Find Value by Using Consultative Negotiation

April 18, 2025
Phil Krone

You’ve heard of consultative selling?  Now, meet consultative negotiation.

We’ve long fielded requests to create and teach a course on negotiation. In the past we explained that the principles in  FOCIS© , our popular consultative selling course, reduce requests to negotiate price and terms and strengthen your position when negotiations are required.

But, in addition to sales negotiations, our clients also negotiate purchasing, quality, engineering, and other business agreements and arrangements. They wanted to take the same consultative approach to negotiations that we teach in selling. Several years ago we took up the challenge and created a new course,  FOCIS© Discovery, Focused Negotiations.  This is a course in both negotiation and communication.

The next, two-day session is scheduled for  Wednesday, November 12, and  Thursday, November 13,  at our Northfield offices.

What will you learn?

Consultative negotiation does indeed apply the principles of consultative selling but in much more specific ways suited to a negotiating environment.

You’ll . . .

  • Develop your personal negotiation skills
  • Create a negotiating process you can customize for each negotiation
  • Learn why the most recent research reinforces negotiating in a consultative way
  • Understand clearly which consultative selling principles apply, when to use them, and when not to use them
  • Practice your skills using case studies and role playing
  • Build a new confidence in your negotiating skills.

Get in touch with us now  to learn more about the course and how it can benefit your career and your company:  847-446-0008  or e-mail  pkrone@productivestrategies.com.

Key Building Blocks of the Course

  • What is negotiation  and the ability to influence…..and what is it not?
  • When does the negotiation process start?
  • What preparation has to be in place before negotiations begin?
  • What is consultative selling and how do communication skills reduce the need to negotiate?
  • How do you improve listening skills to gather critical content and create empathy?
  • How can communication skills  improve your leverage?
  • What are proven negotiation strategies: What works and what doesn’t?
  • What is wrong with traditional win-win?
  • Why can consultative win-win be much more productive?
  • Is it better to start with YES or NO? Why?
  • How do you identify previously unrecognized solutions   during negotiations?
  • How do you find and communicate creative solutions?
  • Why does focusing on process work and how do you do it?
  • Why is time management so important?
  • What are the best ways to develop trust?
  • How much preparation  is needed before negotiation begins, when, and what kind?
  • What’s the right balance between negotiating soft and hard costs?
  • What role does emotion play?
  • How can you deal with difficult people who commoditize your offering?
  • How can visualization make you a better negotiator?

A marketing professional since 1972,  Philip Krone  is the creator of FOCIS© Discovery, Focused Negotiations  and principal instructor. He is an experienced negotiator in several industries. For 20 years, he has been the founder and president of Productive Strategies, Inc., a management and marketing consulting firm. As a manufacturing executive, he pursued and achieved business opportunities in the global arena, with government, and in private industry. He has negotiated multi-million dollar sales, labor contracts, sales representation contracts, and successfully coached on thousands of sales opportunities, including a billion-dollar sale.

Learn more about  FOCIS© Discovery, Focused Negotiations  by contacting Phil at  847-446-0008  or  pkrone@productivestrategies.com.

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