Who Me Negotiate? Yes, You Do

I had the opportunity to participate in several courses held by Castle Negotiations and I can confirm the good quality of all the courses. During the courses I was able to acquire new ways of negotiating according to the various contexts and interlocutors (local market, customs and traditions of the place of negotiation). happy to have participated.

(CNCG) has taught hundreds of employees of our portfolio companies in the past few years, both from the Procurement and Sales functions. Ruth is a negotiations expert and an extremely lively and engaging trainer. She follows a very clear, easy to follow negotiation process that employees can immediately start using in their jobs. In a short time following the training, our portfolio company employees have improved their negotiation outcomes by a large margin. This means the ROI in (CNCG) is extremely high. The feedback is always very positive from the negotiation training sessions we conduct.

Ruth is a deep expert in negotiating strategy, and what is truly special about her, beyond all those things you would expects in any senior professional, was her ability to effortlessly “customize” on the fly her material to the needs of the specific (and in most cases in my use of her difficult) people and situation in question. Very engaging presentation style, that worked very well across a host of geographies that we worked together at. Highly recommend!

The results and ROI from the training have (as I expected) proved to be rapid; the change in approach of my team to challenging situations and the value they have delivered are a direct result of Ruth and I have no hesitation in recommending her to anyone looking to improve themselves or their teams.

Ruth offers a unique perspective and insight into negotiation and her tailored courses approach negotiation in ways that none of the dozens of other courses I’ve attended even come close to. Negotiation training, is in my experience very similar – regardless of who delivers it… except for Ruth.

Ruth recently spent two days working with a cross-functional, cross-generational and cross-cultural group of colleagues teaching us how manage conflict in a kind, professional and productive way. Conflict happens in every organization and in fast-growing start ups it can be especially noisy.

It has been terrific seeing everyone, from Associate – SVP level, using their new language and skills! Ruth will be back soon for the next level of negotiation training and there is a wait list because the first round was such a success.

The way that the class was approached was very beneficial to our organization. The amount of preparation that (CNCG) made for the class was outstanding.

Overall, we believe that this was a great way to bring out the best skillset within our organization and prepare the group for being able to take charge of our negotiations.

I would highly recommend utilizing Castle Negotiations Consulting Group for any type of sales negotiation training.

I gained valuable insight. As a person that took Conflict and Negotiations as part of my MBA studies I learned some things that I hadn’t learned previosuly.

Experience matters. We all know this, and yet on many of our queries we turn to boiler plate solutions extracted from digital interfaces instead of tapping into vetted experience. When it comes to negotiations in general and negotiations for commercial terms in particular, Ruth Shlossman and Castle Negotiations have invaluable experience that will make you feel like you were leaving money on the table before having learned their strategies.

I was shocked about how much I needed this course. When negotiating with my clients I was always confused about how to stand my ground in a way that is respectful to me and them. This course was also helpful in showing me how to negotiate with the people I supervise.

Having many options of how to ask for what I want and respond to requests has made my life so much less stressful and my business profits year after year because I learned these skills. I recommend this course for anyone in business for themselves. It will change your life.

I enjoyed every second of the training. The quality of materials presented and presentation itself, including the games focused on practicing new skills and attitude in the negotiation were very well prepared. There were many “aha” moments, but my main take away for me would be the importance of nurturing our own curiosity and keeping the suppliers emotionally involved in all the discussions we have. I also enjoyed testing my own negotiation strategy by being on the sales side. It gave me a new perspective.

After the coaching session, I was no longer nervous about negotiating. She showed me a logical easy to follow system. I also saw that negotiating is a lot more creative than I thought.

At a recent negotiation, I was able to put together a (BAM) list of additional marketing concessions that the distributor agreed to saving us about $4000. In fees. I’ve replicated this approach in two other marketing negotiations with identical results.

2 strategies: “Probing Inquiry” strategy and How to switch to a potential yes

We have always loved working with Ruth from Castle Negotiations. She has done speaking for us, as well as working with our sister company to create lessons that helped support the live programs. Very knowledgeable, and always very professional. She was great at connecting with our learners and provided an in-depth understanding of negotiation strategies and how they could be implemented even in difficult negotiating environments.

This training was very instructive and informative. With lots of interactive group work, it never gets boring. The two days passed quickly and were so full of new ideas that I still have to let this sink in for a few more weeks and study her documents more closely. i would say that i learned a lot and am looking forward to applying the techniques in real negotiations.

I felt that Ruth’s seminar was very valuable. She gave me many approaches that I feel I can implement in my working life. I work in a development environment where I need to be flexible and try to preserve relationships. She helped me think of ways to take a firmer stance and still preserve these relationships.

It was informative. Learnt the importance of the use of persuasion when trying to drive home a point.

I enjoyed it very much and used what I learned soon afterwards!

Excellent training and excellent trainer

The Negotiate Smart training has been a great eye opener for me and my team. Now my team is much better prepared to negotiate and they have a great base to keep on growing in their careers.

“I opened with an aggressive BAM in my last sourcing. When I shared this number with each supplier, all of them told me there was no way they could get there. After 7 rounds of negotiation, I sourced above my BAM by 1.5%. This was worth $3.7M in piece price when comparing the most competitive 1st round quote to where I finished.”

After the workshop I feel much more confident in negotiations.

The training in spring 2022 was very inspiring for me. – In the following negotiations, we had a lot of fun by experiencing some of your major tactics. o BAM o Silence o Best negotiation preparation based on facts All negotiation were also supported by an excellent set of explaining PowerPoint presentations.

The two-day session was very useful and has definitely helped me with some key techniques to use like the use of probing questions when the supplier gives you a hard no, the idea of recognising your counterparts emotional triggers and your own to try and keep control of the situation and your emotions. Felt very engaging for the full 2 days which is quite rare with a full 2 day training session.