Strategic Sourcing
7 min read
Should-cost modeling: negotiate against a real number
Walking into a negotiation without a cost baseline means negotiating blind. Here's the fix.
Build the baseline first
A should-cost model breaks a price down into its components — materials, labor, overhead, and margin — so you know what a fair price looks like before the conversation starts.
With that baseline, negotiation shifts from haggling over a headline number to a structured discussion about specific cost drivers.