Chaotic changes requires agile responses

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by Stephen Kozicki 

The competitive market that we all operate within is changing fast; past successes are not predictors of future success. Your competition is changing and changing fast. The question is are you?

When we work on live negotiations we work hard with our clients to develop a strong value proposition; to know who the key decision makers across the table are and to find the best way to frame the value of the deal. A competitive advantage is now temporary; it is almost deal by deal.

Becoming more complex and chaotic is not just unique to business; it applies to cities and countries. Recently after a long period of economic decline, the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy protection.  My American friends said that we all knew it was coming, but no one was agile enough or courageous enough to take a tough decision.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/detroit-bankruptcy/

When you read some of the comments from the Huffington Post the changes to the car industry did not happen overnight; the changes occurred over a period of time. Too often in business, we hope that the trends we see are not permanent or will not impact our business. Today they often do impact our business with disastrous results.

The purpose of this blog is not to unpack the demise of Detroit, but to ask you these questions:

• Are you seeing chaotic behaviours in your markets by top accounts or erratic competitors?
• Are you making decisions quickly enough?
• Are you agile like a small mountain goat or rigid as a big rock?

In your new operating environment to gain a new competitive approach you need to use your extensive knowledge of: your key decision makers and how you can frame value for them.

Our experience is that great global negotiators spend more time preparing for the negotiation than the average performer. I would assert that there was enough information 15 years ago to allow Detroit to prepare for the chaos ahead and start negotiating for a different outcome. For a long time competition in the car industry had been chaotic. In Detroit their response to tough global competition was to continually drop the price of the cars produced, which meant value suffered.

Your market and competitors will change quickly and often use price as a weapon. Be agile in your response. Don’t drop your prices to match your competitors, leverage value based on your total solution. To find out how to leverage your value in negotiations click here: http://www.gordianbusiness.com.au/negotiating-with-style/.

For unbiased, practical advice when planning for your next negotiation, contact us on +61 (02) 9450 1040 or Stephen@gordianbusiness.com.au. Please share any comments you have and subscribe to our blog at the top right of the page.