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Staff post about: Alan Sugar Become an Author

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Sugar would begin negotiating the prices of the TV antennas, electronic components and other devices that he sold out of the back of a van when he was 16. He would say, “I had to negotiate the best price to buy these components and then turn around and negotiate the best price I could sell them for.”

It seemed to work. According to his autobiography, the first week Sugar was in business for himself, he made a $90 profit on the goods he bought and resold. In 1968, when Sugar was 21, he would start his own manufacturing business, Amstrad.

Amstradwould place his negotiating skills to the test. Sugar would negotiate with the manufacturers of injection molding equipment so he could lower the production cost of the hi-fi stereo covers he planned to sell. Most of the other manufacturers were using the more expensive vacuum-forming process to produce the same parts. After the success of the stereo covers, Sugar would expand the business into tuners and amplifiers. By 1980, Amstradwas being listed on the stock exchange in London.

At this time, Sugar was negotiating large discounts on everything from the parts he needed to produce the stereo covers, amplifiers and tuners Amstrad was producing to business properties, which gave him a major advantage over the other manufacturers in this industry.

When it came to buying and selling other businesses, Sugar would negotiate a price that was either five times the realvalue or sell it for five times what he paid for the items. Sugar would recognize the future of personal computers. In 1984, he would produce Amstrad's first personal computer and place it on the open market at a reduced cost.

Sugar would eventually negotiate a price to buy out one of his biggest competitors in the personal computer market, Sinclair. This decision would eventually make Amstrad reach its highest value on the stock market of more than $2 billion.

In Sugar's autobiography he outlines one of his methods for success. He stated that if you watch the market leaders and what they are doing, then negotiate a better price for the parts and make a cheaper version, you will sell more products. You sell these products to a the mass market for a better price than the “hi-market” prices those market leaders are selling the same product for.

Sugar would eventually expand into other businesses, including starting an executive airline, advertising business, an investment firm, IT services provider and even being the host of the British version of The Apprentice, taking the place of billionaire Donald Trump.

Sugar was once told he was not being fair during a business negotiation. He was quoted as saying, “Fair? The only fair you are going to get is your train fare!”

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