Whether you are purchasing goods or services, you must leverage what you have AND what you expect to attain in the near future, otherwise you are limiting your leverage factor and spending more than necessary.

Supply Strategy Quiz:

You are about to sign up for office supplies with a new supplier. The supplier has offered to open your account with a 5% discount off of published prices. Your options are:

Option 1: Accept the discount; it is cheaper than I was paying in the store and I can shop from my office.

Option 2: Tell the supplier you want a 25% discount or you will take your business elsewhere.

Option 3: Request information on the discount ranges, then determine which range your business is expected to achieve in the next year and make a case to be placed in this (most likely higher) discount bracket.

The best answer: Option #3. Office Supply companies have discounts that are applied based on annual spending, and you will be hard pressed to negotiate anything higher unless you have a significant spend (i.e. Greater than $25,000 per year). Using this knowledge, and understanding where you expect your office supply prices to move to within the next year (likely increased based on your expected business growth – right?), then you can make a clear case for placement into what is likely a discount bracket higher than what was initially offered.

Shawn Casemore, President, Casemore and Co.
www.casemoreandco.com