"We held our terms flat this year!" Brilliant. What did it cost? I'm not being a
By Antfinch · October 21, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
"We held our terms flat this year!"
Brilliant. What did it cost?
I'm not being a **** when I ask that.. holding terms flat in AVN is a great result, and plenty of vendors would take it in a heartbeat. But in my experience it's rarely free.
It's a bit like "free" delivery when the price has just gone up by a fiver.
Usually there's a marketing commitment or a chunk of funding sat somewhere else in the budget, so it never looks like you gave any margin away.
That can be completely the right thing to do. I just think it's worth saying out loud, so the business knows what flat really cost and can plan for it. Otherwise someone finds it in a P&L review next year, goes quiet, and then says "hold on…" in that tone you know means trouble.
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