The 12 Best Negotiation Courses

Negotiation Courses Defined: negotiation courses teach how to create and claim value. By acquiring the skills and tools of top negotiators, learners consistently achieve dramatically better deals.

1. Negotiation Experts – Classroom & Online Negotiation Training

Negotiation Experts offers foundational through to advanced negotiation training programs, as well as specialist courses for sales negotiations, procurement negotiations, project management negotiations, and advanced negotiations. The global leader in customized B2B negotiation training, delivering in 37 countries. The Negotiation Experts offers follow-up reinforcement using its online Negotiation Simulation game and assessments. Learners complete personalized profiles and watch videos prior to the program, enabling a focus on learning through practical exercises during courses.

Key Lessons and Value

• Win more “yeses” by influencing and persuading, without giving away unnecessarily.
• Attain a deeper understanding of others’ needs to create more value and claim your share.
• Navigate challenging deals, and use learned tool sets and the Negotiation Simulation game to prepare to negotiate.
• Expand the deal’s value while claiming your share using a trading plan tool set.
• Learn how to review independently or as a team to continue your negotiation growth and development.

Certification: Certificate of completion

Delivery Method: Synchronous online remote-facilitated and classroom

Format: Customized to match client’s commercial challenges with pre-training diagnostic profiles, post-training assessment, and paper-based and negotiation simulation game-based training with expert feedback – including panoramic group videotaping for classroom-based learning

Location: In-house in over 35 countries, and open enrolment classroom programs in American cities and online for the Americas time zone

Duration: 1-6 sessions of four & a half hours (online), 1-4 days (classroom)

Fee: $1,580 to $2,530 less group and early bird discounts

Rating: 4.3 to 4.9 out of 5

Customization Level: High, including creating role-play exercises from scratch

Maximum Class Size: 20

Practical Exercises: Online remote incorporating the Negotiation Simulation game. Classroom incorporating feedback from a panoramic camera recording.

Graduates: Honeywell, Toyota, Cisco, Shell, PepsiCo, ABB, Emerson, Diageo, Kimberly-Clark.

2. Northwestern University – Kellogg’s High Performance Negotiation Skills

Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management runs an interactive program based on the science of negotiation. The program teaches trainees to develop and implement effective negotiation strategies. The program supports trainees in identifying individual strengths and weaknesses. Attendees benefit from live simulations supported by individualized feedback.

Key Lessons and Value

• Manage negotiation teams in a focused and dynamic environment.
• Learn systemic preparation skills for negotiating in many situations.
• Learn to adjust your strategy toward dynamic scenarios with a global perspective.
• Analyze and practice negotiation strategies and techniques solo, in a team, or as part of an agency.
• Develop a broad understanding of the ethics and agents involved in negotiations.

Certification: Certificate of completion

Delivery Method: Live Virtual Program

Duration: 19.5 hours – 16 live virtual lessons covered in 5 calendar days

Fee: $5,550

Customization Level: None

Graduates: ServiceMaster Company and the Louisiana Association of Public Charter Schools

3. Harvard – Negotiation Mastery

Negotiation is an essential skill in today’s dynamic workplace. Whether you negotiate with customers, suppliers, or colleagues, your ability to negotiate effectively is vital to the success of your organization.

Negotiation Mastery prepares you to close deals that might otherwise be dead-locked, maximize value creation in agreements you reach, and resolve differences before they escalate into costly conflicts. This program emphasizes an understanding of both analytical tools and interpersonal techniques for dealing effectively with different bargaining styles and tactics. 

Key Lessons and Value

• Understand negotiation dynamics and how to prepare for uncertainty
• Learn to craft agile strategy and be quick on your feet in changing circumstances
• Resolve small differences before they escalate
• Secure maximum value for your organization and yourself
• Reflect on personal behaviors and refine your approach to be more effective

Delivery Method: HBS Online course platform

Duration: Approximately 30 to 40 hours – 4 – 5 hours per week during 8 weeks 

Fee: $1,750 

Harvard – Negotiation Master Class

Key Lessons and Value

• Learn to set the tone and build momentum at the outset of a negotiation.
• Identify shared, opposing, and tradeable interests.
• Recognize the indicators that your negotiation counterpart is ready to close—with a particular focus on thresholds of satisfaction with the process, the substance, and the relationship.
• Gain a robust framework for improving the quality of feedback conversations.
• Assess the deal versus the attractiveness of no-agreement alternatives.
• Learn to identify blind spots—the places where you are missing opportunities and frustrating others.
• Establish the groundwork for identifying the other side’s victory speech by addressing their underlying interests and concerns.
• Learn how to ask probing, clarifying, and investigative questions in a nondefensive manner.
• Understand how to manage difficult deals and ugly conflicts.

Certification: Certificate of completion

Delivery Method: Classroom

Format: Discussion groups, personal coaching, role-playing, videotaping, lectures, and demonstrations

Location: The Harvard Law School campus, Cambridge, MA

Duration: 3 days from 9:00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

Fee: $5,997

Maximum Class Size: 60

Graduates: Google, Department of Defense of the USA, FedEx, Southwest Airlines, TD Bank, The World Bank, Novartis, Blue Shield of California, Penguin Random House, Wells Fargo, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Manulife, Berkshire Hathaway, Bell Media

4. Coursera – Introduction to Negotiation

This course will help you be a better negotiator. Unlike many negotiation courses, we develop a framework for analyzing and shaping negotiations. This framework will allow you to make principled arguments that persuade others. It will allow you to see beneath the surface of apparent conflicts to uncover the underlying interests. You will leave the course better able to predict, interpret, and shape the behavior of those you face in competitive situations.

In this course, you will have several opportunities to negotiate with other students using case studies based on common situations in business and in life. You can get feedback on your performance and compare what you did to how others approached the same scenario. The cases also provide a setting to discuss a wide-ranging set of topics including preparing for a negotiation, making ultimatums, avoiding regret, expanding the pie, and dealing with someone who has a very different perspective on the world. Advanced topics include negotiating when you have no power, negotiating over email, and the role of gender differences in negotiation. To close out the course, we will hear insights from three negotiation experts: Linda Babcock, Herb Cohen, and John McCall MacBain.

Key Lessons and Value

• Practice role-playing with case studies of common business scenarios.
• Learn negotiation tactics such as value creation and making ultimatums.
• Develop skills for negotiations over email.
• Understand cultural and gender roles within negotiation settings.

Certification: Certificate of completion (optional)

Delivery Method: Online asynchronous self-paced study

Format: Case studies, email negotiations, video and audio chats

Duration: 30 hours

Fee: $49 with certification (free without certification)

Rating: 4.9 out of 5

Customization Level: None

Maximum Class Size: No class

Practical Exercises: Case studies and quizzes

5. Udemy – Negotiation Skills

We all need to negotiate in our professional and personal lives, but negotiation doesn’t have to be a fight to get what you want. In fact, you’ll create better deals and better relationships through collaboration.

In this engaging, immersive, and interactive online program, Gavin Presman shares his ethical and mutually beneficial approach, showing you how to prepare for and engage in every negotiation to achieve better results for yourself and others – whether you’re drawing up a contract with a new client, buying a house or, often the trickiest of all, settling family disagreements.

With step-by-step guidance, illustrative examples, and checklists to refer to, this is a practical and empowering online training that will improve the negotiating skills of any learner, enhancing personal and professional relationships in the process.

Key Lessons and Value

• Professional negotiation skills that make you a smart, confident, & effective negotiator
• Negotiating principles to help you build better relationships with others
• How to keep your thoughts & emotions in check when negotiating
• Protect yourself from common tricks other negotiators might use against you
• Negotiating principles to help you build better relationships with others
• Ethical negotiation: How to craft win-win agreements
• 7 steps to negotiating successfully
• Adapt more effectively during negotiation by understanding types of personalities

Certification: Certificate of completion

Delivery Method: Online asynchronous self-paced learning

Format: 2.5 hours of on-demand videos, 2 downloadable resources, illustrative examples, step-by-step guidance, practical checklists

Duration: 61 short lectures lasting 2 hours 35 minutes total

Fee: $69.99

Rating:  4.7 out of 5

Customization Level: None

Maximum Class Size: No classes

6. Yale – Negotiation Strategies

This program is presented entirely online in collaboration with leaders in digital education, GetSmarter, a brand of 2U, Inc. Technology meets academic rigor in GetSmarter’s people-mediated model which enables lifelong learners across the globe to obtain industry-relevant skills that are certified by the world’s most reputable academic institutions. This interactive, supportive teaching model is designed for busy professionals and results in unprecedented certification rates for online courses.

Key Lessons and Value

• Learn how to create and maximize value for all parties through collaborative negotiation
• Find out how post-settlement settlements can achieve enhanced outcomes during the second round of negotiations
• Develop practical negotiation skills as you explore negotiation strategies and common mistakes, work through real-world case studies, and take part in live scenarios
• Explore how question-asking techniques and negotiation tools can be used to add value to any bargaining or mediation scenario
• Establish your strongest negotiation style through self-analysis and craft a personalized preparation document to use in the future

Certification: Certificate of participation

Delivery Method: Online asynchronous self-paced study

Format: Real-world case studies and live scenarios

Duration: Six weeks (6-8 hours per week)

Fee: $2,900

Customization Level: None

Practical Exercises: Class-wide forums, group discussions, and case study simulations

7. Scotwork – Advancing Negotiation Skills

Advancing Negotiation Skills Part 1 (ANS1) introduces dealmakers to the 8-Step Approach® from Scotwork. Professionals at every experience level in any industry discover the Approach that expands their skill sets, transforms their dealmaking, and unleashes their success.

Derived from hundreds of thousands of hours of real-world negotiations, the 8-Step Approach empowers participants with the control and confidence to create more valuable deals while improving relationships with their negotiation partners.

Key Lessons and Value

• Learn the Scotwork eight-step approach, unchanged since 1975.
• Learn negotiation preparation.
• Develop skills to identify and prioritize objectives.
• Practice implementing flexible negotiation strategies.
• Analyze data-driven negotiation techniques.

Delivery Method: Classroom and remote synchronous online training

Format: Case play method, role-playing, interactive workshops, videotaping

Location: Synchronous virtual training, onsite and offsite venues in major cities including San Francisco, Minneapolis, Raleigh, and St. Luis

Duration: 2.5 or 4-day program

Fee: $2,926

Rating: 4.7 out of 5

Customization Level: Low

Maximum Class Size: Six for one tutor or 12 participants for two tutors

Graduates: Amazon, Boeing, Merck, Dell, Starbucks, Walmart

8. Karrass – Effective Negotiating Seminar

Karrass is a negotiation training company that creates experiential training formats. Karrass workshops aim at guiding attendees to master the psychology and strategies of successful negotiation.   

Key Lessons and Value

• Practice how to negotiate in today’s complex supply chain environments.
• Learn how to create strategic alliances.
• Develop skills for building greater value by turning adversaries into trusted partners.
• Practice making agreements that won’t fall apart.
• Practice sharpening your body language insights.

Delivery Method: Classroom

Format: Discussion groups, role-playing, demonstrations, lectures

Location: Onsite venues in major cities across the U.S.

Duration: 4 mornings (8:00am-12:00pm GMT)

Fee: $1,295

Customization Level: None

Maximum Class Size: Large

Graduates: Hendrickson, IBM, Gillette, Halogen, Olympus, Henkel

9. Shapiro – Negotiation Training

The Shapiro Negotiations Institute (SNI) has been providing negotiation training and consulting since 1995. The institute offers training approaches coupled with reinforcement programs. Applicants complete a brief questionnaire as part of the training pre-work to assist with customization. SNI’s founder, Ron Shapiro, is also the author of the New York Times bestseller The Power of Nice. 

Key Lessons and Value

• Understand the three non-linear phases of negotiation: Prepare, probe, and propose.
• Learn to use the Shapiro preparation checklist to prepare for negotiations.
• Know how to use strategic questioning and mindful listening to score better deals.
• Practice how to structure and present the best offers.
• Develop techniques for overcoming objections.

Delivery Method: Classroom training, individualized coaching, mobile app, online asynchronous self-paced study

Format: Real-time simulations and videotaping

Location: Baltimore, onsite, and online remote facilitated (both synchronous and asynchronous)

Duration: 3x 90-minute sessions

Fee: $875

Customization Level: Low

Graduates: Bank of America, Collins Aerospace, Sony Pictures Television, President, San Antonio Spurs

10. Berkeley Executive – Negotiation and Influence Program

The Berkeley Executive Negotiation and Influence Program provides trainees with immediately applicable skills. The course focuses on the social psychology that drives interpersonal relationships. Run by senior lecturer Holly Schroth, the program strives to develop skills in communication, persuasion, and conflict resolution.

Key Lessons and Value

• Create value-based agreements.
• Understand problem-solving for mutually beneficial deals.
• Learn as you network with industry leaders.
• Learn to optimize pricing decisions by understanding techniques for assessing, formulating, and monitoring pricing strategies.
• Practice successful negotiation planning to initiate and conclude win-win agreements.
• Practice social psychology skills to build trust and manage emotions during negotiations.

Certification: Certificate of completion

Delivery Method: Classroom and online synchronous learning

Format: Lectures and case study role-plays

Location: University of California (Berkeley campus), San Francisco, Belmont, and online

Duration: In-person – 24 hours during 3 days, Online – 27 hours during 6 weeks

Fee: In-person $5,040 (without lodging), Online $3,750

Customization Level: None

Graduates: Intel, Google, Universal Studios, Walmart

11. The Gap – The Complete Skilled Negotiator

Since 1997, The Gap Partnership has offered negotiation training and consultancy in more than 50 countries.

The Essential Negotiator course provides an eight-step process for negotiation skill development. The program focuses on the role of negotiation structures, processes, behaviors, and attitudes in driving performance. Known for a highly competitive style of negotiation, the program was developed based on its three founders’ formative retail careers.

Key Lessons and Value

• Immersion in the advanced principles of skilled negotiation, including the 14 behaviors of the negotiator
• Introducing the Clockface, a sophisticated model applicable to all types of negotiation
• Real-world negotiation role-plays, filmed for feedback to analyze, practice, and model the appropriate behaviors

Delivery Method: Classroom

Location: Residential workshop

Duration: In-person – 3.5 days, Online – 28 hours during 2 or 6 weeks

Customization Level: Low

Maximum Class Size: 8

Graduates: House of Fraser, Heineken, Bel Brands, Ricardo

12. The Negotiation Institute – The Art of Negotiating: A Customized Program for Your Organization

The Negotiation Institute (TNI) provides both soft skills and negotiation training. Since 1966, the institute has provided training for governments, multinational corporations, and smaller organizations.

TNI programs are customized to trainees’ specific goals. TNI’s training solutions seek to boost key executive competencies in negotiation, which include high-performance sales, supply chain management, and presentation skills.

Key Lessons and Value

• Approach a negotiation strategically, with the ability to analyze who the other parties are, what they need, and how they relate to each other
• Understand their own styles as they go into the negotiations as well as the negotiating styles of the other parties
• Learn influencing skills and meeting the interests of all parties
• Strategy development and stakeholder mapping
• A framework for collaborative negotiations, BATNA
• Negotiating styles (what you might encounter, what works)
• Prepare more effectively for negotiations: both in terms of the data you need to gather and understanding the context in which the negotiations take place
• How to manage a multi-party negotiation, conflict, and collaboration
• Using coalitions and power
• Communication and listening skills for effective negotiations

Certification: Chartered Professional Negotiator

Delivery Method: Online synchronous learning

Format: Presentations, case studies

Duration: Two days 

Customization Level: Low

Practical exercises: Breakout exercises and presentations to stakeholders

Graduates: Bank of America, Sony, AT&T, Sony, Citibank, ExxonMobil

Roundup

Mastering negotiations can be the key to success in business, sales, and for maintaining long-term, meaningful relationships. The best way to master negotiations is by training with some of the best experts. The 12 best negotiation courses listed on this post are favorites because most of them:

• Have experience in the training of industry leaders.
• Enjoy high ratings with positive reviews from alumni.
• Are mostly affiliated with practicing experts and leading training institutions.
• Include practical exercises in the training curriculum.
• Provide real-life and case study role-playing.
• Provide feedback on trainees’ performance.