What does the rep on the other side of your resin call actually know? Today you find out — because you get to hear both sides.
We ran a live negotiation with 72 buyers watching simultaneously. Tyler Wheeler played the buyer. Michael Workman played the distributor rep. One fictional injection molder (Vandelay Plastics, yes — Seinfeld fans, you're welcome), real market structure, real numbers.
THE FORMAT
They negotiate. Then stop. One of them puts on headphones — the "cone of silence" — while the other turns to the audience and reveals exactly what they're thinking: their number, their floor, what they'd concede if pushed, what they were hoping the other side wouldn't ask. Then they pick the call back up.
By the end: Tyler got PGP + 9 cents on 9 million pounds of polypropylene. He moved the ABS business from a competing supplier. He locked in a volume rebate structure. He extended payment terms to net 45. Total outcome: $288,000.
His goal was $300,000. Close enough.
THE FIVE BUYER MOVES
- Know your number before you hear theirs
- Ask questions instead of making demands
- Put something cheap on the table that costs you nothing and means something to them
- Find where the rep has flexibility they're not showing you
- Never say no — just keep asking (Michael's addition from the seller's side: "Frustratingly, you never told me no. Not once.")
THE THING TYLER GAVE AWAY
Tyler had the polypropylene locked down. He knew his number before Michael said a word — and Michael couldn't move him because there was nothing to argue with.
The nylon? Different story.
"If I just ask what's the best you can do, whatever you gave me, I was gonna take. Because I didn't have a good benchmark or anything to fight back with."
He gave away a 6-cent gap on a line item he didn't prepare for. Michael had that locked in for 18 months before the call ended.
"You can't negotiate your way out of not knowing."
WHERE THE NUMBER CAME FROM
Someone asked on the live call: "Where did the PGP + 8 target come from? Was it industry knowledge or a management goal?"
Tyler's answer: "I was lucky enough to get that number from ResinSmart, so shameless plug on this one."
The benchmark is built from what buyers at comparable volume, grade, and geography are actually clearing in the market — not what an index reports, not what a manager estimated. The methodology accounts for freight, rail car costs, distribution center proximity, additives, and grade-specific variables.
When the rep challenged the number, Tyler had an answer that didn't require revealing his source.
TIMESTAMPS
0:00 — Introduction and format walkthrough
2:20 — The scenario: Vandelay Plastics (PP, ABS, nylon, specialty grades)
4:00 — Live negotiation begins
13:00 — Cone of silence #1: Tyler briefs the audience on his strategy and floor
18:30 — Negotiation resumes
24:00 — Cone of silence #2: Michael reveals what he's willing to give
28:00 — Final stretch: ABS, rebate structure, payment terms
30:10 — Scene: negotiation closes
30:30 — Joint debrief: the $288K tally
35:00 — Tyler's five buyer moves
37:20 — Michael's fifth: "You never told me no"
39:00 — Q&A: where did the number come from, PGP vs. HPP index, live PVDF deal question
IF YOU WANT THE VIDEO VERSION
The full recording with both faces on screen is at https://youtu.be/S54ZQPiGeQA. Chapters are clickable.
ABOUT THE HOSTS
Michael Workman is Executive Director, Commercial at ResinSmart — powered by RTi Global, which has operated in resin market intelligence since 1998. He led the session as the distributor rep.
Tyler Wheeler is Director, Procurement — Engineered Resins at ResinSmart. He has spent nearly a decade in global resin procurement at Amcor and Cardinal Health. He was the buyer.
WANT TO SEE WHERE YOUR PROGRAM STANDS?
ResinSmart is tracking commodity and engineered resin markets weekly. RESIN8 — our benchmark — is built from real buyer-side transaction data, not index-reported prices.
Request a benchmark assessment: resinsmart.ai/stack-the-odds-in-your-favor
Running the live version of this format at the MAPP Benchmarking Conference, Indianapolis, September 29 — you'd be in the room negotiating.
Details: mappinc.com/conference/#agenda
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