Savings to be made for the bold…

Freya Sykes Written by Freya Sykes
on January 19th, 2008 / 5 Comments / Print this

In business it mainly comes down to money for most things. How much do you make in a wage? How much does your company turn over? What does the accountant say is the bottom line at the year end? But do you ever think about how much you could be saving?

As someone who takes negoiating for our clients very seriously it comes as second nature now NOT to pay full price for anything! Oh ok it could just be that I’m a Yorkshire woman, born of a Scot that I’m so very tightfisted, but I’m not about to apologise and let me tell you why…

Whenever we set up a new supplier I put them through a rigourous interview process. I usually have them come to my office, I’ll tell them quite openly what I’m doing, in that they will be one of at least 3-5 other companies who are all looking to win the business. I then get them to tell me why I should choose their company over and above the others. I allow them to tell me and then I get down to the heavy negoiating… I then tell them what their competition is offering. So it could be a discount, it could be favourable terms, it could be access to their clients (through them). Whatever it is I always ask for more than I think I can get away with, and I use my golden rule of negoiating…try to get at least 10% off the the price or the equivalent value. If I’m not asking for that at least, then to me I’m not negoiating!

Now this sounds harsh,but to be honest, I run with the maxim - if you don’t ask you simply don’t get!

Don’t stutter or trip delicately around the process of negoiating. Tell them what you want to achieve and tell them what you can get elsewhere, but tell they why you want to use them - and I always flatter them here at this point and suprisingly it always works!

Recently we had 18% off the price of each of two cars we were buying. We have nearly doubled the package that we had in the sponsourship of a rugby team to include the ability to place promo girls outside the stand, tickets for all the matches, extra banners at the ground, extra pages of advertising in the programme brochure as well as various other bits and bobs. This however has now had a knock on effect for our franchisees who sponsor other teams, who have gone back and renegoiated other deals too! So the overall effect with the leverage we have created is significant in terms of savings across the board.

So where can you make savings? I’d always firstly look to negoiate the longest terms possible for the company. I always look for savings to be made on supplies, both in terms of cost and payment terms. I also look to never give a discount off from our end. Harsh? Hmmm probably but that’s business isn’t it? And let’s be honest, whilst ever the money’s in my pocket I’d quite like it to stay that way, thanks!

So, is it a too tight fisted way to make small savings? Ummm yes probably, but then every penny should count and I’ll probably have a million pennys before you do!! ;-) So start thinking about negoiationg and saving to make your cash flow improve. Be bold or the savings you make will be minimal!

About Freya Sykes

Freya Sykes

Freya Bletsoe is the founder and Group Director of the UK based Homefinder Group Ltd. The company was founded in January 2003 after Freya and her husband had spent 7 years buying and selling property and land for profit. As they did so they were approached by more and more people who wanted help when buying investment property or relocating. Out of it Homefinder UK Ltd was born and the company has now grown into the UK’s leading firm of Property Location Agents. Clients include First Time Buyers right up to Premiership Footballers and Rugby Internationals who are moving clubs. The website for the company is www.homefinderuk.com

Freya is also the Yorkshire Region’s Vice Chairman for the charity, the Variety Club of Great Britain, as well as being a member of the Sports Committee based in London. The charity is concerned with raising hundreds of thousands of pounds each year through various events held across the country each year. The money raised is then used to help disable and disadvantaged children across the regions. The website for the charity is www.varietyclub.org.uk

Finally Freya is a serious networker, attending many off line events as well as on line ones. She writes her own Blog at www.freyabletsoe.com and comes from a long line of successful businessmen. Freya also has a strong interest in the “dark art” of franchising as she is the lead director responsible at Homefinder UK for the companies expansion plans via a franchise model.

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5 Comments to “Savings to be made for the bold…”

  • shirley
    January 19th, 2008
    1:44 am

    That’s exactly what Wal-Mart is doing to drive people crazy. And to some extent, this is also what the Fair Trade programs try to end.

    Customers demand lower cost (discounts / larger quantity for the same price / year-end cash rebates etc), suppliers fulfill the harsh requirements by investing less in R&D / paying less to employees / hiring less people / demanding workers to work longer hours without paying them properly; resulting in suppliers producing lower-quality products / workers having less money to spend and not being able to afford better-quality products nor improve the quality of their lives, further resulting in rich people getting richer and the lower-income people getting poorer.

    I never ask for discounts. Suppliers send me their quotations, I give the business to the one with the best offer. Not necessary the cheapest, just the one with fair price and good quality. If I’m not happy with someone’s price, I go elsewhere, but I never ask for discounts.

    You have the money, you are happy with the product / service you get for that money, but you’re pushing for a cheaper price tag anyway just because you are addicted to saving pennies?

    I don’t like it when my customer asks me for a discount, so why would I do it to my suppliers?

    A world where everyone’s happy might just be a dream, but I’m doing my tiny little part in hope that less people will end up jobless or starved to death.

  • Potenciano Reyes
    January 19th, 2008
    4:43 am

    Do not settle down with a lower priced supplier. What we do is get the cost breakdown, it is highly possible that even though they have lower total costs, they could still be higher than competitors in one aspect. Thus, we could still negotiate for an even more lower cost. Get more business tips from Young Entrepreneur Society.

  • CatherineL
    January 19th, 2008
    12:03 pm

    Hi Freya - great negotiating tips. I like the part where you flatter them after you tell them what you want.

  • Georg
    January 20th, 2008
    5:52 am

    Saving is not earning - it’s my opinion!

  • Marketing Small Business Online
    April 26th, 2008
    7:11 pm

    Marketing Small Business Online…

    Hey, I should have been reading this earlier, it is very informative in certain aspects for me. But I believed some of people here might disagree with some of your thought. Anyway, thank you for sharing. I would love to read your thought in the future …

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