Negotiation Examples

At TableForce, we know how important it is to lead by example. That’s why we’re sharing a few of our best business negotiation examples to help you gain a negotiation advantage. Unlike our friends at HBR, ours are open source.

Whether you are looking to enhance your personal negotiation skills or seeking to transform your organizational culture through improved business-to-business negotiations, our negotiation case studies showcase practical negotiating techniques and tactics that lead to real-world success

Video Negotiation Examples:

Mike Inman negotiating for apples - simple!

Mike Inman negotiation w/, and evaluated by Nahuel Mongelli of Università di Bologna

Leading by Example: Negotiation Case Studies

TableForce understands firsthand that the key to successful real-life negotiations lies at the intersection of experience and education.

The TableForce partners have built our reputation on a combined seven decades of success at the negotiation table, working with organizations across continents, cultures, industries and communication platforms.

We have turned our experiences and knowledge into best-in-class negotiation workshops, seminars, video courses and training materials. Time and again, our clients have indicated that this unique background lends expertise, insight and credibility to our negotiation training. And the real-life examples we provide serve as one of the most powerful tools for learning.

The business negotiation examples below focus on three types of negotiation–from navigating a contentious real estate transaction to protecting sales margins to lowering procurement costs. They are particularly useful when considered in the context of the skills, strategies, techniques and tips taught in our negotiation workshops, seminars or courses.
We invite professionals to apply their negotiation training skills to the issues at hand. Establish your position and goals. Look at the research. Determine your negotiating power. Think about terms and conditions that can get you to the “win-win.” Then, consider those in the context of our real-world solutions and results.

Enterprise Sales

Our client in the software as a service (SaaS) industry was bidding on a large enterprise rollout for a new customer. After two months spent scoping the project and hammering out details, a “handshake” agreement was reached with the customer’s executive vice president (EVP).

Soon thereafter, though, the EVP contacted the client and said “I spoke with our CFO. They said we don’t have the budget, and you’ll need to do better.”

Our client had already put together an aggressive offer to win the large deal. They wanted to maintain their great relationship with the EVP without reducing their margin–so they reached out to the TableForce partners.

Using The Buying Game™ –unique intellectual property developed by TableForce to familiarize professionals with the processes and tactics most commonly used by purchasers–our negotiators were able to ask the right questions and better understand the buyer’s position.

Learn how planning better, communicating clearly, considering cost vs. value and re-scoping the project allowed our client to reduce their quote while protecting their margin, maintain their good relationship and reach a win-win outcome for both parties in this great business negotiation example.

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Cost Reduction

Amalgamated, Inc. had recently centralized its procurement department. Part of that process included evaluating services, service levels and associated pricing across all the Amalgamated business units.

It was discovered that one business unit was paying a significantly higher monthly retainer to a supplier–in this case, their marketing agency of record. Amalgamated’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) instructed a purchasing agent from the procurement team to “get the business unit’s costs in line with their peers.”

Luckily, this purchasing agent had been trained by the professional negotiators at TableForce. Learn how understanding relationships, remaining curious, staying flexible, planning better, trying harder and trading low-value for high-value concessions allowed the purchasing agent to make it through three rounds of external and internal negotiations.

The result? A rare win-win-win-win for Amalgamated, Inc., the business unit, the purchasing agent and the marketing agency–and a perfect example of how the business negotiation skills taught in TableForce training can be applied directly in the real world.

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Luxury Real Estate

Our client had found their ideal luxury property. Even better, their fair market offer of $4.68 million had been accepted, though it was slightly below the asking price.

A week later, however, the seller’s agent contacted our client and informed them there was a mistake–in fact, the property would be sold to another buyer. The client immediately engaged an attorney specializing in real estate, as well as our TableForce partners. Research showed that our client’s offer had been accepted first, but that the other buyer offered well above the asking price–in cash.

The seller’s attorney was combative. The buyer’s attorney suggested that the best course was a lien against the property and a drawn-out court battle. Using our proven negotiation model and knowing that expectations impact outcome, TableForce suggested our client could do better.

Learn how planning better, understanding terms and conditions and trading concessions resulted in our client getting their dream home for their original offer of $4.68 million in this real-life negotiation example.

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Want more real-life negotiation examples?

Working With TableForce

As the best negotiators in the business, TableForce offers an unmatched depth and breadth of experience. With more than a century of combined, hands-on contract negotiation under our belts, TableForce has personally negotiated hundreds of millions of dollars in value on behalf of our client companies. Curious how we can make an impact for you?