Advanced Negotiation: Get the Deal, Keep the Relationship

Most negotiations disappoint for three reasons. We have no process, so results are hit and miss. We rush to numbers and haggle on price before we know what the other side really wants. And invisible forces, emotion and bias, drive decisions we believe are rational. This course fixes all three.

You will start with the negotiator's mindset and what poor negotiation really costs. You will then learn how the negotiating brain works: why it is a social organ, why emotions take over, how emotion informs logic, how the SCARF model predicts threat and reward, and which hidden biases sit at every table.

The core of the course is a five-step negotiation funnel: Prepare, Discuss, Test, Trade and Close. In Prepare you will build your BATNA, map the dealing zone and list your tradeables. In Discuss you will open well, separate positions from interests, listen generously, ask instead of tell and read signals and bluffs. In Test you will manage expectations and test tradeables without numbers. In Trade you will use loss aversion, anchors, counter-proposals, packages, options, framing and decoys. In Close you will close cleanly, deal with nibblers and last-minute tactics, and break deadlock.

You will also explore three negotiation paradoxes, negotiating by video and phone, and negotiating as a team. A two-part case study follows one negotiation from preparation to close, and you will finish with your own negotiation action plan.

The course is built for people who already negotiate, in commercial roles or as technical leaders who negotiate scope, time and resources, and who want consistent results without damaging the relationship. Section quizzes help you lock in the skills.