Negotiations
For the deals that decide your year: annual terms with a retailer, a distribution contract, a change of partner. Preparation, strategy and analysis of the results, so your team walks in ready.
When to call
- Annual terms with a key retailer are coming up, and last year you gave away more than you planned.
- You’re changing distributor and need to leave one contract and sign the next without losing the shelf.
- A principal or a large customer is asking for terms your P&L can’t carry.
- Serbia’s new Law on Trade Practices, in force since May 2026, changes what food suppliers and retailers can agree, and your terms need to follow.
- Your team negotiates every week, but everyone prepares differently, or not at all.
Experience from both sides of the table
Negotiations with distributors and retailers as a brand owner, and with principals as a distributor, often for several markets at once.
Executive education in negotiation at Harvard Business School, and a book on negotiation on the way. The preparation method below comes from that work.
The preparation method
The same form used with clients, in the order it is filled in.
The basics
What is on the table, the deadline, and what the deal is worth to each side.
Who is at the table
Everyone who influences the outcome on both sides, visible or not, what each of them wants, and how keen they are to close.
Target
What you want to walk out with, in numbers.
Deal design
How the deal is built: what you trade, in what order, and what you can add so that both sides gain more.
Estimated acceptable minimum
The lowest outcome each side can live with.
Best and worst alternative
What happens if there is no deal, for you and for them.
Walk-away line
Set before you sit down, so it holds when the pressure starts.
How we work together
Your team leads at the table; the work happens before and after it. You decide after each phase whether to continue.
Phase 1
Analyse
- The deal, its history and what it is worth to each side.
- The people at the table on both sides and what each of them wants.
- Your alternatives if there is no deal, and theirs.
- A completed preparation form, with targets and a walk-away line.
Phase 2
Agree
- The strategy and the deal design, agreed with your team.
- Roles at the table, the order of topics and the concessions you can trade.
- A rehearsal of the hardest moments.
Phase 3
Confidence bridge
- Support between rounds: what happened, what it means, what to change.
- Analysis of the results against the targets and the walk-away line.
- Follow-up so that what was agreed is what gets delivered.
Workshops for sales and buying teams
Practical workshops built on your team’s real negotiations: retailer terms, distribution contracts, internal budget rounds. Each participant leaves with a completed preparation form for a deal they actually have coming up. In English or Serbian.
Where do you want your business to be in twelve months?
In a 30-minute call we look at your situation, and you get an honest answer on whether and how Consult1 can help.