‘TNG created aligned and conditional trade terms, a compelling investment plan and improved capability in FMCG trading teams.’

The Client  

Total Negotiation Group’s client is a major UK manufacturer in the FMCG sector

Their Challenge 

A grocery account team came under pressure from a major grocer during the renewal of annual trade terms. The customer wanted significantly improved funding, yet the client had few options. In addition, any decision would potentially set an unwelcome precedent for negotiations across the sector. The client Account Director needed expert support to explore other options to minimize the impact in this account and across other grocery accounts.   

Objectives of the engagement 

Help formulate an aligned strategy to respond to the customer, create a compelling terms investment plan, increase conditionality, and build the confidence and capability of the team to deal with the negotiation.    

The solution 

Over a period of two months, TNG evaluated the situation and helped the team to create a strategy to approach the customer. This involved a blend of analysis, coaching, challenging discussion, and internal alignment. They invested a significant amount of time creating a wide range of variables, understanding their counterpart’s stances, and planning their own. TNG facilitated role plays in which the client team played out their moves and the anticipated counter moves.   

Another significant element of the TNG approach was supporting the achievement of robust internal client alignment  

In the words of the Account Director, ‘I feel the TNG  approach is very conducive towards reaching a win-win agreement within a manageable time period. Your pragmatic and highly structured approach to negotiation has helped me enormously in understanding the grocer’s overall game plan and has been invaluable in reaching the agreement that we have struck.’ 

Outcome 

The client saw increased conditionality throughout the terms agreement as well as better targeted and more conditional and measurable investment 

Future 

The client team now invest heavily in preparing their negotiations, to the extent that often 75% of the time is spent in this phase with only 25% in the live negotiation discussions. They feel that, with this improved approach, much of the pressure to agree to sub-optimal terms within account meetings has been removed.