Kevin is now a Partner for This Partners with over 30 years IT & sourcing experience gained across multiple industries for many major blue-chip organisations. This Partners is a boutique consultancy specialising in Sourcing Advisory, focussing on IT. This Partners typically help clients with Market Engagement (supplier selection, negotiation and contracting), Supplier Optimisation & Remediation, Sourcing Strategy (development and implementation) and Transition, Transformation & Benefits Management. Kevin can be contacted at [email protected] or you can reach This Partners via LinkedIn at This Partners: Overview | LinkedIn or via www.thispartners.comKey pointsKevin described how important research is for procurement professionals. That involves supplier, stakeholders, acquisitions, stock price, products and services.PlanningEstablish your intent, and your desired outcome.Add a slice of realism to the outcome which is your goal.Least acceptable - minimum you'd accept before walking awayUnderstand what your alternatives areThere are no tricks to negotiation, just good intention, preparation and thinking Win/Win.Importance to work with stakeholders Sometimes Procurement Teams do get overruled by the BusinessProcurement teams should challenge the requestTraits of a good salesperson: energetic, charismatic, honest, trustworthy, tech-savvy, empathy, knowledge of product, knowledge of the client.Cognitive empathy approach to negotiation - understand their pain thresholds, what their drivers are, what does success look like to them. If both parties adopt the same approach is very useful for the negotiation process.Look for the Win/Win outcome. Both parties should have some benefits from the negotiation.Importance of landing on something that's going to have a positive lasting impact.Define what success looks like from the outset for both supplier and client.Adopt KPI's, and objectives to measure the success of a partnership, but ultimately it's about having a strong relationship.Over the last decade the concept has moved from cost to value.Procurement are reluctant to adopt a revenue share model because of the difficulty in proving the contribution made by the supplier.Some Procurement Teams are measured on personal goals and objectives, others on savings for the firm.% of savings of spend% of savings of addressable spendPayment termse-Auctions:-Spend through e-Auctions-e-Auction effectiveness-Number of lots through e-Auctione-Auctions usage is increasingHandling continuous price increasesEthics during price explorationIf you have found this podcast valuable, please like, re-share and pass onto a work colleague or someone within your network whom it could help at this stage of their career.