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UK-based. Working with sales teams across Europe.

Commercial Negotiation for Experienced AEs

Prepare boundaries, trade rather than concede and handle procurement pressure in high-value deals.

You already know how to sell. You have closed the deals, carried the number and learned the hard lessons. But experience brings shortcuts too: discovery that assumes, deals that lean on one champion, concessions that creep in at quarter end. AE Level Up is where experienced account executives go back to best practice and push the skills they already have further.

Two sellers role-playing a customer conversation while a colleague observes
The Sales House
Explore. Practise. Perform.

Duration

Half day · 3.5 hours per half day

Group size

8–10 delegates

Format

Online or face to face

Price — Face to face

From £1,150

+ VAT

Proposed price — awaiting approval

Price — Online

From £900

+ VAT

Proposed price — awaiting approval

where understanding becomes useful —

Why this course matters

Experienced sellers protect value by preparing the trade before the pressure arrives.

What you’ll explore in the Lab

Even senior AEs can slip into concessions when a big deal is close and the quarter is ending.

This half-day session is a sharp refresher for experienced sellers: preparing walk-away points and tradeable variables, reading procurement tactics, and practising calm responses when the buyer pushes on price, terms or timing. The focus is protecting margin and the relationship together, so deals close on terms the business is pleased to sign.

a real challenge. a purposeful response.

The challenges this addresses

  • Concessions made late in the quarter without anything agreed in return
  • Procurement tactics catching experienced AEs off guard
  • Walk-away points and tradeable variables left unprepared
  • Discount requests escalated to managers without a clear commercial case

What this can change at work

Bring discipline back to the moment commercial pressure is highest. Experienced AEs prepare their boundaries and tradeable variables in advance, recognise common procurement tactics and practise trading rather than conceding. Managers can review discount requests against a clear plan and exchange. The business can protect margin and terms in its larger deals while keeping the customer relationship strong.

Negotiation plans in advance

Before late-stage meetings, AEs write down their walk-away point, tradeable variables and what they will ask for in return.

Calm under procurement pressure

AEs name common tactics, pause and respond with questions rather than an immediate concession.

Clearer discount requests

When AEs ask managers for a concession, they bring the proposed exchange and the commercial reason for it.

Explore. Practise. Perform.

Less theory. More application.

What participants will practise

Realistic sales scenarios, role-play and peer feedback around preparing walk-away points and tradeable variables and reading common procurement tactics. Where helpful, participants work on their own live (or anonymised) opportunities.

What they’ll take away

Take-away materials with the questions, frameworks and techniques covered, plus a short personal action plan for the next customer conversations where the skill matters.

How we help it stick

Reflection and action planning are built into the session. Reinforcement such as manager guides, follow-up labs or coaching depends on the programme you choose and is agreed with you.

How we make learning stick

Inside the workshop

Working in a group of 8–10, AEs bring an anonymised late-stage deal. They build a negotiation plan in pairs, then rehearse procurement and price-pressure scenarios with peer observers. Facilitator and peer feedback focus on preparation, trading discipline and staying composed.

Make Commercial Negotiation for Experienced AEs relevant to your business

Tell us where you want to make progress with preparing walk-away points and tradeable variables. We can discuss suitable workplace examples, priorities and access needs before agreeing the scope. Choose live online or face-to-face training for your UK or European team, with delivery arrangements agreed before booking.

Discuss a customised version

What the training covers

The scope below sets out the subjects covered. Workplace examples and practice are shaped around your team within the booked format.

  • Preparing walk-away points and tradeable variables
  • Reading common procurement tactics
  • Trading, not conceding
  • Price, terms and timing pressure
  • Protecting the relationship while protecting value
  • Building the case for a manager-approved concession

What’s included in your booking

Your booked time and format
Half day · Live online or face to face, agreed before booking · 8–10 delegates.
Included in every course
  • Interactive, facilitator-led learningLive, hands-on sessions built around practice and participation.
  • Group discussionsShared conversations about real situations, so people learn from each other as well as the facilitator.
  • Breakout exercisesSmall-group practice, role-play and problem-solving, online or in the room.
  • Take-away materialsCourse materials, tools and templates to use back at work.
Facilitated learning and practical application
The subject coverage, exercises and facilitator feedback described above, with space to connect the learning to relevant workplace situations. The workshop description sets out the specific plans, prompts or tools developed in this course.

Follow-up coaching, refresher sessions and additional delivery days are not automatic inclusions; any additions are agreed in your proposal. Travel, venue arrangements and any software licences are confirmed separately where relevant. Prices exclude VAT.

Outcomes

The capabilities delegates work towards through the training and practice:

  • Prepare a negotiation plan for a live deal
  • Recognise and respond to procurement tactics
  • Trade concessions for value with confidence
  • Agree commercially sound terms under pressure

the next conversation is where it counts —

Take it back to work.

Choose a real situation where you want to apply the learning. Use it to turn an outcome into a manageable first step, then reflect on what changes.

Choose

Start with one priority: Prepare a negotiation plan for a live deal.

Apply

Try the approach in a relevant task or conversation. Note what felt useful and what you would adapt.

Review

Reflect on what happened, seek feedback where appropriate and choose your next step. Follow-up support can be discussed separately.

Bring this topic to your next event

We can discuss adapting Commercial Negotiation for Experienced AEs into a keynote or large-group session, focusing on the themes most relevant to your audience. Depth, activities, timings and any follow-up depend on the format and package you choose; an event session is not a substitute for the full course.

Explore Speaking & Events

More from AE Level Up Programme

AE Level Up Online Lab

Three live online sessions for experienced AEs: deeper discovery, wider buyer relationships and firmer commercial conversations.

3 × 2.5-hour live online sessions (7.5 hours)Maximum 8 participants

Course synopsis

Good AEs become great by revisiting what works and stretching it on real deals. The AE Level Up Online Lab is a three-session live programme for experienced account executives who know how to sell but want to raise their own standard. Each session takes one area where experience can quietly turn into habit — discovery depth, stakeholder coverage and commercial control — and works on it with peers at the same level. Short input is followed by breakouts, role-play and personal coaching on anonymised live opportunities. Between sessions, every AE applies one agreed change in a real deal and brings what happened back to the group.

3 live sessions · 2.5 hours each

Outcomes — you'll be able to

  • Re-apply best-practice discovery to a live opportunity
  • Widen stakeholder coverage in a complex deal
  • Hold firmer commercial conversations under pressure
  • Commit to a personal plan of specific changes

Included in every course

  • Interactive, facilitator-led learning
  • Group discussions
  • Breakout exercises
  • Take-away materials

Live online

From £3,300 per group+ VAT

Proposed price — awaiting approval

Course details

AE Level Up Workshop

One day for experienced AEs: a best-practice refresh, peer challenge and practice on live opportunities.

1 day · 9:30am–5pm8–10 delegates

Course synopsis

Experienced account executives rarely need the basics again — they need a sharper edge on what already works. The AE Level Up Workshop is a one-day session for seasoned AEs who know how to sell but want a reminder of best practice, a fresh look at proven techniques and the chance to raise their own standard. Delegates revisit the habits that slip under quota pressure — deep discovery, multi-threading, qualification discipline, value-led negotiation and confident deal control — and test their current approach against peers who sell at the same level. Experience is the starting point, not something to be talked over: the group shares what works, challenges what doesn’t and practises on real, anonymised opportunities. Each AE leaves with a personal level-up plan and two or three specific changes to apply in their next deals.

Key focus areas

  • Self-assessment against senior AE behaviours
  • Best-practice refresh: discovery depth and quantified impact
  • Multi-threading and stakeholder influence
  • Qualification discipline and honest deal reviews
  • Value-led negotiation: trading, not conceding
  • Deal control, momentum and mutual action plans
  • Peer clinic on live opportunities
  • Personal level-up plan

Outcomes — you'll be able to

  • Identify the habits that have slipped and the strengths to build on
  • Re-apply best-practice discovery and qualification to a live opportunity
  • Strengthen stakeholder coverage and deal control in complex deals
  • Commit to a personal plan with two or three specific changes

Included in every course

  • Interactive, facilitator-led learning
  • Group discussions
  • Breakout exercises
  • Take-away materials

Face to face

From £1,750+ VAT

Proposed price — awaiting approval

Online: From £1,400 + VAT

Course details

your sales team. your priorities. your programme. —

Build your own sales programme.

Combine courses, focus on your skills gaps and shape the learning around your sales cycle. Standard workshops run with 8–10 delegates; BDR and MEDDPICC sessions have a maximum of eight; Sales Leadership workshops run with 6–8. Smaller bespoke cohorts can be discussed, with pricing agreed for your programme.

Where better selling begins.

Your team doesn’t need more slides. They need skills that stick.

Know you need help? Book a relaxed, no-obligation 30-minute call. We’ll talk through your team and challenge, and you’ll leave with an honest view of the options — no brief or programme needed.