What we do
Negotiation outcomes can make or break your company, but it’s not enough for leaders to simply send key staff on negotiation training courses and hope that things improve.
Whether it’s winning profitable new clients, setting up strategic supplier partnerships, making a vital acquisition, establishing a new pricing model, or looking to increase pricing across a set of clients, as well as the ease (or otherwise) of different internal functions or business units trying to resolve typical internal disagreements such as scarcity of budgets or resources, negotiation is going to play a key part in how successfully these conflicts are managed and resolved.
Leaders need to – understand the games that the other side might be playing, particularly during competitive pitches when traditional negotiation approaches don’t seem to work; have the confidence and the competence to successfully lead their own negotiations and negotiation teams; be conversant enough in the language and processes of negotiation to be able to support their negotiators in the heat of the discussion when the pressure is on; establish the norms and processes of negotiation within the business, especially setting expectations around preparation for important negotiations.
Before investing in expensive training courses, business leaders naturally want to ensure that the training is designed and targeted in an optimal way. Prior to any training, an interview-based assessment is recommended to ascertain what conflict situations individuals and teams have most difficultly with, how they typically prepare, how they currently negotiate, and what internal organisational obstacles or external games being played by the other side, prevent them from delivering consistently successful high value outcomes.
Effective and targeted negotiation training designed for multiple levels of seniority and experience is the essential starting point for building negotiation capacity within a business.
Our one and two-day workshops are tailored to the specific challenges faced by each group, using relevant case studies and role plays, often built from the real-world issues and conflicts identified during an interview assessment phase. Questions, challenge and discussion are a key part of all workshops, and participants are encouraged to bring and explore their real-world negotiation issues and problems.
Negotiation for Leaders
A Negotiation for Leaders workshop is a one day course, aimed at business and functional leadership.
Topics covered typically include:
- Learning and applying the basic skills of value claiming (win/lose) and value creating (win/win) negotiation, while still protecting relationships
- The role of procurement in client organisations
- The role of leadership in establishing negotiation targets, process and behavioural norms within the business, and how best leadership can support its negotiators
- The games clients play – opportunities to negotiate within the competitive dynamics of a pitch process where procurement/clients are setting the rules of the game
- Negotiation clinic
- What is going to change in behavioural and process terms after the workshop, when leaders return to their day jobs ?
Negotiation Mastery
Negotiation Mastery is a two day course, aimed at leaders and managers who are negotiating the deals on which the success of the business depends. Through a focus on preparation, process and practice, a Mastery course will take negotiators’ skills to the next level.
Topics typically covered include:
- Learning and applying the basic skills of value claiming (win/lose) and value creating (win/win) negotiation while still protecting relationships
- Using a 6 step negotiation process roadmap as means of delivering consistently higher value outcomes
- Team vs 1:1 negotiation dynamics
- How to deal with hard bargainers and still win
- How to say “no”
- Negotiation clinic
Negotiation Essentials
Negotiation essentials is a one day course, aimed at those who are negotiating regularly as part of their day-to-day role. An Essentials course is designed to give a solid grounding on the key elements of negotiation, with the opportunity to practice.
Topics typically covered include:
- Learning and applying the basic skills of value claiming (win/lose) and value creating (win/win) negotiation while still protecting relationships
- Negotiation planning – the importance of preparation, with an emphasis on how and what to prepare to set up for success
- A variety of negotiation skills tips and tools, all of which are tried and tested in the real world
The “what” and the “how” of negotiation are different learning processes, and it’s common to struggle to bridge the gap between negotiation training and being able to replicate the new skills in the day job.
All too often, when put under pressure, newly trained negotiators revert to type and fail to achieve the higher value outcomes that are possible. Whether it’s individual 1:1 coaching, working with teams through a more rigorous preparation process, trial-running negotiations, or being available to provide “in the moment” coaching during particularly difficult negotiations, Kinnaird Negotiation will ensure that the investment in training delivers.
Individual coaching
We provide 1:1 coaching for individuals where negotiation is a critical part of their role, and who want to personally invest in raising their game to a new level. Typically done over a 3 to 6 month period, regular coaching sessions help embed the learning covered in negotiation training workshops, while working simultaneously on applying the skills to ongoing real-world negotiations. Sessions regularly use video replay techniques to dry-run negotiations, with extensive coaching and feedback around style, use of words and exploring options around different value creating moves.
Team coaching
A rigorous and systematic way to approach negotiation preparation is essential, particularly for teams where multiple and different functional interests, and potentially egos, are in play. Research suggests that negotiators, and especially negotiation teams, are prone to a variety of predictable phycological biases, which often leads to – incorrect assumptions underpinning negotiation strategies; lack of clarity around internal interests and their relative priority; a failure to really think through the questions which need to be asked to fully understand the needs of the other side; an inability to re-frame problems; lack of internal alignment, where the loudest voice is likely to dominate – and all of this in advance of getting across the table with the other side.
“In the moment” coaching
When the pressure is on during high stakes negotiations, it’s often good to be able to run a reality check with an external expert who isn’t emotionally involved with the situation, or the relationships. When it’s all going horribly wrong, it’s reassuring to have someone to call who can help unpick and re-frame the problem, and come up with alternative approaches and strategies to move the process forward in a positive way. We provide video and telephone “hot-line” coaching, when and where you need it most.
Why Kinnaird Negotiation
Delivering practical and innovative solutions to your real-world negotiation problems.
Tom Kinnaird has been a procurement leader and professional commercial negotiator for over 25 years. For 15 years, he was global Chief Procurement Officer for WPP, the world’s largest communications services group. Tom has more than a decade of experience of designing and teaching negotiation workshops, as well as coaching leaders, teams and individuals through difficult and complex negotiation challenges.
Particular areas of expertise and interest include:
- Helping leaders to better understand procurement in client organisations
- Promoting use of game-changing moves during negotiations
- Negotiation dynamics in competitive pitching
- Conflict resolution (internal and external)
- Strategies to embed negotiation learning and behaviours into organisations
- All drawing on real-life experience and extensive collaboration with world-leading academic experts and training partners in the field of negotiation
Who We’ve Helped






















“Tom is great at redirecting the commercial mind-set of our teams by building confidence around the negotiation process, and through providing tools, tips and practical examples within an evidence-based approach.”
Howard Claydon, CFO EMEA, Burson Marsteller
"Tom's sessions are very different from traditional negotiation training. A combination of humour, real-world scenarios and use of tangible frameworks and assets, which we could take away, use repeatedly and embed in the way we work commercially."
Tony Jervis, Commercial Director, Mediacom
"Due to his extensive agency-world expertise and experience, Tom was able to respond to the complex demands of our full-service digital agency and create tailor-made training which worked extremely well. We now have a set of negotiation tools which our teams use in their day-to-day business."
Tamara Altermatt, Talent Manager, Namics AG
"Every time we have had Tom in to run a negotiation training workshop, it has had a marked impact on individual performance, and our teams' ability to deliver tangible improvements to financial and operational outcomes for the business."
Doug Hill, Finance Director, UK & APAC, Sudler & Hennessey
"Tom is a master at delivering training, bringing real-world examples from his extensive experience leading negotiations. In addition, Tom's insights from both sides of the table make him an effective partner in formulating strategies to improve deal outcomes."
Joseph Colliver, Global CFO, The Futures Company
Tom ran an inspiring, informative, and above all, incredibly useful day for our EMEA leadership team. His expertise and experience were evident. But most importantly, his ability to allow opinionated, experienced senior people to come to the right conclusions meant we left significantly better equipped than we went in.
Jane Geraghty, President EMEA, Landor
We need to understand the dynamics of negotiation in a wide range of contexts. Tom's coaching approach was thoughtful and thought provoking - and often the insights were quite unexpected. He certainly helped me think about and tackle these issues more effectively.
Mat Hughes, Partner, AlixPartners
Tom's passion for negotiation is captivating. His knowledge of negotiation theory is comprehensive and he compliments it with extensive experience. He communicates all of this with a pinch of Scottish humour.
Yolanda Garzon, Global Commercial Excellence Director, Amcor
Tom's mix of hands-on experience, together with his mastery of the psychology behind successful negotiation, helped to push us into new habits that have lasted. We have significantly improved how we frame and manage external business negotiations, which has improved our bottom line.
Tom Rowley, Co-founder & Partner, Stripe Partners
Contact Us
We'd love to hear more about your negotiation challenges and discuss how we might be able to help.
T: +44 (0)7977 062554 E: info@kinnairdnegotiation.com