Yesterday I wrapped up a negotiation in 15 minutes. Target achieved, supplier smiling, team relieved. I should have been happy. Instead, that little voice: “𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘺 ‘𝘺𝘦𝘴’ 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵… 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘸?” This is where most negotiators get it wrong. They do one of two things: 1️⃣ Beat themselves up for days. 2️⃣ Reopen the price and destroy trust. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐲. If the deal meets ambitious objectives you defined

That’s not a slogan. That’s the 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘴 “forgetting curve”, first observed by Hermann Ebbinghaus more than 100 years ago. Your brain is simply not designed to remember a 2‑day firehose of slides and role‑plays. Yet companies still spend millions on one‑shot negotiation trainings … …and act surprised when nothing changes at the table. After 3 days, most people are back to: conceding too fast, arguing instead of listening, confusing “price” with “value”, letting emot

“Trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets.” But here’s what I see in real negotiations 👇 Most buyers swing between two extremes: 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 trust: “We’ve known them for years, it’ll be fine.” 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 control: “If it’s not in the contract, I don’t believe it.” Both kill value. The best negotiators I work with don’t “hope” for trust. They 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 it, step by step, like a process. Here’s how they do it 👇 1️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗿