Negotiation Readiness Benchmark
How sharp is your team
going into negotiations?
Contract negotiations, pricing agreements, negotiations with procurement… the decision is rarely made at the table. A negotiation is usually won long before, in the preparation and the road leading up to it.
Take the Negotiation Readiness Benchmark
Answer 10 short questions and see straight away where you or your team stand against the way the strongest commercial teams work.
Start the benchmark→Why this benchmark?
From individual preparation to team-driven negotiating strength
In many B2B organisations, negotiation success still depends too heavily on individual experience. One account manager prepares thoroughly. Another relies on the relationship, timing or gut feeling.
That leaves commercial outcomes exposed.
Especially when it comes to key customers, strategic prospects, renewals, price indexations or contracts where margin and future value are at stake.
This benchmark helps you assess whether your team works from a consistent approach.
What do the best do differently?
The strongest negotiators don’t rely on talent at the table. They prepare every important negotiation along the same ten building blocks. This benchmark holds your way of working up against that bar.
What do we assess?
The 10 building blocks of strong negotiations
From insight to behaviour
Knowing what could be better is one thing.
Actually doing it differently is a behaviour change
Nobody changes their behaviour after one day of training. Salespeople least of all. What happens at the table only changes when you turn enough dials at once: before, during and after the negotiation with the customer.
Mindset
There is no such thing as a discount. A concession is a transfer of value, and something should always come back in return. If you are convinced of your own value, you hold on to it when the buyer turns up the pressure.
Skills
Probing until you get to the question behind the question. Reading the balance of power before you walk in. Pushing back and asking for something in return, without damaging the relationship. These are skills, not personality traits.
Concrete messages
What exactly do you say when the customer wants 5% off? How do you open the conversation? Words the whole team can use, not just your best negotiator.
Tools
A gameplan that challenges you at every level, a preparation for every important conversation and a formal assessment of the balance of power. That way, preparation doesn’t hinge on one salesperson’s memory.
Way of working
How do you prepare, who sits at the table, how do you debrief and coach afterwards? This is the part that makes it stick, and the part that is most often missing.
Why an open training rarely solves this
Sending one person to an open training
- One person learns something new; the team carries on as it always has.
- The cases belong to strangers, not to your renewals, indexations and pricing rounds.
- After the last slide, nobody steers on it, nobody coaches and nobody follows up.
A programme with the whole team
- Active knowledge sharing: arguments and cases from your own accounts, the successes and the failures.
- Working on all five levers at once, before, during and after the negotiation with the customer.
- Just-in-time reinforcement, so your team goes into the negotiation more confident, better prepared and better supported.
Want to know where you run the most margin or deal risk?
The benchmark gives a first indication. The real value comes from the conversation afterwards:
- I get it, but how do I get my team to apply it systematically?
- Which customer negotiations need extra preparation right now?
- How does this translate into skills, tools, mindset and practical guidance?
Something urgent? Call us on +32 2 410 11 00 or email inquiry@perpetos.com.
Discover more
Nearly 100 salespeople moved from product to value conversations
At Bekaert, the commercial teams went more confidently into conversations where uncertainty and doubt were the buyer’s weapon.
“The holistic approach, with realistic cases tailored to Bekaert, made for impactful training.” Ezgi Tanisir, PMO Manager
Client asked for 5% off, signed a 16% increase
A key account in the packaging industry went out to tender, with a bid 12% lower on the table. One well-prepared negotiation later, there was a three-year contract.
Read the case →Sales Performance Benchmark
Compare your organisation with best-in-class in twenty minutes.
Take the benchmark →Perpetos helps organizations maximize their commercial effectiveness by better aligning customer progress, cross-team collaboration, and day-to-day execution.
Contact
+32 2 410 11 00
inquiry@perpetos.com