Sales negotiation begins with understanding the terms each side needs and the decisions still open. Prepare the scope, price and delivery commitments together. A discount can change the number on a proposal without resolving the customer’s concern or making the work deliverable.
Before the conversation, distinguish what the customer has confirmed from what the sales team assumes. Identify who can approve changes on both sides. The purpose is an agreement that each party understands and can fulfil.
Know your alternative and your limits
BATNA means your best alternative to a negotiated agreement: the course you can take if this deal does not happen. Harvard’s Program on Negotiation explains why it needs careful assessment. An attractive possibility is not equivalent to an option you can actually pursue.
List your available alternatives and their costs, timing and uncertainty. Use that work to assess proposed terms. Do not invent a competing customer or a disappearing delivery slot to imply more leverage than you have.
Also record your approval limits. State which discounts, payment changes or scope revisions you can authorise and who must review anything beyond them. Bring delivery or commercial colleagues into preparation when their commitments are involved.
Find out what the requested change is meant to solve
Ask about the reason behind a request before offering a concession. A customer asking for a lower initial payment may have a cash-timing constraint. Another may be comparing a smaller scope from a different supplier. Those are different problems.
Use a question that leaves room for correction: “What needs to change for this proposal to fit the way you intend to buy?” Listen to the answer without assuming every concern is a negotiating tactic.
If the customer needs evidence about the offer, address that first. The rebuttals guide covers example responses to concerns that do not necessarily require changing the terms.
Discuss options with their consequences
Prepare alternatives the business can deliver. A smaller initial scope, a different timetable or a revised payment schedule may be possible, but each needs review. Explain what changes and what remains included.
For example, imagine a fictional proposal for three workshops and follow-up coaching. The customer has funding for a smaller first phase. One option could be one workshop with a defined outcome, followed by a separate decision about the remaining work. That is a scope change, not the same service at a disguised discount.
Compare the options in terms the customer can check. Avoid presenting an estimate of savings as a guaranteed return. State the inputs, assumptions and work the customer would need to do.
Keep a record of concessions and conditions
Write down each proposed change and whether it is conditional. A useful record shows the original term, the proposed replacement and who can approve it. This prevents an exploratory option from becoming an assumed commitment.
Where a concession depends on something in return, make the relationship explicit. For example, a price may depend on a particular scope or volume. Do not treat every helpful act as a debt the buyer must repay; some corrections simply make the proposal accurate.
Pause when a request changes the delivery risk or requires authority you do not have. A promise made to keep the meeting moving may create a problem for both parties later.
Check the whole agreement before calling it settled
Review the scope, amounts, dates and responsibilities together. Include unresolved technical or commercial questions. Agreement on price does not mean that implementation, acceptance or payment terms have also been approved.
Summarise the outcome in writing and identify what still needs review. Give the customer a chance to correct your understanding. Keep approved terms and open proposals separate in the opportunity record.
Carry the commitments into delivery
Give the delivery team the agreed scope and any dependencies. Explain which customer actions must happen before work can begin. Do not pass along promised outcomes that the contract or proposal does not support.
In a team review, examine a real negotiation for preparation gaps, unclear authority or concessions that caused later confusion. Choose a specific practice to improve. The Sales Arc can discuss that work in a discovery meeting before proposing training or process changes.
