Adam T. Sutton

Leveling with Vendors

June 24th, 2009

Buyers have more power these days, and that can be distressing for marketers. But it doesn’t always have to be. Marketers are customers, too.

Last week, we published an article with strategies for negotiating better rates from website technology vendors. The article describes the strategy of Ben Kirshner, CEO, CoffeeForLess.com. Kirshner has negotiated the rates and trials of dozens of solutions, and he says that vendors are being more flexible this year.

The additional flexibility is because the vendors — like many marketers — are not seeing the same level of sales as years passed. They’re hard pressed to sign new accounts and keep their businesses growing. Sound familiar? The economic plight of the vendor and marketer are one and the same. If your team is struggling, the vendors will likely understand.

One tip that did not make it into the article: If your sales are down, Kirshner suggests giving your vendors a call an asking them for a break on your rates.

“Tell them that your sales are off 10, 20%, or whatever the case may be, and ask them ‘can you do anything?’” he says. “The worst they can say is ‘no,’ and the best they can say is ‘yeah, how much do you need us to knock off.”

Adam T. Sutton

About Adam T. Sutton

Adam T. Sutton, Senior Reporter, MarketingSherpa
Adam generates content for MarketingSherpa's Email and Inbound Marketing newsletters. His years of experience in interviewing marketers and conveying their insights has spanned topics such as search marketing, social media marketing, ecommerce, email and more. Adam previously powered the content behind MarketingSherpa's Search and Consumer-marketing newsletters and carries that experience into his new role. Today, in addition to writing articles, he contributes content to the MarketingExperiments and MarketingSherpa blogs, as well as MECLABS webinars, workshops and summits.

Prior to joining MarketingSherpa, Adam was the Managing Editor at the Mequoda group. There he created content and promotions for the company's daily email newsletter and managed its schedule.

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