Sales Negotiation Skills Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Key Account Managers, Sales Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-S-047

Before you join: This intermediate course assumes participants have experience selling products, services or solutions to business customers and have taken part in customer meetings, proposals or pricing discussions.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Complex sales negotiations can lose margin, delay implementation or weaken account relationships when sellers enter discussions without clear alternatives, evidence of customer value or authority to trade. Buyers may use procurement benchmarks, competitive bids, budget constraints and late-stage discount requests to test the seller’s position. Sales professionals need a disciplined approach that protects commercial outcomes while keeping the conversation constructive and focused on the customer’s decision criteria.

This course develops the preparation, bargaining and closing skills required for negotiated B2B sales. Participants use BATNA, reservation points and ZOPA to set boundaries before meetings; apply SPIN questioning and active listening to identify interests behind stated demands; and build value cases using cost-of-inaction, ROI evidence and operational outcomes. The course covers anchoring, MESO packages, conditional concessions, objection handling, hardball tactics, multi-party negotiations, procurement discussions and documented agreement terms.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with commercial cases, group analysis, negotiation simulations and structured feedback. Participants prepare for realistic scenarios involving enterprise software, professional services, banking products, public-sector procurement and supply agreements. They leave with a reusable negotiation preparation canvas, a concession plan, a value case structure and an account-specific action plan for an upcoming opportunity. The course is delivered over five days in the classroom or live online, with approximately 32.5 contact hours, and concludes with a certificate of completion.

The course is suited to sales professionals who already manage customer conversations and now need greater control over complex deals, pricing discussions and contract terms.

What you will be able to do

  • Prepare a negotiation strategy using BATNA, reservation points and ZOPA estimates
  • Conduct discovery conversations using SPIN questions and active-listening techniques
  • Quantify customer value through cost-of-inaction and ROI evidence
  • Construct MESO packages that trade scope, terms and price
  • Make and manage anchors, concessions and conditional offers
  • Respond to objections and hardball tactics while protecting commercial position
  • Close agreements with documented commitments, decision owners and next steps
  • Create account-specific negotiation plans and post-deal scorecards

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Prepare confidently for price, scope and contract-term discussions
  • Defend margin without relying on immediate discounting
  • Identify buyer interests behind stated objections and demands
  • Handle procurement pressure and competitive comparisons with greater control
  • Build a repeatable approach for closing commitments and managing follow-up

For your organisation

  • Improved margin retention through planned concessions and conditional trading
  • More consistent negotiation standards across account and sales teams
  • Stronger value-based selling in procurement-led buying processes
  • Fewer unapproved commitments on scope, delivery and payment terms
  • Clearer deal handovers through documented agreements and ownership

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can prepare a disciplined negotiation position with clear objectives, boundaries and stakeholder priorities.

  • Commercial objectives, walk-away points and BATNA defined before buyer engagement
  • Stakeholder mapping distinguishes economic buyers, users, technical evaluators and blockers
  • Deal context assessed through urgency, alternatives, authority and implementation risk
  • Negotiation preparation canvas links account strategy, objectives, evidence and boundaries
  • Value hypotheses tested against customer priorities, constraints and decision criteria
  • Opening positions separated from target, reservation point and aspiration level

Participants can uncover buyer interests, decision criteria and constraints before making proposals or concessions.

  • Discovery plans combine SPIN questions with stakeholder-specific commercial hypotheses
  • Situation, Problem, Implication and Need-payoff questions sequenced deliberately
  • Active listening uses paraphrasing, labelling, summarising and calibrated follow-up questions
  • Buying motives distinguished from stated demands, objections and negotiating positions
  • Decision process mapped from problem recognition through approval and contracting
  • Question funnels expose budget, authority, timing, competition and evaluation criteria

Participants can frame commercial offers around measurable customer outcomes rather than features or discounts.

  • Value propositions connect operational outcomes to financial, risk and strategic measures
  • Cost-of-inaction calculations quantify delay, rework, downtime and missed revenue
  • Value evidence assembled from customer data, cases, benchmarks and assumptions
  • ROI narratives separate quantified benefits from unvalidated claims and generic features
  • Packaging options frame scope, service levels, terms and price architecture
  • MESO offers present multiple equivalent packages without discounting prematurely

Participants can establish credible bargaining positions and use alternatives to improve deal outcomes.

  • BATNA strength assessed using alternatives, switching costs and implementation feasibility
  • ZOPA estimated from reservation points, market intelligence and deal constraints
  • Anchoring ranges selected to support ambitious yet credible opening positions
  • First offers evaluated against information quality, relationship conditions and power
  • Information exchange timed to test assumptions without weakening bargaining position
  • Principled negotiation separates people, interests, options and objective criteria

Participants can make planned concessions that secure reciprocal value and protect margin.

  • Concession strategy trades value only for reciprocal movement or commitment
  • Give-get logs record requests, conditions, owners and cumulative deal impact
  • Discount requests reframed through scope, timing, volume, risk and payment terms
  • Conditional language protects price integrity during exploratory bargaining
  • Concession patterns avoid unilateral movement, splitting differences and false deadlines
  • Tradeable variables prioritised using customer value and internal cost

Participants can respond calmly to objections and pressure tactics without giving away commercial ground.

  • Objection diagnosis separates genuine constraints from tactics, probes and postponement
  • Feel-Felt-Found responses acknowledge concerns without conceding commercial ground
  • Labelled questions surface hidden risk, dissatisfaction and competing agendas
  • Silence, pauses and summaries used to manage pressure and emotional reactions
  • Hardball tactics identified: nibbling, bogey, good cop-bad cop and brinkmanship
  • Ethical boundaries protect trust, authority and accurate deal representation

Participants can manage internal alignment, buyer coalitions and procurement-led negotiation processes.

  • Stakeholder coalitions mapped by influence, interest, alignment and information access
  • Internal sales alignment clarifies approval rights, escalation routes and messaging
  • Multi-party agendas sequence bilateral discussions, joint sessions and decision gates
  • Procurement tactics anticipated through tender rules, benchmarks and comparative bids
  • Power imbalances managed with evidence, alternatives, sponsors and time discipline
  • Public-sector negotiations account for transparency, evaluation records and delegated authority

Participants can convert verbal progress into documented agreements with clear ownership and next steps.

  • Trial closes test readiness, unresolved concerns and next-step ownership
  • Assumptive, summary and alternative-choice closes matched to buyer signals
  • Closing questions convert verbal agreement into specific commitments and dates
  • Agreement terms documented across scope, price, delivery, governance and payment
  • Contract handover identifies dependencies, risks, implementation owners and acceptance criteria
  • Post-negotiation follow-up confirms commitments without reopening settled concessions

Participants can conduct disciplined negotiations through digital channels and across differing communication norms.

  • Virtual negotiation protocols set agendas, participation rules and decision documentation
  • Video-call preparation manages screen sharing, private caucuses and technical contingencies
  • Email language preserves conditionality, clarity and audit-ready agreement records
  • Cross-cultural preferences assessed without stereotyping communication, hierarchy and decision pace
  • Remote silence and delayed responses interpreted through evidence rather than assumptions
  • Digital deal rooms organise proposals, redlines, approvals and version control

Participants can review negotiation performance and apply a structured plan to priority opportunities.

  • Deal reviews compare negotiated outcomes against targets, BATNA and concession plans
  • Post-mortems identify preparation gaps, missed signals and avoidable value loss
  • Negotiation scorecards track margin, terms, cycle time and commitment quality
  • Personal negotiation plan sets priority accounts, routines and manager support
  • Peer feedback converts observed behaviours into specific improvement commitments
  • Thirty-day actions schedule preparation, practice, review and escalation milestones

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Negotiation preparation canvas
  2. BATNA and ZOPA assessment template
  3. Customer value case model
  4. Give-get concession log
  5. Closing and agreement checklist
  6. Account-specific negotiation action plan

Who should attend

  • Key Account Managers — manage high-value accounts with complex buying committees
  • Sales Managers — coach deal teams on margin protection and negotiation discipline
  • Business Development Managers — convert early opportunities into commercially sound agreements
  • Account Executives — handle pricing, scope and contract discussions with enterprise buyers
  • Bid and Proposal Managers — align negotiated commitments with tender responses and approvals
  • Customer Success Managers — manage renewals, expansion terms and difficult commercial conversations

Skills and tools covered

BATNA assessmentCommercial discoveryValue-based bargainingConcession managementObjection handlingDeal closing

Tools and standards

BATNA, ZOPA, SPIN Selling, MESO

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce negotiation models, followed by case work, group analysis, simulations and structured feedback. Participants prepare positions, test value arguments, respond to buyer tactics and practise closing discussions in realistic commercial scenarios. Cases reflect enterprise sales, professional services, procurement-led tenders, renewals and multi-stakeholder decisions. Individual application planning connects the methods to a current account or upcoming negotiation. Trainers adjust scenarios, sector examples and role allocations to the experience of each cohort.

Requirements and prerequisites

This intermediate course assumes participants have experience selling products, services or solutions to business customers and have taken part in customer meetings, proposals or pricing discussions. Participants should be familiar with their organisation’s sales process, product or service offer, and basic commercial terms such as price, discount, contract period and payment terms. No formal sales qualification is required. Prior negotiation training is not required, and the course does not assume legal, procurement or finance expertise. Participants benefit most when they bring an upcoming account, renewal or deal situation to consider during application planning.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have practical experience in B2B sales, account management, proposals or commercial discussions. They do not need previous formal negotiation training, legal training or a sales qualification.

Participants should bring details of an upcoming account discussion, renewal, proposal or difficult commercial issue where possible. Confidential customer information should be anonymised before use in class.

The course suits sales professionals managing enterprise, public-sector, professional-services or procurement-led opportunities. It is particularly useful for people who influence price, scope, terms, renewals or contract commitments.

General sales courses focus mainly on prospecting, discovery, presenting and pipeline management. This course concentrates on the point where parties have competing interests and must agree price, scope, terms, risk and commitments.

Participants can use the preparation canvas, BATNA assessment, concession log and closing checklist before their next customer negotiation. The course also produces an account-specific action plan for a current opportunity.

The five days provide approximately 32.5 contact hours, normally running from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Time is divided between instructor input, commercial cases, negotiation simulations, feedback and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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