Score a ten on intent

Early on, in my career, I learned from an astute teacher the value of saying no and saying it politely but firmly. Sometimes however, politeness is mistaken for meekness or worse, for indecisiveness.

I remember a time when we were working with a large telecom company and after the RFI and RFP stages, they wanted us to respond to their RFQ (Request for Quotation). The instructions clearly stated that vendors were expected to quote their best price and that no negotiations would follow. Normally, one would send a quote with some room for negotiation, but in this case, the instructions were explicit. This was refreshing I thought and we sent them our best quote.

Soon enough, a guy called from their procurement department and wanted to discuss the quoted price. Here's how I remember the conversation went.

Him: We have reviewed your proposal and we would like to take this forward.
Me : Thank you. This is great news.
Him: We do have an issue with the price however. We have a budget for only X% of the quoted price.
Me: [Silence]
Him: Are you there?
Me: Yes, I can hear you.
Him: I said we have a budget for only half the amount. [Pause]
Me: Oh. I didn't realize it was a question. I'm sorry we cannot do it at that price. The RFQ instructions were clear that we were required to quote our best price.
Him: Share your cost sheet with me and I will show you how you can do it for our expected price.
Me: I'm sorry. Perhaps I did not say that right. Let me correct myself. When I said we cannot do it at that price, I meant we will not do it for that price. I would be happy to connect you with a couple of folks who might want to do it at that price.

The next day his boss called and we went through the same thing again.
We got the project at the price we had quoted only because we held firm.

Decide on your walk-away point before you go to the negotiating table. If you are not firm on this walk-away point, you will be swayed by a smart negotiator and will find yourself agreeing to terms that are going to make you unhappy.