worked on)

by working on fewer, higher-quality RFPs, win rates will increase. You also need to consider Average Order Values (no point in winning a lot of deals that are too small!) – have a look at one of our other blogs on increasing AoV here.

What Is An RFP Response?

On a very basic level, a request for proposal (RFP) response is a supplier’s answers to the specific set of questions that a company’s procurement team has included within their RFP. 

During a complex purchasing process with many suppliers competing for business, businesses will often demand succinct answers to the questions they’ve posed. Due to this, suppliers must recognise the importance of providing considered and realistic answers to these questions.

How to qualify RFPs and improve your win-rate

The best and quickest way of improving your RFP win rate is to refrain from bidding on opportunities that your business can’t realistically win. Companies can often assume that they have an increased chance of winning business, by responding to every single RFP they receive. It might seem obvious, but suppliers can waste countless days/weeks every year writing proposals which never pay off, and were never going to.

As a starting point, you need to use an RFP Qualification tool to objectively score yourself about “is this one we can realistically win”? Try using our FREE CALCULATOR: The RFP Qualification Scorecard 

The scorecard questionnaire will take you about 2 minutes, and will enable you to objectively answer questions like:

• Can you meet the budget holder as part of the process?
• Who’s the competition?
• Do you have deep domain expertise in solving this kind of problem?
• Is there a budget you can work within?
• Do you have a sales coach inside the client?

Once you’ve got your score, you can then decide on next steps BEFORE committing days/weeks to fill it in.

So now you’ve decided to bid – how do you maximise your win rate?

Understand The Prospect’s Priorities

Steer your proposal in the direction of your customer’s specific needs. Instead of trying to sell the features and benefits of your products or services, use the available time you have to zero in on the problems that your customer has. Providing details of how you can solve the priority problems that customers are facing, and drive benefits, is the starting point.

Whenever I’ve been on the receiving end of an RFP response, I’ve looked for 3 key things:

• Have they answered the exam question?
• Have they provided evidence to support their answer?
• Have they added value that I didn’t ask for on top of their response?

Be Persuasive With Your Proposal 

• Summarise the potential customer’s specific needs. Tell them where you’ve seen this problem before and what you did about it.
• Focus on what they’ve asked for. Make your response succinct.
• Outline the outcomes that could be possible if your potential customer decides to choose your services. Show them how their life would be made easier if they were to choose your products or services. 
• Providing clear evidence and reference points that your business is the best choice.

Differentiate Your Offer And Your Company

No one wins on the “lowest price” alone. Anyone can buy it cheap! Make it clear how you’re able to add value that your competitors can’t. As there’ll be intense competition most of the time, it’s crucial to highlight how your business’ approach is not just different, but adds significantly more value to them and reduces their risks.

Provide case studies

Show your potential client that companies (and people), like them, buy your services and get great results. You need client logos and quotes from senior people. Keep them short, and make sure they illustrate the point that you solved similar problems for other great brands.

Make Your Proposal Easy To Understand

Getting bogged down with complex corporate purchasing decisions can already be a stressful and time-consuming task. ensuring that your potential customer’s buying journey remains smooth and unproblematic will help to make your proposal seem much more attractive. Don’t overcomplicate your proposals by using terms or sentences which are unnecessary or too complex. Removing jargon and unnecessary acronyms will ensure that your potential customers will be able to clearly understand your proposition without having to spend time interpreting your answers.

A really useful tip is to make sure that your proposal is easy to skim read, which will allow potential customers to gain insight into your offering, without taking too much time out of their day. Make sure that you highlight the most important elements of your proposal and try to avoid drawing attention to every single element of your proposal. be succinct, add bullet points and draw attention to necessary elements.

Get an independent reviewer

For bigger opportunities, get someone independent to “mark your homework” before you submit it. We do this a lot for clients, and it makes a material difference to their win rates.

Proofread

It’s vital to ensure that your proposal is free from mistakes. Remember, it doesn’t matter how impressive or persuasive your proposal is if it has multiple spelling and grammar errors. 

Ensure that your proposal is proofread by other employees within your business so that a fresh pair of eyes can spot any potential errors. Remember, these proposals are an incredibly important way of showcasing your brand. Submitting this to potential customers with errors, or in an unprofessional way, is harmful to your business. Take time and care to ensure that this is the best representation of what your company can provide.

Conclusion

Did you know that RFPs can represent 33% of revenues? They are an essential part of many businesses’ sales growth plans, but they often take days/weeks to complete. So knowing how to streamline your RFP process is instrumental in driving growth. 
This article contains 7 tips on improving your RFP win rate. But if you aren’t sure where to start in writing your RFP, you can begin by using our FREE CALCULATOR: The RFP Qualification Scorecard.

Introduction

There are three parts to this article:

• When procurement writes an RFP, how do they build a scoring mechanism so that they can work out who the best supplier is?
• As a vendor, how do you sort out the “wheat from the chaff”?
• As a vendor, how do you build an RFP scorecard?

This guide is a one-stop shop to understand the RFP scoring process and how you as a vendor can maximise your win rate and average order value. Once you have finished reading this guide, you can also use our RFP Qualification Calculator to have as your own RFP scorecard template.

The procurement perspective

How does an RFP process work?

There are typically 7 steps to building and running an RFP process:

• Business requirements definition, volumes, targets, constraints, etc.
• Establish the right sourcing strategy (e.g. in-source, out-source, supplier consolidation, Joint-Venture, re-negotiation, etc)
• Supplier/market research and supplier short-lists
• Develop RFI/RFP, decide on the scoring criteria and relative weightings
• Run the RFP process, select preferred suppliers & negotiate terms, contracts and SLAs
• Implementation planning and transitioning
• Ongoing performance management

What Is RFP Scoring?

“RFP” is an acronym for “Request For Proposal”. It simply refers to a document which announces a project, describes the finer details/scope/objectives, and invites bids from qualified vendors to complete it. 

RFP scoring is the process whereby a numerical value is added to each element of the vendor responses within an RFP response (proposal), to establish who should be short-listed. RFP Scoring is used so that a relatively fair and unbiased decision can be made about which vendor to put through to the next round.

Ultimately, as a buyer, what you’re trying to achieve is:

• Finding a way of comparing all vendors on a like-for-like basis.
• Enabling the budget holder and other key stakeholders to have influence over how criteria should be weighted.
• Enabling the scores of multiple stakeholders to be aggregated/compared once the responses are in

Types Of RFP Scoring

There are at least 6 different ways procurement set up the scoring for an RFP. You often won’t know as a vendor which they are using, unfortunately. However, a good quality RFP should make it clear what the criteria are for scoring responses.

Here are six ways RFP scoring is setup:

1. Basic scoring

To complete basic scoring during RFP scoring, there needs to be a set score given to each criterion (usually 1 to 10). Each criterion is given the same weight, as they are equally important within this type of scoring. 

While this is the easiest and most basic scoring method, it’s not always the best method, as not all elements typically have the same value.

2. Combination

The combination method is a method whereby each criterion is given a weight by having its own score. One criterion may have a higher score than the other, due to the importance that they have within business requirements. 

3. Distinct weightings

The distinct weighting method is often a great middle ground between basic and combination scoring. This method allows each criterion to be measured on the same scale, regardless of their importance. The main difference with distinct weightings is that criterion has a weight, which is then scored and multiplied to give it a total weighted score. 

This method makes overall RFP scoring incredibly easy and is a great way of ensuring that the most important elements within a business’ requirements are represented fairly. 

4. Hierarchical structures

While businesses may want an incredibly detailed evaluation method in place, it’s often the case that the more complex an RFP is designed to be, the more in-depth the evaluation method needs to be. 

The benefit of a hierarchical structure is that it makes it possible to group criteria together, so that each group can be weighted, rather than each individual criterion.

5. Lowest cost compliant

Using the Low-Cost Compliant method is a two-stage process:

Firstly, a review of the technical/functional criteria using a minimum pass mark based on the sum of the weighted technical scores. Secondly, proposals which progress past this initial stage will be considered based on the cost, with the lowest-cost vendor being awarded a contract.

6. Best value

To carry out the Best Value method (often called Most Economically Advantageous Tender in Public Sector Procurement or MEAT), the cost and technical criteria are each given an individual weight. For instance, the cost might be worth 20% and the technical worth 80%. Using this percentage weighting for example, means that the technical elements are given much higher importance than the cost. 

How Do Procurement Work out the Scoring and Weighting Allocation?

1. Develop your supplier evaluation criteria

These types of criteria can typically be divided into 3 main categories:

• Managerial Capability
• Technical Capability
• Price

To decide on the criteria and weightings, you need input from all stakeholders to ensure that nothing is missed. Asking each stakeholder to list the things which are most important to them will allow procurement to whittle down the list to form a comprehensive set of evaluation criteria.

The next stage is to use these answers to prioritise the business needs when evaluating vendors, for example:

• Functionality and Features: businesses can determine which features are essential and which move much down the priority list 
• Implementation: How quickly can a solution be implemented, what are the risks, etc?
• Customer Service: How will the vendor support the service?
• Price: Is the lowest comparable price the most important thing, or is it worth investing more in order to gain the desired outcomes over the long term?
• Innovative or proven solution: Is there a requirement to become market leaders and use innovative products, or is it more important for the business to rely on tried and tested methods?

2. Determine the importance of each evaluation criteria

Next, assign each category a set of questions. Then, assign weightings and score range for each question/set of questions.

3. Scoring proposals

Let’s say a question has up to 10 points. The way a buyer typically scores it is as follows:

• Up to 5 points: understood the question and answered it fully
• 5-8 points: understood the question and answered it fully and, provided strong evidence to support their answer
• 8-10 points: understood the question and answered it fully, provided strong evidence to support their answer, and, provided additional insights/ideas that we hadn’t considered that will be valuable to our business

The Vendor Perspective

You’ve now understood how procurement creates these RFP scoring systems. Now, you need to decide if you should bid, and, how to maximise your win rate.

What is a Vendor RFP scorecard?

It’s a way of you deciding whether you should bid, no bid, or ask for more clarification. Responding to an RFP is an expensive business. It can take up weeks of people’s time and end in frustration if you don’t win.

The Vendor RFP Scorecard enables you to objectively score an RFP to see what you should do next.

How do you build an RFP scorecard?

You need to build a set of questions into a spreadsheet and allocate a score and weighting to each question. You then answer all the questions for this specific RFP and depending on the score you get, you bid, no bid or seek clarification.

Example questions to put into your RFP Scorecard include:

• Are we already on the Preferred Suppliers’ List?
• Can we meet the Economic buyer and/or Procurement for a meaningful discussion before submission?
• Do we know why they are tendering and do we have a compelling story that addresses their needs?

There are a lot more questions, typically 9-12 in total, that you should be asking yourself in order to qualify for any RFP.

Rather than build your own, you can simply use Piscari’s RFP Scorecard that we’ve put online for you, it’s free to use.

How do you maximise your win rate if you decide to bid?

There are some simple things you can do, which, if applied consistently, can have a big impact on your win rate:

• Use the RFP open window for written questions wisely
• Always answer the exam question fully and provide evidence
• You’ve got to provide additional value and insights to get full marks
• Know your competition and how they pitch
• Propose alternative commercial models in addition to the one they’ve asked you to complete.
• Big bids always have multiple stakeholders with different perspectives and unique needs, e.g. Marketing, Procurement, Technology, HR, etc. Ensure your bid response covers these different perspectives.
• Get someone independent to score your draft response

Conclusions

As a vendor, before you rush into bidding for an RFP, stop and think about the following:

• Has it been well thought through by the buyer? Is the spec clear, are the objectives clear, are the scoring criteria clear?
• Is this more focused on Cost than Capability, and if so, is that a route you want to go down?
• Have you scored the RFP, should you bid, no-bid or ask for more clarification?

Many of the clients we speak to have considerable experience about how to qualify a sale and the effort that this takes. However, they’re also usually aware that this is something that can always be adapted and improved upon. This is especially true as sales teams scale. 

Many clients also have a firm understanding of Sales Foundations but understand that enterprise deals require more advanced skills and processes. Our ultimate guide to sales qualification in 2022 provides the perfect insight into what’s required to successfully complete a sale.

What Is Sales Qualification?

Essentially, Sales Qualification is a way of determining whether a prospect or lead is worth investing your time in. While this may sound abrupt and to the point, this knowledge will allow you to utilise your skills effectively and save the client time as well. Sales qualification enables you to quickly decide whether or not you can add sufficient value to a customer.

Why Is Sales Qualification Critical?

Due to sales being a very time (and often energy) consuming role, it’s important to use this available time to the best of your ability. Wasting time on customers who are ill-suited to your offering is a bad use of your sales time, regardless of how much you’d like to do business with them. Using basic guidelines or questions to determine who is a qualified lead will allow you to put more energy into customers who need it and value your services.

Spending time focusing on the right customers will also allow for a better relationship between yourself and a customer throughout the process. The more time you spend with an unqualified or poorly qualified lead, the greater the likelihood of you missing quota (and your commission will be non-existent).

What Is A Lead Qualification Process?

Lead qualification simply means that you’ll have a consistent process in place to determine the likelihood of a sale. Using a mix of informal discussions and strategic questions, you’ll be able to establish whether you’re onto a winner.

While you don’t want to seem too robotic, many salespeople have a process or checklist in place to quickly determine a qualified lead. Using sales qualification questions is an important way of finding out everything you need to know. To avoid making the customer feel like they’re being vetted, position the conversation as part of your diagnostic process.

Why Is It Essential to Ask Sales Qualification Questions?

Having an instinctive chat with a potential client isn’t enough to establish whether they’re a good fit. Relying on a well-thought-out list of questions and a checklist for each new prospect is the best way to determine this. Once you have a checklist of questions, you can use this each time you meet a new prospect.

Essential Sales Qualification Questions

Whilst it’s important to have a list of questions that you require answers to, it’s also important not to bombard a client. Finding the right balance between information finding and having a relationship building conversation is something to consistently improve on. Try imagining that the roles were reversed:

• Would you feel comfortable with the number of questions being asked?
• Are the questions getting to the root of the problem or do they feel unnecessarily invasive?
• Would you feel comfortable giving detailed answers about your own company at this stage in the relationship?

Having an idea of how these questions can make people feel is essential when creating your list.

1. What Problem Are You Trying To Fix? 

Usually, a business will have encountered a problem that is forcing its hand when it comes to implementing change. Ask the customer what the issues are so that you can delve deeper into potentially finding a solution for them.

Why It Works – Being able to lay the cards out on the table and establish what the issue is, allows for change. Ensuring that the customer knows there is an issue that needs resolving and the size of the prize for solving it is the first step towards a resolution.

2. Why Are They Looking For A Solution Now?

Establishing whether a business is looking for a solution because of a new or recurring problem is essential. If it is a new problem, some companies may jump head first into agreeing to a sale to immediately resolve their issue. If there is no compelling deadline forcing the prospect to make a decision, the sales cycle is likely to become protracted. It will also be difficult for the prospect to secure a budget to solve the problem without a business deadline.

Why It Works – Asking this question will allow you to set some boundaries for both sides. No compelling deadline by which to solve the problem usually means there isn’t a deal to be done – with anyone!

3. Have They Tried To Address This Problem Before?

Have they ttried to resolve this problem in the past and failed?. Ascertaining whether they have used a different company previously is critical:

• Have they tried the same approach but with a different company?
• Have they tried a different approach entirely and what happened?
• Have they tried solving it internally and if so, what happened?

Why It Works – Not only can you gain a slight competitive edge when gaining details about other businesses, it helps to steer the future direction. Being aware of what other solution providers may have tried in the past, gives you an idea of what not to do. This knowledge will also provide you with an opportunity to reassure the customer that you can resolve their issues.

4. Who Is Involved In The Decision-Making Process? 

If you aren’t talking to the correct person who can make decisions, then you’re wasting both of your time. People often won’t mind you asking the question if you still engage with them rather than ignoring them once they aren’t part of the discussion. There’s nothing more frustrating than spending your time on a sales pitch, only to realise that your prospect has zero buying responsibility.

Why It Works – Asking this question allows you to get access to the right person at the right time. Spending time on a sales pitch to the wrong person is not only a waste of time but also shows a lack of commercial experience. Regardless of whether it seems like a blunt question to ask, businesses expect that this will be asked. Customers value their own time as much as you value yours. Don’t allow a seemingly awkward question to hinder your chances of progressing a sale.

5. Do The Other Stakeholders Have Any Concerns?

Once you’ve established who the main decision-maker is, it’s important to make a note of any concerns from other stakeholders. While this person may be the decision-maker, it can often be the case that they’ll be heavily influenced by others within their business. Get a solid idea of the types of concerns that are arising and from whom, so that you can be equipped to address them when required.

Why It Works – By encouraging transparency, you’re giving yourself the opportunity to field any concerns before they negatively affect a sale. Listening to the concerns of people who may influence a sale will give you scope to provide more in-depth explanations or solutions. Whilst it can be a challenge to take on board various opinions, adapting to this shows that you have the customer’s interest at heart.

6. What Does Your Ideal Timeline Look Like?

It’s vital that you establish an ideal customer timeline so that you’re able to deliver on this. If a business is panicking due to the issues they face, they can often be demanding a speedy resolution. Explaining exactly what can be achieved within the desired timeline will instantly set you up for success. Many businesses are flexible in regards to resolutions if they are fully aligned with a timescale from the beginning.

Why It Works – Asking this question sets a firm set of ground rules for each side. The customer will be aware that they cannot demand a faster result than agreed, and you’ll have visibility of your businesses forward workload/capacity. Using this as a negotiation tactic adds another string to your bow.

What is a sales qualification framework?

A sales qualification framework is a predetermined set of criteria that allows a salesperson to conduct a customer assessment. Using this framework, you’ll be able to establish whether a lead can become a qualified prospect. Once this is established, you can then proceed using your negotiation skills to secure a sale.

There are 4 main methods that are often used within sales qualification frameworks. while they are similar to each other, they are referred to by different acronyms:

1. BANT (Budget, Authority, Need, Timeline)

Budget – Can the customer afford the product that you’re selling? Is it a line item in their existing budget?

Authority – Can the person that you’re dealing with, make decisions on behalf of the business? Do they have any control over the sale?

Need – What is the issue that needs resolving? Is this a new or ongoing problem?

Timeline – Is this an urgent requirement? Is there room for timescale negotiation?

2. CHAMP (CHallenges, Authority, Money, Priority)

CHallenges – What issues is the business facing? What requires a resolution?

Authority – Who will be making decisions about which supplier to appoint in relation to these issues?

Money – Is there enough of a budget within the business to implement change?

Priority – Where does this fall in a list of priorities for the customer? Will there be waiting time while the customer decides to implement change?

3. FAINT (Funds, Authority, Interest, Needs, Timing)

Funds – Does the business have the available funds to purchase your product?

Authority – Does the customer have buying authority for the entire business?

Interest – Is the customer genuinely showing interest in your product or service?

Needs – Are you solving a problem for them? Do they have a specific need that needs to be addressed?

Timing – Do they have a completion date in mind? How long have they anticipated that implementation will take?

4. SCOTSMAN (Solution, Competition, Originality, Timescales, Size, Money, Authority, Need)

Solution – Do you genuinely believe that your product will solve the customer’s problem?

Competition – Has there been a tender from a rival business? Is the customer more likely to opt for the competitor? Do they have an incumbent supplier?

Originality – What makes your offering different?

Timescales – How can you provide a solution within a required timescale?

Size – Is this a large enough sale to require your full attention and efforts?

Money – Is there enough customer budget to implement change?

Authority – Who is in charge of financial decision-making?

Need – Does the customer understand their need for your product?

The Ultimate Guide To Sales Qualification

We’ve discussed many options to ensure that you’ll be able to successfully qualify a sale. While it may seem overwhelming, it’s worth noting that the core elements remain the same. Pick your approach and implement it rigorously across your sales teams for every opportunity. You’ll be far more likely to meet quota and land work with more of the right clients.

Whether you’re new to negotiating, or you’ve been closing deals for decades, the issue of payment terms can affect any one of us. Being unfamiliar with payment terms and how they affect a business, can leave both newbies and seasoned professionals equally stumped. 

It’s important to get to grips with these details before entering into a negotiation, to ensure a successful outcome for all. 

To help you do just that, here are 12 tips for negotiating payment terms.

What Are Payment Terms?

Payment terms are one of the key contractual elements involved in negotiation. Negotiating payment terms can seem daunting if you’re not overly familiar with what they actually are. Being aware of payment terms is key to understanding how to negotiate better commercial deals with your clients. 

Put simply, payment terms are specific conditions surrounding the payment aspect of a deal. 

Why Are Payment Terms Important?

As with anything relating to business, it’s important to try and be as resilient as possible against risks. Knowing how to negotiate payment terms will mitigate some of the financial risks associated with a deal, especially in negotiations with bigger companies.

Payment terms and cash-flow management are essential ways of managing the financial sustainability of any business.

For example, in April 2020, a survey by the Association of Practising Accountants (APA), revealed that more than half of owner-managed businesses in the UK would run out of cash within 12 weeks, due to lockdowns. Figures from a survey by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) show that SMEs have been taking action to manage cash flow and defer tax payments where possible in order to keep afloat.

Reports like the one above are a stark reminder that businesses need to negotiate solid payment terms within a sale. Leaving your business wide open to the negative effects of external cash-flow factors and without agreed terms, is only asking for trouble.

Top Tips For Negotiating Payment Terms For Buyers And Sellers

1. Keep Your End Of The Bargain 

If you’ve agreed to complete a piece of work by a specific time, make sure you stick to it after the deal is negotiated. Starting off on the wrong foot, early on, can make conflict resolution much harder down the line, especially when you need the cash.

2. Keep Your Initial Terms Simple

Starting with clear, comprehensive, and easy to understand terms, will avoid any “open to interpretation” issues later on. This is often a source of conflict when invoices are presented by suppliers and the customer doesn’t agree that the service has been delivered.

3. Break It Down Into Smaller Pieces

Breaking a contract down into smaller chunks can be a great way of structuring a contract and your payment terms. This dramatically improves cash-flow and helps keep your delivery teams on-track.

4. Know Your Client

Ask yourself if this is the right company to deal with. A salesperson can become swept up in the process of a sale without analysing whether it’s a good deal for both sides. Work with Finance to do your due diligence before the deal is signed.

5. Prioritise Your Key Objectives

Know what you want to achieve during the sale and which payment terms you would be happy to accept. Salespeople will sometimes take any sale as a win, without putting enough thought into how payment terms will affect their overall cash-flow.

6. Ask Questions And Understand Your Counterparty’s Motives

Are there any issues that you may need to be aware of? Does the client have cash-flow issues, either currently or in the past? Are they wanting to build a long term business relationship? All of this will have an impact on the elements you may add to a clients’ payment terms.

7. Always Start with a One-Page set of Principles

Use this as a draft of what both parties would like to achieve. Documenting the basics will allow you to build a formal agreement later on. It will also allow both parties to see whether they are making any progress with negotiations.

8. Do The Maths

Make sure that you’re aware of how volume-discounts will affect overall profit margins. Elements such as early payment discounts can be an enticing way of closing a sale, but can have detrimental effects on profit margins.

9. Be Reasonable

Don’t let your ego get in the way of closing a sale with agreeable payment terms. Remember that the client isn’t usually aiming to obtain every discount available, they’re simply looking for the deal which makes most commercial sense and manages risk.

10. Do Your Research

Don’t just rely on gut instinct or years in the industry to influence negotiations. Taking the time to look at how different payment terms affected similar clients will give you insight into how to successfully negotiate terms. Providing your new clients anonymous examples of current clients and how their payment terms work, can provide enough confidence to close a deal.

11. Don’t Be Ruled By Emotion

Even if you personally wouldn’t have signed off on specific payment terms, you need to be representing your business as a whole. Offering payment terms that you know would benefit both your company and your client, must take priority over your own feelings about the deal.

12. Don’t Rush The Process

Taking the time to explain each element of the contract and payment terms will mean there’s less stress in the future. Showing your client that you’re open and honest will instil a level of confidence within the client.

Terms On An Invoice To Be Aware Of

While not necessarily a negative, it’s always a good idea to be aware of certain phrases often contained within a contract. If a salesperson is unaware that these elements have been included, it can easily derail the sale that they believed they had made.

• Cash Discounts For Early Payments – if a client decides to pay early and receive a discount, it’s good for your cash-flow. However, this will affect the amount of profit you make from the sale.
• Net 30 – Payment is due 30 days after the date of the invoice. Note, this is not the same as 30 days after the customer has recorded the invoice on their accounts payable system.
• Recurring Invoice – This would always be agreed up-front in any negotiations. This means that you would invoice a client for the same amount each month for an agreed period of time. Check and update these invoices in case any additional work has been required during a specific month.

Conclusion On Negotiating Payment Terms

Making your team aware of the implication of payment terms will point them in the right direction from the start. But sales negotiation training and coaching can to help salespeople and account management teams win even more profitable deals. Teaching your team how to negotiate payment terms with suppliers will stand them in good stead for the future.