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Wondering what we are up to next or what's on our minds? Check out our latest blogs. This is where you can gain a peek into the world of RED BEAR and find our latest thinking along with practical tips on negotiation and collaboration.

Most organizations don't struggle with interdepartmental communication because people refuse to talk. They struggle because every department speaks a different operational...
A single misread gesture across the table can unravel months of partnership building. In cross-cultural communication, the difference between a productive global alliance and a...
Economic uncertainty does not reward experience alone. It exposes the gap between what organizations know about negotiation and what they can consistently execute under pressure....
Economic uncertainty reveals the execution gap between organizations that merely understand negotiation principles and those that can apply them under pressure. When markets...
A single misread pause during a supplier meeting in Tokyo cost one procurement team three months of renegotiation and a six-figure concession they never planned to make....
Most negotiation training fails before participants even leave the room. Teams sit through a packed seminar, absorb a few frameworks, and return to their desks with notes they...
A deal falls apart in Tokyo because someone pushed for a quick close. A handshake in São Paulo feels premature because a relationship was never built. A procurement team in Munich...
A deal stalls in Tokyo because your team opens with aggressive pricing demands. A partnership in São Paulo unravels after a direct "no" lands as a personal insult. Cross-cultural...
Most organizations sign software contracts worth six or seven figures without a structured software contract negotiation plan. They rely on internal teams who negotiate these...
Quick Guide: 8 Procurement Negotiation Challenges for Enterprise Teams Inadequate Preparation and Research: The root cause of failed negotiations Supplier Power Imbalances: When...
Most remote sales teams lose deals not because they lack product knowledge or market insight, but because they default to reactive behaviors when negotiations move to video calls...
Most sales teams invest heavily in strategy but bleed margin in live negotiations because affordable sales training that changes actual behavior remains surprisingly rare. The gap...
Discount requests are increasing. Budget cycles are tightening. And procurement teams are more sophisticated than ever at squeezing every percentage point from your final price....
Most procurement teams walk into supplier meetings with solid category strategies and well-researched cost targets. Then the conversation starts, and everything shifts. The...
Remote deals expose weak negotiation skills training fast: the awkward pause and the discount offered before the buyer even asks.
Most organizations don't struggle with negotiation strategy. They struggle with what their people actually say and do when a buyer pushes back on price, or a supplier holds firm...
Software contract negotiation often looks controlled until the renewal quote arrives with AI add-ons and usage overages. The vendor has already shaped the timeline and the data....
Most organizations don't lose high-stakes negotiations because they lack strategy. They lose because their teams can't execute under pressure, and the gap between what's planned...
Most organizations invest heavily in negotiation strategy, but watch their teams give away margin the moment real pressure hits. That gap between what your pricing playbook says...
Most organizations walk into high-stakes negotiations with a solid strategy on paper and walk out having left significant value on the table. The gap between what teams plan to do...
Most sales teams don't lose deals because a competitor had a better product. They lose them because someone on the team caved on price, offered a concession too early, or walked...
Most enterprise procurement teams invest heavily in sourcing strategy, supplier management, and spend analysis. Yet a significant amount of value is still lost during the...
Most procurement teams walk into supplier meetings with solid strategies on paper and walk out with agreements that look nothing like the plan. The gap between procurement...
Most sales teams walk into high-stakes negotiations armed with product knowledge and good intentions. Neither protects the margin when a seasoned procurement professional starts...
Most sales teams don’t lose enterprise deals because the competition had a better product. They lose them one avoidable concession at a time, quietly trading margin for momentum,...
Most teams walk into a negotiation skills training workshop expecting a few new tactics and a certificate. They walk out energized, scribble some notes, and within two weeks,...
Effective procurement negotiation demands discipline in any economic climate, but inflation introduces a layer of complexity that exposes every gap in a team's preparation and...
A sales negotiation doesn't fall apart at the contract stage. It unravels weeks earlier, in the discovery call where a rep volunteers pricing before understanding the buyer's...
The rise of AI in negotiation has sparked a wave of excitement across sales organizations. Leaders are investing in tools that promise sharper insights, faster deal cycles, and...
Most procurement professionals dramatically underestimate their own negotiation power, walking into supplier discussions convinced that the other side holds all the cards. This...
In most negotiations, there’s a quiet but critical moment that determines the outcome, long before numbers are exchanged.
Most sales professionals don’t lose deals; they give them away.
Most sales leaders invest heavily in preparing their teams to negotiate with buyers. But the negotiation that derails the most deals happens inside their own company. Internal...
Most procurement leaders prepare extensively for the supplier across the table, yet the internal stakeholder negotiations within their own organization often receive little more...
Most enterprise sales negotiation outcomes are decided long before a buyer asks for a discount. The real variable that separates high-margin deals from eroded ones isn't the final...
The global business environment remains turbulent, and many sales leaders are discovering that an important part of their role has become unavoidable: executing price increases...
Third-party sales channels—distributors, dealers, resellers, and partners—remain a critical component of many go-to-market strategies. They extend reach and scale coverage and...
Budget season is supposed to be a strategic exercise. Too often, it becomes an exercise in constraint.
In many procurement organizations, supplier negotiations still orbit around what suppliers say they want: price, terms, volume, and contractual protections. Teams respond to these...
Most sellers treat customer requests as fixed requirements. More units. Faster delivery. Lower price. A new term in the contract.
A negotiating position-strength call is the disciplined assessment of your leverage and capabilities that determines whether you shape the outcome or simply react to it. Most...
Procurement teams face an impossible brief: cut costs, lift quality, speed delivery, and preserve supplier partnerships. The instinct for many procurement organizations is to push...
Negotiation tension is the constructive pressure that reveals hidden value between parties.
This post continues our exploration of the RED BEAR Negotiation Principles. These are the core ideas that help organizations build more profitable agreements through value, not...
Procurement sits at the crossroads of value creation. Across every supplier conversation, sourcing decision, and partnership, all value is negotiated… or not.
You invested in negotiation training. Your team showed up, got inspired, and left the workshop fired up. Fast forward three months, and you’re still seeing the same pricing...
Preparation starts with insight, knowing supplier capabilities, market dynamics, and your true leverage before any conversation begins.
How to Negotiate by Prioritizing Needs Over Wants In high-stakes commercial negotiations, surface-level demands often mask deeper business imperatives. Negotiating effectively...
To the untrained eye, leverage can appear fickle—one moment it’s there, and the next, it’s gone.
Your supplier doesn’t hold all the cards.
Ever felt boxed into a number at the start of a negotiation, and couldn’t escape it?
One number can shape an entire negotiation.
Some of the most critical, high-stakes negotiations you’ll ever face won’t involve external clients or vendors. They’ll happen across the conference table—or Zoom call—from your...
You can lose deals well before you ever start conversations.
Strategic planning in negotiations separates teams that control outcomes from those that scramble to react. Before the first word is exchanged at the bargaining table,...
What separates the sales professionals who close from those who only follow up? One major factor is this: top performers don’t just pitch products—they understand people. More...
What if the most powerful negotiation tactic isn't what you say—but what you don’t?
What if the most powerful negotiator in the room isn’t the one with the biggest title—but the one with the clearest voice?
Think power in negotiation is all about titles, authority, or who controls the budget? Think again.
Procurement negotiation training closes the gap between what sourcing teams plan to achieve and what actually happens when they sit across the table from a supplier. Most...
When most negotiators prepare for a high-stakes discussion, they focus on personal qualities and tactics—questions to ask, offers to make, concessions to consider.
BATNA in negotiation is one of the most widely referenced concepts in deal-making, yet most professionals treat it as a complete strategy rather than what it actually is: a...
In this episode of The Confident Negotiator Podcast, RED BEAR Founder and CEO Chad Mulligan shares exciting news about our upcoming 2025 promotion, where we're offering 25% off...
An often underappreciated negotiation lever?
Informational Power in Negotiation: Definition and Guide Informational power in negotiation determines who controls the conversation and who simply reacts to it. Most...
Sales negotiations determine whether your pricing strategy survives contact with the buyer or collapses into reactive discounting. The gap between what leadership articulates and...
Ask any seasoned negotiator, and they’ll tell you: the most surprising moments don’t come from tough terms or aggressive tactics—they come from misreading the situation.
Power in negotiation is often misunderstood.
When sales leaders talk about building high-performing teams, they usually focus on pipeline, process, and product.
Negotiation isn’t just about facts, figures, or tactics it’s about how people communicate under pressure. The words we choose, our body language, and even our silence reveal more...
Two negotiators walk into the same high-stakes meeting.
Apple’s latest manufacturing pivot to India is more than a headline—it marks a critical shift for procurement and sourcing professionals who’ve been battered by years of tariffs,...
Let’s get real: Negotiation isn’t about avoiding conflict—it’s about knowing how to use it.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly closing the execution gap in complex, high-stakes negotiations. Yet for every organization deploying AI negotiation tools to sharpen...
The best negotiators know how to apply their skills in any situation—especially in a crisis.
Pricing power isn’t what it used to be.
Steps to the Right Answer in Bargaining: Ask Better Questions The steps to the right answer in bargaining rarely start with a better pitch or a sharper counteroffer. They start...
Most people think of negotiation as a battle of words or a contest of wills. In reality, it’s a complex dance of human behavior, psychology, and organizational practices.
What is price pressure, really? Most sales leaders define it as a buyer pushing for a lower number. But that definition misses what actually destroys margin: the behavioral...
Procurement leaders in 2025 are never further than a stone’s throw away from major disruptors.
Most sales teams don't lose deals because of competition. They lose them through undisciplined sales-negotiation execution that quietly erodes margins, deal after deal. The gap...
When looking at the economy right now, things are tough.
Tariffs are shaking up the business world, and negotiators are feeling the heat.
The number one thing on executives' minds right now?
No matter the industry, location, or role, internal negotiations shape organizational direction and overall outcomes.
Understanding what concessions are in negotiation is the difference between protecting margin and watching it erode, one deal at a time. Every negotiation involves give and take....
How The Sales Process Has Changed
In this episode of The Confident Negotiator Podcast, RED BEAR’s Director of Client Engagement, Brandon Wilson, joins host Rob Cox for a deep dive into what makes RED BEAR's...
It's our role as negotiators to help the other party see our case at its highest value possible, anchoring their perceptions to our ideal price or reference point.
Cross cultural negotiation is where most global deals are won or lost, and the margin between a profitable agreement and an expensive concession often comes down to how well your...
AI negotiations have reshaped how teams research counterparties, model concession scenarios, and build pre-meeting intelligence packages. But faster data does not automatically...
A strong concessions strategy can be the key to unlocking additional value in a negotiation. How can this be? If we consider concessions only as the things we give up to close the...
Negotiation procurement is where sourcing strategy either delivers results or quietly bleeds margin. Most procurement teams know when supplier terms need revisiting. They...
At RED BEAR Negotiation, we've spent over a decade training sales and procurement professionals to become world-class negotiators, equipping them with tools and strategies they...
Non-monetary costs silently shape every buying decision, yet most sales teams only prepare for the price conversation. The real negotiation often hinges on what buyers sacrifice...
In this episode of The Confident Negotiator Podcast, we sit down with RED BEAR Senior Consultant Deborah Reynolds to discuss the importance ofasking better questions in...
Every sales negotiation sends two sets of signals: what people say and what their bodies reveal. Understanding body language in sales is not a soft skill novelty. It is an...
In this episode of The Confident Negotiator Podcast, we are joined by Erhan Imamoglu, a RED BEAR Senior Instructor based in Istanbul with over 20 years of experience in training...
Supply chain snarls, rising prices, a challenging economy… and bad customer service? Procurement professionals have to deal with a lot these days.
In this episode of The Confident Negotiator Podcast, we’re excited to have Alfredo Lago, a Brazil-based RED BEAR Senior Facilitator, join us. With over two decades of experience...
It’s an all-too-common scenario: your team enters into the concession part of a negotiation with a list of promises that don’t match reality. While this might mean negotiations go...
In this episode of The Confident Negotiator Podcast, we're joined by Andreas Buergi, a Switzerland-based seasoned RED BEAR international faculty member with a wealth of experience...
Sales negotiations can often feel like a high-stakes game where the immediate objective is to close the deal. However, successful negotiators know that the real prize is in...
Positive framing is as much art as it is practical. To get it right, you need to not only understand your own value and strength but also the power of perception.
Over the last few years, procurement professionals have grown used to a growing number of challenges like supply chain disruption, inflation, and uncertain markets....
In sales, the ability to maintain momentum and stay engaged with prospective customers can be the difference between closing a deal and watching it slip away. At RED BEAR...
Peak season is prime time for procurement professionals. During this time, supply chains face added stresses as businesses ramp up their operations to meet the needs of customers...
How advanced is your negotiation process? Do your negotiators have world-class negotiation skills? Does your approach to negotiation protect your self-interest, break through...
Most professionals walk into negotiations with good intentions and a rough sense of what they want. What they lack is a structured plan that builds leverage before a single word...
As the summer heats up, don’t let your sales and procurement negotiation training melt away. Now is the perfect time to sharpen your skills with some insightful summer reads.
Effective procurement negotiations are crucial for achieving cost savings and fostering strong supplier relationships. However, procurement professionals often face challenges...
Negotiation is an essential part of the sales process. It's the dance between understanding a customer's needs and presenting the value your product or service brings. However,...
Negotiation is a fundamental skill for sales and procurement professionals. It's the art of finding common ground, bridging gaps, and reaching mutually beneficial agreements. Now...
In this episode of The Confident Negotiator Podcast, host Rob Cox welcomes RED BEAR Senior Instructor Eric Imrie for an in-depth discussion on mastering tension in negotiations....
Cross culture negotiations fail more often from execution breakdowns than from a lack of cultural knowledge. Most global teams understand that customs differ across borders, yet...
Confidence and assertiveness are key factors in negotiation outcomes. They empower negotiators — especially in sales and procurement — to communicate effectively, advocate for...
Last week, RED BEAR was on the ground at ISM World 2024 in Las Vegas for the Institute for Supply Management’s annual event. RED BEAR Senior Instructor Shawn Malone was also a...
In this episode of The Confident Negotiator Podcast, host Rob Cox welcomes Ross Pomerantz, widely recognized as Corporate Bro, for a candid discussion about humor in the sales...
Negotiation skills are pivotal to the sales process. It's not just about closing a deal — it's about creating mutually beneficial agreements that foster long-term relationships....
Whether in sales, procurement, or any other field involving negotiating, you've likely encountered a few formidable adversaries—difficult personalities that can derail even the...
Negotiation is an integral part of any sales process, and the psychology behind it can make or break a deal. At RED BEAR, we understand that successful negotiation goes beyond...
In the latest episode of The Confident Negotiator Podcast, host Rob Cox speaks with RED BEAR Senior Instructor, Shawn Malone. Shawn, who has a rich background in procurement...
In this episode of The Confident Negotiator Podcast, host Rob Cox and RED BEAR's Founder and CEO Chad Mulligan discuss the foundational pillars that have steered RED BEAR through...
Virtual negotiations expose an execution problem that most organizations never expected to face. The shift from conference rooms to video calls didn't just change the medium. It...
The global supply chain challenges that were brought into focus in 2020 are still prevalent today. Those difficulties continue to emphasize the importance of building...
Whether your sales team is closing a high-stakes deal or your procurement team is securing favorable purchasing terms, the ability to negotiate can make or break your...
Digital transformation. It’s more than a buzzword; it’s a matter of staying relevant and agile in a shifting tech-savvy market.
What does it take to find success in procurement negotiations?
Negotiation skills are some of the most important tools in a salesperson’s toolbox. Despite their best efforts, many sellers make the same mistakes in negotiations, like being...
In this episode of The Confident Negotiator, host Rob Cox and RED BEAR's Director of Client Engagement, Brandon Wilson, dissect invaluable insights derived from comprehensive...
The best negotiation books do more than introduce frameworks. They sharpen how professionals think about leverage and value creation before they sit across the table from a...
Here at RED BEAR, our mission is to empower individuals and organizations to become world-class negotiators who protect margin, manage discounting, and close the execution gap....
In the latest episode of the Confident Negotiator Podcast, host Rob Cox is joined by Tim Fiore, the Chair of the Institute for Supply Management's Manufacturing Business Survey...
In this premiere episode of The Confident Negotiator podcast, join Rob Cox (RED BEAR's Chief Marketing Officer) and Brandon Wilson (RED BEAR's Director of Client Engagement) as...
Negotiation is an invaluable skill set that offers value no matter the industry, size of business, or environment.
What does it take to succeed when negotiating with procurement professionals? It’s not enough to leverage the same individuals on your team with the innate talent for negotiation...
When it comes to procurement negotiation strategies, you’ll find that every training company and procurement team has its own take on what success looks like. But, at the end of...
In this testimonial video, Larry Selzer, CEO and President of The Conservation Fund, shares his insights on the transformative impact of RED BEAR's negotiation training on their...
Procurement professionals have seen some significant hurdles in the last few years. Rising inflation rates, a common challenge affecting virtually every industry, are leading to...
The business landscape changes, markets shift, and world events evolve. One key to staying agile and competitive in this environment is to approach learning and development (L&D)...
As 2023 comes to a close, it’s time to look back on the year and reflect.
RED BEAR Negotiation is thrilled to announce the launch of its brand-new podcast, "The Confident Negotiator," set to debut in early 2024. This new podcast promises to deliver a...
Past, Present, and Future of Negotiation for Procurement Statistics and Trends The Onset of the Manufacturing Supercycle Negotiation Challenges Procurement Faces Today Purchasing...
Peak season is a big deal in the world of procurement. It’s when businesses shift into top gear, working around the clock to deliver to customers and clients across the globe.
From Chad Mulligan, RED BEAR Negotiation Founder & CEO: On this Thanksgiving holiday, RED BEAR has an additional reason to be grateful: our 10-year anniversary.
Cross Cultural Negotiations Guide: Gratitude and Trust Cross cultural negotiations expose a gap most organizations never plan for: the distance between knowing that cultures...
Building trust in a negotiation is not a soft skill. It is the commercial foundation that determines whether deals close profitably or collapse under pressure, concession by...
Gratitude is much more than sharing niceties — especially when used in a professional setting.
Gratitude: it’s one of RED BEAR’s Core Values. But it’s more than a cornerstone of how we do business; it’s an essential element of our negotiation methodology.
When it comes to mastering sales negotiation, the right employee training matters.
The right negotiation skills will get you much more than the best price. In fact, if negotiators focus solely on the transactional aspect of the deal, they’re leaving value on the...
This December marks a significant milestone for RED BEAR: our tenth anniversary.
These last few years have laid the foundation for a new era in sales negotiation.
Even in today’s fast-paced world of sales, the timeless art of sales negotiation—which RED BEAR defines as a disciplined, repeatable process for planning, executing, and closing...
Looking to grow but not at any cost?
The dawn of the new year or quarter means fresh targets, renewed objectives, and a reinvigorated sales drive. For sales professionals, this period isn’t just about setting lofty...
Understanding the sources of negotiation power separates disciplined negotiators from those who leave value on the table. Around 35% of surveyed professionals see negotiation as...
The AI role in negotiation is generating more noise than clarity. Every vendor promises smarter prep and data-driven outcomes, yet the deals that protect margin and build lasting...
Unless you’ve lived under a rock these last few years, you’re likely well aware of the uncertain economic environment sales professionals need to navigate in 2023.
In the corporate world, a Request for Proposal (RFP) serves as a vital tool to solicit proposals from various service providers.
Even with some of the COVID-related disruptions starting to appear in the rearview mirror, procurement professionals still struggle with the same stubborn issues.
Whether it’s strained supply chains throttling operations or geopolitical pressures from across the globe halting business, these last few years have been, in a single word,...
Building agile and adaptable cross cultural negotiation processes is becoming a mission-critical task for global deal teams operating across borders and time zones. The gap...
The MedTech industry sits at a pivotal crossroads. The global medical devices market continues to expand, yet organizations are still contending with fragile supply chains, rapid...
The aerospace industry has always carried a reputation for innovation and progress.
Due to inflation, the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar declined around 7.4% between 2021 and 2022. This unprecedented economic environment is pushing supplier, raw material,...
There’s no mistaking the unique environment facing CPG professionals in 2023.
As the world becomes more interconnected, it’s the telecommunications industry that is driving advancements in the communications technology that powers a new era of digital...
RED BEAR Negotiation Training was on the ground at the ISM World Annual Conference last week.
A recent study showed that around 82% of supply chain leaders agreed that supply chain challenges would worsen or stay the same over the next year.
These last few years have marked a particularly tumultuous time for the energy industry.
In March of 2023, the Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) fell 4.7%, marking a fourth month of contraction after a 30-month period of expansion.
The technology sector has always carried a reputation for disruption — and volatility.
Organizations have needed to navigate strained relationships, inflexible shipping constraints, and a heightened geopolitical environment in the post-COVID era.
In today’s modern workplace, companies need to stay ahead of trends in employee engagement, retention, and recruitment to hire and keep the best talent.
Yes, you need essential negotiation skills to get your desired outcome.
Negotiations are an everyday reality in almost every industry. Whether it's procurement for a Fortune 500 company or sales at a high-growth startup, effective skills start with...
Sales negotiation is the ongoing process of reaching mutually beneficial agreements with buyers about scope, value, price, timing, and terms. Effective negotiation techniques...
A lack of confidence undermines negotiations. This is true in any economy, but especially true when sales leaders and reps are operating in uncertain times like these.
Sustainability imperatives, cost reduction efforts, supply chain disruptions: there’s an endless list of issues that impact procurement.
Negotiation is all about nuance. It’s about what is said and not said. About decoding ideas, needs, and requirements to reach consensus.
It’s a brand new year. A year for which experts have the following projections:
Most negotiations are lost before anyone sits down at the table. The real breakdown isn't strategy. It's execution: the moment a seller folds on price without testing...
Successful negotiations with suppliers have never been more critical. With every penny saved going directly to your bottom line, you need highly skilled negotiators to help...
Everyone makes occasional negotiation mistakes. Recognizing any miscalculations and learning how to avoid them is the key to future success. With negotiations, ignorance is not...
The evolving conflict involving the Russian and Ukrainian governments presents an interesting negotiation case study.
Selecting a negotiation training course based on content features alone is one of the most expensive evaluation mistakes enterprise teams make. The market is filled with programs...
Negotiation behavior is not a personality trait. It is an execution lever that determines whether your team protects margin, captures value, or gives both away before the deal...
The Principle of Placing Needs Over Wants will help negotiators uncover and address the other party’s underlying concerns, issues, and motivations for wanting to do business with...
Knowledge, as they say, is power. And when you’re at the table negotiating with suppliers or a potential customer, this is truer than ever. That being said, it’s not only...
Do you often feel that even after you’ve said everything there is to say in a negotiation, the other party still doesn’t truly see the value in your proposal?
Do you often feel your negotiations leave value on the table? If so, you’re not alone.
RED BEAR’s 6 Principles of Negotiation are used by high performers to negotiate more profitable agreements. These guidelines provide the skills and behaviors used to manage...
If you’re reading this, you likely work in a demanding environment that requires a lot from you personally and from your team. Inevitably, these high-output environments add...
As automation sweeps across the business world, professionals need to ask themselves: what value can a human offer, that can’t be replicated by a machine? The answer, according to...
When it comes to negotiating prices in the purchasing process, negotiators often fall into one of two camps: those who seek common ground through compromise and collaboration, and...
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