Negotiations

Below are lots of useful phrases for negotiating. However, there are so many do NOT try to learn them all. Instead, look through and pick the most useful to you, so those that fit your business and the kind of things you might need to say.

Opening the negotiation:

“I’d like to start by outlining our main objectives.”

“Before we begin, could we clarify the key priorities for both sides?”

“Let’s see if we can find a solution that works for both of us.”

"I appreciate the opportunity to discuss …...."



Making/Asking for proposals:

“We are prepared to offer…….”

“I propose that……”

“Would you consider +ing ……..?” (e.g. reducing your hours)

“What is it you are looking for?” Partially agreeing:

“We/I can agree to that under the following conditions…..…”

“That sounds reasonable, as long as……..”

“That could work, if we changed…..…”


Pushing back diplomatically:

“I see your point, however, from my/our side…..….”

“Is there any flexibility regarding………….?”

“Unfortunately, that isn’t possible. However,……………”



Making concessions carefully:

“We could look at adjusting X, (if you could…………)”

“In the interest of reaching an agreement, we can……………….”

“We’re open to alternatives. What would you propose?”

“If you can offer X, then we can commit to Y.”


Closing the negotiation:

“Shall we summarise the points we’ve agreed on?”

“Let’s recap the main points.”

You can also find all the phrases in this PDF.