How to Become a World-Class Negotiating Organisation

Are You Training to Win in Negotiation—Or Just Showing Up?

In sports, we recognise different levels of commitment and preparation among athletes:

1. The Ones Who Just Show Up – They do the bare minimum, complete their training, and put in enough effort to participate but never push beyond what’s required.
2. The Ones Who Train to Win – They put in the extra work, refine their techniques, and focus on performing at their best when competition day arrives.
3. The Ones Who Train to Dominate – They are relentless. Every session, every drill, and every moment is designed to make winning inevitable. When the race begins, the outcome is already decided.

Negotiation in business follows the same pattern. Some organisations just react and hope for the best when making deals. Others train to win, equipping their teams with structured strategies. And then there are those few companies that train to dominate, ensuring every deal is structured, every move is intentional, and every outcome maximises value.

How to Become a World-Class Negotiating Organisation

Step 1: Stop Reacting, Start Planning

Organisations that rely on gut instinct in negotiations often find themselves conceding too much, agreeing to unfavourable terms, or losing deals altogether. A world-class negotiating organisation treats negotiation as a strategic discipline, not just a necessary process.

Actionable Steps:

• Conduct a negotiation audit: Identify gaps in your current approach, assess past negotiations, and determine where deals have been lost or where concessions were given away unnecessarily.
• Develop a company-wide negotiation strategy aligned with overarching business objectives. Every department—sales, procurement, legal, and finance—must be aligned on negotiation principles to prevent inconsistencies.
• Train teams to follow a structured negotiation framework instead of approaching each deal with an ad hoc mindset. Provide ongoing education on best practices, emerging trends, and new negotiation tools.

Step 2: Implement the BNA Negotiation Matrix

To move beyond reactive deal-making, organisations need a proven methodology. The BNA Negotiation Matrix provides a structured, adaptable approach that transforms negotiations from unpredictable interactions into a systematic process that consistently delivers results.

The BNA Negotiation Matrix consists of three core phases:

Before engaging in negotiations, it is critical to gather intelligence on the counterpart, their motivations, and potential deal structures. This phase ensures you are not negotiating blindly but instead entering the conversation with deep insight and strategic foresight.

• Assess the counterpart’s needs, motivations, and constraints.
  Conduct stakeholder analysis to identify key decision-makers, influencers, and budget authorities. Determine their pain points, corporate priorities, and potential internal conflicts. Use tools such as personality profiling (NBI Model) and cross-cultural considerations to refine your approach. Conduct a detailed market analysis to understand industry trends and external factors that may influence negotiation outcomes.
  • What are their key drivers? Are they focused on cost reduction, efficiency, long-term partnerships, or innovation?
  • What pressures are they facing internally? Budget constraints, regulatory compliance, or shareholder expectations?
• Analyse leverage points and potential trade-offs.
  Identify where you hold power in the negotiation and where the counterpart has leverage over you. Map out tradeable variables beyond price, such as extended contract terms, exclusivity agreements, or bundled services. Conduct a power analysis and SWOT assessment to anticipate potential shifts in negotiation dynamics. Evaluate the competitor landscape to understand alternative options available to your counterpart.
  • How indispensable is your offer? Can they easily find an alternative, or do you have a unique value proposition?
  • What non-monetary incentives can you use to increase the perceived value of the deal?
• Identify hidden value opportunities beyond price.
  Many negotiators focus solely on monetary terms, but true value can be unlocked through long-term partnerships, co-branding opportunities, preferential supply agreements, or access to key networks. Recognising and leveraging these factors creates win-win scenarios. Utilise financial modelling techniques to quantify non-monetary benefits and integrate them into your value proposition.
  • Can you offer operational efficiencies that reduce the counterpart’s internal costs?
  • Are there regulatory benefits or strategic advantages to working with your company?

A well-defined strategy is the difference between winning and losing a negotiation. Without structured planning, teams risk conceding too much, too soon, or failing to capitalise on leverage.

• Define clear objectives and non-negotiables.
  Establish what a successful deal looks like and identify absolute deal breakers. Define deal metrics such as walk-away points (LDO) and optimal outcomes (OO). This prevents teams from making reactive concessions under pressure. Set SMART negotiation goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) to ensure clarity in execution.
• Map out a concession strategy using tiered trade-offs.
  Instead of giving away value too quickly, use a structured approach to concessions. Prioritise trade-offs so that you start with lower-value concessions and escalate only when necessary. Apply concession strategies informed by cost-benefit analysis and structured counteroffers. Use predictive modelling to simulate different concession scenarios and prepare countermeasures.
• Develop scenario-based playbooks for handling objections and pressure tactics.
  Anticipate the most common objections and pushbacks from counterparts. Prepare counterarguments, alternative proposals, and structured responses to maintain control of the negotiation flow. Leverage game theory to model different outcomes and optimise your strategy accordingly. Conduct role-play simulations to ensure negotiators can handle high-pressure situations effectively.

Once preparation is complete, execution is about controlling the discussion, influencing decision-making, and driving the deal to a favourable conclusion.

• Control the negotiation agenda to prevent price-dominated discussions.
  If the conversation shifts too early to pricing, steer it back to value, impact, and long-term benefits. Use structured agendas to dictate the flow of discussions, and manage the timing of offers to maximise leverage. Implement tactical sequencing to introduce key deal components at optimal moments.
• Apply tactical negotiation techniques at every stage.
  Use opening tactics to set the tone, middle-stage negotiation tactics to maintain control, and closing techniques to ensure a favourable outcome. Adapt dynamically based on counterpart responses and negotiation stage. Utilise advanced questioning techniques to extract valuable information and shape the negotiation process.