Course Highlights
This negotiation skills course will:
- Explain different negotiation outcomes and the factors that influence them.
- Introduce an eight-step negotiation process to create a structured approach.
- Provide strategies for planning and preparing for negotiations.
- Offer techniques for adapting negotiation styles to various personalities.
- Share tactics for concession-making and influencing outcomes.
- Demonstrate communication techniques for maintaining rapport and defusing tension.
- Address methods for overcoming negotiation roadblocks such as deadlocks and stalls.
- Equip participants with closing techniques to solidify agreements.
- Help participants build an action plan for continuous improvement in negotiation skills.
Course Overview
“From Start to Finish: Effective Negotiations” is a practical, two-segment virtual course for professionals who want to improve their negotiation skills across a range of settings. Participants will gain a deeper understanding of different negotiation outcomes, why they occur, and how to pursue the best possible results. By following a structured eight-step process, they will learn how to prepare strategically, adjust their approach to different personalities, and use effective communication to build mutual understanding.
Segment One focuses on planning, understanding the negotiation process, and adapting to different behavioral styles. Participants will examine common negotiation outcomes, learn how to think clearly about what they need before entering any negotiation, and develop the skills to adjust their approach when their partner is operating from a different orientation.
Segment Two builds on that foundation with skills for the harder moments: avoiding traps, managing deadlocks, making concessions without giving away the negotiation, influencing outcomes, and closing effectively. The segment ends with an action planning exercise that helps participants identify what they will start, stop, and continue doing in future negotiations.
The following outline highlights some of the course’s key learning points. For virtual delivery, the structure and timing are intentionally set to support discussion and practice. We can adjust emphasis or drop select elements based on your business objectives. Upon request, we can preview the participant materials with you prior to the session.
Segment One: Outcomes, Planning, and Adapting
Segment One Objectives
At this segment’s conclusion, participants should be able to:
- Identify possible negotiation outcomes.
- Explain reasons for certain types of negotiated outcomes.
- Effectively plan a negotiation.
- List the eight steps of the negotiation process.
- Identify different behavioral styles and adapt as necessary.
- Describe techniques for successful negotiation.
Segment One Modules
Win-Win, Win-Lose, Lose-Lose: Understanding Outcomes
The session opens by establishing a clear picture of the four possible negotiation outcomes and the conditions that produce each. The group will examine why win-win results require overlap between both parties and discuss the three questions that should inform every negotiation before it begins: how important is the issue, how important is the relationship, and how much does time matter. Participants will also be introduced to two foundational planning tools, the walkaway position and the best alternative to a negotiated agreement, and consider how the absence of either tends to put negotiators at a disadvantage. The discussion surfaces a consistent truth: poor preparation, time constraints, and the absence of genuine overlap are the root causes of most failed negotiations.
Setting the Stage: Planning and Preparation
This module moves from outcomes to preparation, because what happens before the negotiation largely determines what happens during it. Participants will work through a structured approach to understanding what they bring to the table, using the Assets, Evidence, and Inquiry framework to clarify features, benefits, problems solved, supporting stories, and the questions that open a productive dialogue. The module also addresses how to research and understand what matters to the other side, including a four-part motivator framework that helps negotiators think about what their partner wants now versus later and what they are trying to gain or avoid. Participants will apply both tools to a realistic case involving a talent agent and a reality television producer and identify where their preparation is typically strongest and where it tends to leave them exposed.
The Eight-Step Negotiation Process: Following a System
With preparation in place, this module introduces the eight-step framework that structures the negotiation from start to finish. Participants will work through each step, examine what it is designed to accomplish, and discuss what typically happens when a step is skipped or rushed. The group will apply the framework to a current or upcoming negotiation, answering the core questions each step raises and identifying where the conversation is likely to require the most attention. The emphasis is on using the process as a flexible guide rather than a rigid script, and on understanding which steps are most frequently underserved in practice.
Negotiation with Different Types of People: Adjusting to Your Partner
This module examines five negotiation styles and the conditions that make each appropriate. Participants will assess their own preferred style and consider where their natural orientation helps their outcomes and where it creates problems. The group will work through three cases: a highly competitive partner who hammers on price and deadlines, a partner who avoids difficult conversations and has stalled the negotiation, and a negotiator who has a habit of saying yes and is now paying the price for it. For each case, participants will identify what adjustment the situation requires and practice the moves that keep the negotiation productive without abandoning their own interests.
The Give and Take: If You Can, Then I Will…
The segment closes by addressing one of the most practical language tools in the course. Ambiguity causes problems during negotiations, and this module introduces a structured language pattern for creating clarity around budget, timelines, agendas, consequences, and expectations. Participants will examine examples across several negotiation contexts and practice writing their own conditional statements and advance agreements for situations they navigate regularly. The group will also discuss how defining expectations before a negotiation begins reduces the friction that arises from unspoken assumptions.
Segment Two: Communication, Tactics, and Closing
Segment Two Objectives
At this segment’s conclusion, participants should be able to:
- Use common-sense communication.
- Recognize and defuse a variety of tactics employed by shrewd negotiators.
- Disagree without putting off the negotiation partner.
- Demonstrate the use of successful concession making.
- Apply various closing techniques.
- Use fundamental influence and persuasion tactics.
- Develop an action plan to improve negotiation skills.
Segment Two Modules
Winning Communication: Working with Common Sense
The segment opens with the communication disciplines that keep negotiations moving forward. Participants will examine the value of slowing down before pushing ahead and practice writing a framing statement that aligns both parties on the goals of a conversation before it begins. The module covers how to use reflective listening, selective mirroring, and questions that surface concerns rather than shut them down. Three cases give participants practice applying these skills to realistic negotiation situations, including a purchasing conversation with multiple competing concerns and a contract renewal with a client who has a history of pushing back on price. The group will identify which two communication skills would most improve their current negotiation conversations.
Tricks, Traps, and Tactics: Avoiding Pitfalls
This module examines what gets in the way, starting with the traps negotiators set for themselves. Participants will review the most common self-inflicted problems and discuss what each costs in practice. The session then turns to the tactics other negotiators use: anchoring, piecemeal negotiation that withholds the full picture, false timelines, fictional competitors, and others. For each tactic, participants will examine what it is designed to accomplish, how to recognize it, and what response protects their position without escalating unnecessarily. The group will also discuss language for testing whether a negotiation is ready to close without pushing prematurely.
Deadlocks, Stalls, and Standstills: Overcoming Roadblocks
When negotiations stall, the reason is almost always rooted in one of three categories, and identifying the correct one determines which response will work. This module gives participants a framework for diagnosing what is actually stopping progress and a set of practical moves for each situation. The group will work through tools for reviewing what has already been agreed to, adjusting the scope of the negotiation, asking hypothetical questions that open new possibilities, managing timing when priorities have shifted, and keeping the focus on what it will cost both sides not to reach an agreement. Two cases ask participants to navigate a breakdown: one involving a difficult long-term client relationship and one involving a price-focused prospect at an impasse.
Concession Guidelines: Giving Away Nothing for Free
This module treats concession management as a discipline with rules. Participants will examine a set of guidelines for making concessions that maintain the value of what they have while keeping the negotiation moving. The group will work with a tracking structure that keeps what has been given and what has been received visible throughout the conversation, practice the conditional language patterns from Segment One in a concession context, and discuss when to slow down, when to break a negotiation into smaller pieces, and when taking something back is the right move. The emphasis throughout is on concessions as deliberate decisions rather than reflexive responses to pressure.
Harnessing the Power of Persuasion: Influencing Others
The course closes by connecting negotiation to the broader work of influence. Participants will examine the behaviors and qualities that make negotiators genuinely persuasive over time, including credibility, consistency, and the discipline of helping the other side get what they want to the extent that is possible. The group will complete an action planning exercise identifying what they are already doing well, what they need to stop, and what they will start doing differently in future negotiations. The session ends with a full recap of the tools introduced across both segments, giving participants a consolidated reference for the process, frameworks, and language they have practiced.
Target Audience
This virtual training program is designed for groups that want to:
- Develop a structured approach to negotiations for improved outcomes.
- Build adaptable communication skills to connect with different personality types.
- Learn to manage deadlocks, stalls, and negotiation pitfalls effectively.
- Enhance their ability to make concessions strategically.
- Strengthen their closing techniques for solidifying agreements.
- Improve their influence and persuasion tactics to drive successful negotiations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should attend this virtual negotiation course?
This course works well for professionals who negotiate as a regular part of their work and want a more structured and deliberate approach. It fits sales professionals, account managers, procurement staff, project managers, and anyone who negotiates terms, resources, timelines, or agreements with internal or external partners. It is designed for people who have some negotiation experience and want to improve their consistency and outcomes rather than start from scratch.
How are the two segments structured?
Each segment runs approximately two hours and is delivered as a live virtual instructor-led session. The two segments can be scheduled on the same day or on separate days. Segment One focuses on preparation, process, and style adaptation. Segment Two focuses on communication, tactics, concessions, and influence. Each segment stands on its own for review purposes, but the two are designed to build on each other.
Does the course include practice opportunities?
Yes. Both segments use case studies and application exercises throughout. Segment One includes a case involving a talent agent and a television producer that participants use to practice preparation and planning tools. Segment Two uses cases involving client relationship challenges, price negotiations, and contract renewals. Participants also complete a personal action planning exercise at the end of Segment Two.
Does this course address what to do when the other side uses pressure tactics?
Yes. The Tricks, Traps, and Tactics module in Segment Two covers the most common tactics negotiators encounter, including anchoring, piecemeal disclosure, false timelines, and others. For each tactic, the course addresses how to recognize it and how to respond without escalating or losing ground.
Can this course be customized for our team’s negotiation context?
Yes. We adjust the cases, examples, and emphasis to reflect the kinds of negotiations your group manages most often. Before the sessions begin, we gather information about your team’s typical negotiation situations and where the current process tends to break down.
What frameworks will participants learn?
The course covers the eight-step negotiation process, the walkaway position and BATNA, the Assets, Evidence, and Inquiry framework, a four-part motivator model, five negotiation styles, conditional language patterns for removing ambiguity, a deadlock diagnosis framework, and concession tracking tools. Participants will have used each framework in a practice context before the course ends.