Note from Jan: This is part of a series on managing tough times. For full benefit, I encourage you to read the articles in sequence. For your convenience, here are the links to the first three:

#1 – 4 Musts for Managing Tough Times

#2 – Hunkering Down

#3 – Using All Your Strength.

Hope you enjoy!

Toiling away at your desk. Pouring over page after page of financial statements. Plugging “what if” numbers into spreadsheets. Maybe there is a mistake in the formulas? No such luck. Hopefully the staff will come through with some great ideas.

They probably will.

But while you are worriedly waiting, let me ask you this…..

Are you sure?

Are you sure you are using ALL of your strength?

What about your vendors? Have you asked them for help?

You could make a specific request if you have one. Or what about initiating a conversation that goes something like this?

We are looking for ways to reduce expenses. Can you think of any ways we could do our business more efficiently? Or ways we could make it easier for you to work with us?

These questions have helped identify duplication of efforts and inefficient systems that saved us thousands of dollars. Another time, it led to the provision of additional services at no cost to us – but of significant value to our customers. Once it led to the creation of a new payment plan with a printer that helped them with cash flow and saved us close to $50,000. Another time, it resulted in us buying paper directly from the mill – at cost! It saved us thousands. And the printer avoided their usual carrying costs.

These were all major vendors with whom we spent large amounts of money and with whom we had long standing relationships. We considered ourselves partners and so asking the above questions seemed quite natural.

But what about other situations? Take a look at this! An excerpt from an article written by Janet Paskin and published in Smart Money:

You don’t ask, you don’t get, the saying goes, and it’s never been more true. With the economy flagging, everyone from car dealers and cell phone companies to big-box stores is desperate for business. That means they’re increasingly willing to bargain with consumers, especially those who are able to pay cash or have exceptional credit.

It’s a great article. Very eye opening in terms of just who might be willing to negotiate. Also some great tips on how to negotiate, one of which is to be specific about what you want. Here is the link to “Rebuilding Your Wealth: Smart Spending”

Go ahead.  What could it hurt to ask?

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©2009 – Jan Bolick, Business Class Inc

The author gives permission to distribute copies of this article as long as it is used entirely including the information box above.  Please send notification of publication title and date to jan@businessclassinc.com.