By Michael K. Adonteng October 7th, 2026

Negotiating Without Giving Away Your Margin

The moment a negotiation goes badly is rarely the moment it looks like it’s going badly.

It’s much earlier.

The moment a commercial team walks in with a target price and no defined position on what they won’t accept.

Every concession after that is improvised.

And improvisation rarely favours the seller.

A Walk-Away Position Is Not Pessimism. It Is Discipline.

Defining, in advance and in writing, the terms below which a deal genuinely shouldn’t be signed is one of the most consistently skipped steps in commercial preparation.

Because it’s uncomfortable to contemplate losing a deal you want.

A negotiator without a defined walk-away position can’t actually negotiate. They can only concede. More slowly than they might otherwise. Until the buyer stops asking.

Specific. Quantified. Before the conversation starts.

A minimum acceptable margin. A maximum acceptable payment term. A non-negotiable scope boundary.

Agreed internally, ideally with a leader who isn’t in the room during the live negotiation.

The Trade Matrix

List every concession you might realistically be asked for. Against the actual cost of granting it.

And what should be requested in return.

Extended payment terms have a real, calculable cost.

Building this in advance means every concession made in the room is a considered decision, not a reflexive one.

Sequence Concessions Deliberately

The order matters as much as which concessions are offered.

Leading with the largest concession early signals more room exists. Buyers reasonably assume the first offer isn’t the last.

Sequencing smaller concessions later, each paired with a genuine ask in return, preserves both margin and the buyer’s respect for the process.

Never Trade Without Asking for Something Back

A concession given without an ask in return teaches a buyer, reliably, that pressure works and costs nothing.

Even a modest ask changes the dynamic from pressure to exchange.

Read Buyer Urgency Accurately

Not all pressure to discount reflects genuine buyer power.

Some reflects genuine urgency. A real budget deadline.

Read correctly, that can be leveraged by the seller rather than simply absorbed as pressure to concede.

This Week

Before your next significant negotiation, write down your walk-away position and your trade matrix on paper, in advance.

Have someone outside the deal review both.

Final Thought

A negotiator without a defined walk-away position cannot actually negotiate.

They can only concede. More slowly.

If you want the trade matrix and walk-away position framework we use with clients, request it and we’ll share the template.

Explore our articles section for other topics of interest.

Michael K. Adonteng
Founder, ASA

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