Course Highlights
This negotiation course will:
- Outline a proven process for negotiating dollars, terms, quality, quantity, and other issues that are often the focus of the bargaining process.
- Suggest a methodology for positioning information in different ways depending on the style of the negotiators.
- Provide tactics for responding to common negotiation roadblocks: standstills, deadlocks, stalls, and other problems.
- Outline a framework for concluding a negotiation.
Program Overview
Skilled negotiators rarely leave anything on the table in error. They have planned, worked methodically through a framework, considered a range of creative options, and used their interpersonal skills to an advantage. This case-based negotiation program explores a range of essential negotiating skills: defining outcomes, following a process, adopting and adapting to styles, determining a disclosure strategy, documenting, making concessions, watching for tricks and traps, and keeping track of the process. Participants in this negotiation workshop will learn what seasoned negotiators know and how to apply that knowledge in real-life situations.
The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. As part of your training program, we will modify content as needed to meet your business objectives. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of the participant materials prior to the session(s).
Program Objectives
At this program’s conclusion, participants should be able to:
- Identify negotiation outcomes and what’s negotiable.
- Discuss the factors that influence negotiation outcomes.
- Determine their negotiation style and stretch to use other styles if needed.
- Explain an eight-step negotiation process.
- Determine what they have and need using the ZOPA, BATNA, WATNA, and WAP frameworks.
- Decide where to negotiate.
- Use benefits-first, what-if, and other questions to uncover what’s important to others.
- Recognize, organize, and rank concessions.
- Apply the CLOSE framework at the end of a negotiation.
- Respond to commonly used negotiation tactics.
- Demonstrate their negotiation skills.
Workshop Modules
Win or Lose: Understanding Negotiation Outcomes
The workshop opens by establishing what negotiation actually is and what it is not. The group examines the full range of possible outcomes, from one-sided wins to mutual gains, and considers what drives negotiators toward each end of that spectrum. A core distinction surfaces early: the difference between a position, which is what someone wants, and an interest, which is why they want it. Understanding that difference changes how negotiators listen and how they respond. Participants will identify what is and is not negotiable in a set of realistic business scenarios, discuss the factors that typically shape outcomes, and begin building a vocabulary that the rest of the day depends on. The group will also explore the difference between distributive negotiations, where the assumption is that resources are fixed and every gain by one side is a loss for the other, and integrative negotiations, where the goal is to create value rather than simply claim it.
Great Style: Choosing an Approach
Before analyzing the other side, this portion of the course asks participants to examine themselves. The group reviews a negotiation style profile and maps individual tendencies across five approaches: evading, complying, insisting, settling, and cooperating. Each approach reflects a different set of assumptions about how important the task is relative to the relationship and has a time and a place. The challenge is knowing which one fits the situation and being willing to shift when the situation changes. Participants will assess their own default approach, identify the conditions under which each style is most and least appropriate, and work through scenarios that require them to choose deliberately rather than instinctively. The group will also examine what happens when mismatched styles meet across the table.
The Eight-Step Negotiation Process: The Value of a Framework
Skilled negotiators follow a process even when negotiations feel fluid. This module introduces an eight-step framework that moves participants from preparation through closure in a sequence designed to minimize surprises and maximize options. The group examines why each step matters, what typically goes wrong when it is skipped, and how the steps connect to each other. Participants will apply the framework to a case and identify where most of their past negotiations have broken down. The discussion surfaces a consistent pattern: most negotiation problems start before anyone sits down at the table, in the preparation work that did not happen.
Understanding What You Have: Before You Make a Move
Preparation is where negotiations are won or lost, and this module gives participants the analytical tools that make preparation rigorous. The TIPO framework, which examines Trust, Information, Power, and Options, provides a structured lens for assessing the negotiation before it begins. Participants will use TIPO to map what they know, what they need to find out, where leverage sits on both sides of the table, and what options are realistically available. The module then introduces four additional frameworks for clarifying position: ZOPA, which identifies the zone of possible agreement between each party’s aspiration and reservation points; BATNA, the best alternative available if the negotiation fails; WATNA, the worst-case version of that alternative; and WAP, the walk-away point that defines the boundary below which no deal is better than any deal. Participants will work through a preparation exercise using all four frameworks and leave this module with a clearer picture of what they actually have before they make a move.
Setting the Stage: Understanding When and Where to Negotiate
Timing and location are negotiation variables that most people underestimate. This discussion examines how the choice of when and where to negotiate can shift power, affect tone, and change the pace of a conversation before a single number is on the table. Participants will analyze a set of scenarios and make decisions about timing, channel, sequencing, and environment. The group will also examine what it means to negotiate on home ground versus away, virtually versus in person, and under time pressure versus with slack in the schedule. These are not cosmetic considerations. They shape what information gets shared, what behavior feels appropriate, and how quickly each side moves.
Good Question: Asking for Information and Keeping Track of What You Learn
Information is at the heart of every negotiation, and the quality of the questions determines the quality of the information. This module focuses on how skilled negotiators use questions to uncover interests, surface constraints, test assumptions, and slow the conversation down when it is moving too fast. Participants will practice benefits-first questions that invite the other side to articulate what matters most, what-if questions that open up option space without making commitments, and clarifying questions that confirm understanding without signaling weakness. The group will also examine how to organize and track what they learn across a negotiation so that information gathered early stays usable when terms come into view. Keeping track of the conversation is a discipline, not a detail.
Beyond the Basics: Deadlocks, Standstills, and Concessions
Every negotiation encounters friction, and this module prepares participants to work through it rather than around it. The group examines the difference between a standstill, where movement has temporarily stopped, and a true deadlock, where neither side sees a path forward. The discussion covers the most common causes of each and the moves available to break them without damaging trust or abandoning position. The second half of the module focuses on concessions: how to recognize what you have available, how to sequence and size concessions so they signal problem-solving rather than desperation, and how to ask for something in return. Participants will work through a concession planning exercise, rank what they are willing to trade, and practice the language that keeps concessions from being read as weakness. The group will also examine the role of anchoring, the effect of the first number on the table, and how to set and respond to anchors effectively.
Beware!: Tricks, Traps, and Tactics
Skilled negotiators recognize manipulation when they see it and respond without rewarding it. This module identifies the tactics that show up most often across negotiation contexts: artificial urgency, the good-cop bad-cop split, strategic silence, the nibble, the walk-away, extreme anchoring, and others. For each tactic, the group examines what it is designed to accomplish, how to recognize it in the moment, and what response protects position without escalating unnecessarily. Participants will also examine the common pitfalls that derail negotiators from the inside, including the tendency to focus exclusively on their own side of the table, to let stated positions crowd out underlying interests, and to undervalue what the other side brings to the conversation. Knowing where the traps are is not enough. This module builds the habit of looking for them.
Show What You Know: Practice Negotiation and Action Planning
The day closes with application. Participants will work through a structured negotiation simulation that requires them to use the frameworks, language, and judgment developed across the day under realistic pressure. The debrief that follows is as important as the simulation itself: the group will examine what preparation held up, where instinct overrode process, how concessions were handled, and what they would do differently with the benefit of hindsight. The session ends with individual action planning, where each participant identifies the two or three habits they will commit to changing in their next real negotiation.
Target Audience
This workshop is designed for groups that want to:
- Better understand the negotiation process.
- Learn a repeatable process they can apply immediately.
- Level set with their team and adopt a common language and framework.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should attend this negotiation skills workshop?
This course works well for professionals at any level who negotiate as a regular part of their work, including sales professionals, procurement and contracting staff, project managers, account managers, operations leaders, and anyone who manages vendor relationships, internal resource conversations, or client agreements. It is designed for people who want a structured approach they can apply consistently, not just a collection of tactics.
How long is the negotiation workshop?
This is a one-day onsite course. We can also discuss adjusted formats depending on your group’s time constraints and learning objectives.
Does this workshop cover both competitive and collaborative negotiation?
Yes. The course examines a full range of negotiation styles and the conditions that favor each. Participants will understand when a competitive approach is appropriate, when a collaborative approach serves better, and how to recognize which situation they are actually in rather than defaulting to one style regardless of context.
How does the course handle practice?
The final session of the day is a structured negotiation simulation in which participants apply the frameworks, language, and judgment built across the earlier modules. The debrief that follows is designed to be as valuable as the simulation itself, examining what held up under pressure and what still needs work.
Can this course be customized for our industry or negotiation context?
Yes. We shape every program around the group attending it. Before the session begins, we gather information about the kinds of negotiations your team manages most often, where the current process tends to break down, and what outcomes matter most. We then adjust the scenarios and examples to reflect your environment.
How is this course different from a general communication or influence workshop?
This program focuses specifically on the negotiation process: preparation, framework, position, interests, options, concessions, and closure. Communication skills support the work, but the course is structured around negotiation as a distinct discipline with its own tools and decision points. Participants leave with frameworks built for the negotiating context, not adapted from it.