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Strategic Negotiations

Vantage provides advisory services for high-stakes negotiations using a proven joint problem-solving approach.

Over the past 30 years, Vantage has advised clients on thousands of negotiations ranging in value from millions to billions of dollars. Our advisory services address a broad range of situations, including those below:

  • Commercial Negotiations

    Commercial Negotiations

  • Multi-Party Negotiations

    Multi-Party Negotiations

  • Internal Negotiation and Alignment

    Internal Negotiation and Alignment

  • Labor Negotiations

    Labor Negotiations

  • Litigation Disputes

    Litigation Disputes

  • Partner/Joint Venture Negotiation

    Partner/Joint Venture Negotiation

Our work leverages insights from the fields of game theory, psychology, and behavioral economics, as well as The Seven Elements framework, developed by our colleagues at the Harvard Negotiation Project.

A unique approach to how we collaborate with our clients.

Our starting point is joint problem-solving.

Vantage employs joint problem-solving to help clients frame the negotiation situation and lead them to a more successful long-term outcome. And we tailor our coaching and advisory support to the client’s specific situation, their strategic interests, and their definition of long-term success.

What we bring to the table.

We’ve worked with iconic brands in a wide variety of industries — Fortune 100 companies with billions of dollars at stake. When a situation requires a seasoned advisor with experience working in the C-Suite and senior leaders, our clients call us in to address their toughest negotiation challenges.

And since our forte is big and complex negotiations, our clients appreciate the attention we provide to the smallest details, realizing that every high-stakes negotiation has many moving parts, multiple stakeholders (and counterparts), and a variety of “what-if” scenarios that must be considered. Our negotiators have an average of 20+ years of negotiation advisory experience and detailed knowledge of over 30 industries, from arts and entertainment to industrial, high technology, healthcare, and professional services.

Our first conversation is always to understand the context, stakes, and the strategic goals behind the negotiation. We’re proud of the results we’ve achieved for our clients and the opportunity they’ve given us to work with them over many negotiations.

Contact us to learn more about our Negotiation Advisory Services.

Examples of our recent client work.

Vantage created a process to prepare for large deals due to terminate within the next 18 months, forestalling the deals going out to bid. We facilitated workshops around the world, incorporating stakeholder engagement and negotiation approaches for teams and individuals.

Vantage provided strategic negotiation advisory to prepare the company to respond to a major RFP issued by a consortium of hospital systems. We challenged our client to look beyond procurement to identify all hidden stakeholders and determine how they measured value. Incorporating this knowledge, the client successfully defended the business and in fact grew revenue beyond the original contract.

Vantage advised the company on how best to negotiate with a key supplier for a more attractive deal. We worked with the company’s senior managers to identify creative “win-win” elements that weren’t originally part of the deal but ultimately provided our client a much less costly contract.

Vantage worked with a client team comprised of Procurement, Legal, and the Business Line to gain alignment on the terms of a Master Services Agreement in preparation for a negotiation for one of the client’s most significant sole source suppliers.

For the same company, Vantage:

Worked with a multi-stakeholder bargaining team to prepare for union/organized labor negotiations.

Developed a Strategic Value Reappraisal process, allowing them to explore whether they captured the full value of an agreement after the deal closed, and to use this knowledge in negotiating future deals.

Vantage worked with the CEO, General Counsel and CFO of an emerging ISP to negotiate with a more powerful global technology company. We developed a strategy incorporating BATNA (Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) which was ultimately used as leverage to negotiate a multi-million dollar deal in a highly competitive environment.

Instilling negotiation skills as a corporate-wide capability.

While our advisory work addresses a specific negotiation, we also believe negotiation is an  essential skill that should be pervasive throughout an organization. Almost every function engages in negotiations on a regular basis — some internally, and some externally with a variety of “adversaries.”

We help organizations train employees at all levels to be skillful and strategic negotiators. And we believe that negotiation is a process, not an event. Maximizing value across many negotiations requires your company to systematize the negotiation process and equip negotiators with the information and tools they need to be effective.

Turning-Negotiation-into-a-Corporate-Capability


Turning Negotiation into a Corporate Capability
by Danny Ertel

Explore our negotiation thought leadership.

Our work is published in leading journals including Harvard Business Review.

Extreme-Negotiations


Extreme Negotiations
by Jeff Weiss, Aram Donigan, and Jonathan Hughes

Extreme-Negotiations-with-Customers


Extreme Negotiations with Customers
by Jonathan Hughes, Ben Siddall, and David Chapnick

HBRs-Guide-to-Negotiating


Harvard Business Review's Guide to Negotiating
by Jeff Weiss

Implementing-Strategies-in-Extreme-Negotiations


Implementing Strategies in Extreme Negotiations
by Jeff Weiss and Jonathan Hughes

Getting-to-YES


Getting to YES: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
by Roger Fisher, William L. Ury, and Bruce Patton

Contact one of our Strategic Negotiation practice partners.