What is the Negotiate feature and when should I use it?

PERSUIT’s Negotiate feature allows you to ask a Firm to revise its proposal in the event of any of these following situations:

• An auction has concluded but you want to negotiate further with one or multiple firms to ask that they revise their total price or some of their 'phase' prices
• An RFP deadline (no auction) has passed and you'd like to negotiate with one of the firms
• A firm made an assumption that you would like them to revise
• A firm made an error in their proposal - or failed to adjust their phases and only changed their total price during the auction and you'd like to specifically ask them to change a particular item

You will be able to send Firms revision requests, or suggested changes/price reductions, all through redlining.

There are two ways to begin the Negotiate process: through the Comparison View of the Proposals Tab and through the specific firm’s Proposal.

Negotiate through the Comparison View in the Proposals Tab:

In the Comparison View within the Proposals tab of the Request, click on Negotiate of the firm you’d like to request revisions. A confirmation pop-up will expand, click Confirm to move on. This will take you directly to the Negotiate drafting screen.

Negotiate through the specific Proposal:

When in a specific firm’s proposal, you will find a navigation bar at the top. You can click the Negotiate button found at the top right, confirm your decision and then be taken directly to the drafting screen.

You can also click on the Manage Proposal button which will expand the Manage Proposal menu. Click on Negotiate. Once you confirm your decision, you will be taken to the drafting screen.

Creating the Revision Request:

When you draft a revision request, you can 1) use only the text box to make a written request without redlining a specific aspect of the proposal and/or 2) make item changes/redlines to the pricing, fee type, hours, rate card, or assumptions of the firm's proposal. 

Note: You can discard/delete the request for revision draft if you change your mind by clicking the radio button found at the top navigation.

Redline changes can be made within pricing items or per line-item of a rate card. To make a redline change, navigate to the item you’d like the firm to revise and click on the Pencil Icon. Type your markup into the blank fields.

When you’re finished with redlining the body of the request, the changes will be communicated at the top of the page as an easily digestible list for the Firm. You can then write a summary of the suggested changes and/or include any other revisions that aren’t item specific within the textbox provided. Click Send to move on to the confirmation screen to finalize the Counter Proposal.

You will know that your Counter Proposal has successfully been sent by seeing two gray boxes at the top of the Firm’s proposal saying the Request has been reopened and it is Awaiting Revision.

You will also be able to find the changes you’ve made as part of the Revision History notes and within the body of the Firm’s proposal.

What happens after I send my request for proposal revision?

Firms will receive a notification email that a revision to their proposal is required based on your suggested changes.

Upon Logging in, firms will see that their "Sent" proposal is now "Awaiting Revision".

Firms can expand the Revision History notes to see a summary of changes requested and then click Revise Proposal to edit their proposal. Firms are not obligated to accept your changes in full.

After revising their proposal, the Firms can use the summary box to provide context to their changes. They can also continue to use the Messages function to ask clients clarification questions as needed.

What happens after firms submit changes?

You will see the new submitted proposal and can track the revision commentary between both parties under the Revision History section.

Once you have completed the negotiation (there are no limits to how many rounds of negotiation you can have), you can close the request for the Firm through the Manage Proposal­ button.

Click Manage Proposal.­

Click Close Request for this Firm within the Manage Proposal pop-up.

Review your decision, then click Confirm to finalize the process.