This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

Almost every negotiation is decided before anyone sits down. The person who prepared has already chosen the frame, the opening number and the question the conversation will turn on.

Everyone else is improvising and calling it instinct.

What improvising actually looks like

You go in knowing what you want and not what they want, so the whole conversation is you making offers and them reacting. The first number mentioned sets the range for everything that follows, and it was not yours. An objection arrives and you argue with it, which has never once changed anybody’s mind. You get a maybe and treat it as progress. And with a counterpart from another country, you read their politeness as agreement and their silence as consideration, and both readings are wrong.

None of that is a confidence problem. It is a preparation problem, and preparation can be taught.

What the course covers

Thirty-two lessons in four parts. Technique first: AIDA and SPIN for structuring the conversation, FAB and the value proposition canvas for framing what you offer, the ladder of persuasion, active listening, and objection handling through LAER and Feel-Felt-Found. Then closing, with the alternative choice and the direct approach, and when each one is appropriate.

Then persuasion in writing, which is where most negotiations now begin. Copywriting that gets a reply, storytelling, building dialogue rather than exchanging statements, handling the situation where your offer is objectively worse, and reaching someone who has stopped answering — including how many messages to send before stopping, with the actual number.

Preparation and the person opposite

Then critical thinking, which is the preparation half. Deduction and induction, strong against weak arguments, and the biases that decide negotiations: anchoring above all, then confirmation bias and framing. Plus decision models for genuine uncertainty, and how to check what the other side has told you.

And finally the two things that change how the same technique lands. Culture — high and low context communication, power distance and who is actually allowed to say yes, consensus cultures against authority cultures, disagreement, and the fact that a deadline means something different in different places. Then personality: DISC, PAEI, Belbin, Hogan and Big Five, used for one purpose, which is recognising the type across the table and adjusting instead of repeating your own style louder.

Who is teaching this

Mike, the number one HR instructor on Udemy. More than 1.6 million course enrolments, over 150,000 professionals trained, PHRi and SHRM-CP certified, HRCI representative in more than 10 countries. I built the people function of the unicorn Preply and worked at Wargaming, Alfa-Bank and iDeals. My students are in 185 countries, and the cross-cultural section exists because of the number of times I got that part wrong.

What is included

• Lifetime access to all course materials

• Active instructor support in the Q&A section

• Udemy Certificate of Completion

• Practical assignments and real business cases

• A section with additional courses, tools and resources

One habit to build

Before the next negotiation you have, write down what the other side wants, in their words, not yours. If you cannot fill a paragraph, you are not ready, and the course will show you what to do about it. Enrol now and start the first lesson today.