Bigger Bullies Crash Louder

Waiting in reception of a potential supplier (those guys trying to persuade me to go with raw grads for new sales positions that I thought were a touch too pricey) I flicked through a mag called Director and an article about small firms avoiding the shoeing of larger ones.

Although it was fairly standard fair (y’know the kind of thing, lots of anacdotal lessons to stand your ground and examples of where people had turned business on unfavourable terms down) there was one element that made it stand out from other such advice.  Six managers from small(-ish) firms that’d encountered bigger fish trying to exert greater buying power are summarised with nifty soundbites of what they’d learned.

Take all six quotes and there’s bound to be a trigger for a current campaign you’re running with a client larger than you.  As these summaries are absent from the full article on the web (I link to above), here’s one-worders to help out:

• Defend on USP
• Know Rate Flexibility
• Relate Quality to Price
• Give Client Choices
• Leverage All Relationships
• Talk Numbers Upfront