Oct 13, 2026 · 15 min · 10 segments
Brian Balboa and Michael Workman unpack the MAPP Benchmarking & Best Practices Conference: what processors are worried about heading into Q4, what happened when buyers negotiated the same resin…
Based on that exercise, just looking at it, what do you think the biggest mistake resident buyers make when negotiating with their suppliers?
If I had to pick one, using the supplier's number as the starting point, right when an increased letter arrives, most of the time, like a mentality of a buyer is, well, how much can I push back on? The better question is, you know, what of it is real, right? What's cost and what's not.
On the sales side, price increase, that's where I spent the majority of my career in the plastics industry.
Always, right, no matter what's happening, there's a combination of cost and margin in there.
If I had to say one more, you know, sneak in a second mistake, it's giving away things for free.
Like in the demo that we had, We had a buyer agree to a two-year term without asking for it.
So it's always important when you're negotiating to get something in return if you're giving something.
I mean, because a lot of times buyers do rely too heavily on suppliers for market pricing information.
I mean, you know, and it's like, I mean, it kind of begs the question, what information should a buyer have in hand before entering a negotiation? You know, besides just relying on supplier, you know, pricing info.
Based on that exercise, just looking at it, what do you think the biggest mistake resident buyers make when negotiating with their suppliers?
If I had to pick one, using the supplier's number as the starting point, right when an increased letter arrives, most of the time, like a mentality of a buyer is, well, how much can I push back on? The better question is, you know, what of it is real, right? What's cost and what's not.
On the sales side, price increase, that's where I spent the majority of my career in the plastics industry.
Always, right, no matter what's happening, there's a combination of cost and margin in there.
If I had to say one more, you know, sneak in a second mistake, it's giving away things for free.
Like in the demo that we had, We had a buyer agree to a two-year term without asking for it.
So it's always important when you're negotiating to get something in return if you're giving something.
I mean, because a lot of times buyers do rely too heavily on suppliers for market pricing information.
I mean, you know, and it's like, I mean, it kind of begs the question, what information should a buyer have in hand before entering a negotiation? You know, besides just relying on supplier, you know, pricing info.
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