Learning from Rejection: Best Practices in Negotiation

Sick of hearing “no” in negotiations? These five fixes will turn rejections into wins. Understand why your negotiations fail, and gain powerful strategies to flip rejections into confident agreements. After decades of coaching global leaders through tough negotiations, I’ve learned a crucial truth: Most rejections aren’t about your offer, they’re about your negotiation approach. Here are honest lessons from my own painful negotiation mistakes, paired with clear, actionable fixes: 🔴 Mistake #1: Selling instead of solving Early in my career, I passionately pitched a partnership that was quickly rejected, it served my interests, not theirs. High stakes and embarrassment followed. ✅ Action: Never pitch without first asking clearly: “What outcomes matter most to you?” 🔴 Mistake #2: Ego over empathy Confidently proposing strict terms to demonstrate professionalism backfired when the client felt disrespected. Immediate rejection taught me, empathy beats ego every time. ✅ Action: Clearly show respect and collaboration: “Your insights are vital; let’s build this together.” 🔴 Mistake #3: Ignoring their better alternatives A major deal slipped through my fingers because I overlooked my client’s superior alternative (BATNA). My silence made my proposal irrelevant and costly. ✅ Action: Address alternatives directly: “I recognize you have other strong options; here’s why my offer uniquely benefits you.” 🔴 Mistake #4: Threatening their reputation I once had a deal collapse because accepting it would’ve undermined my counterpart’s internal credibility. A painful oversight I won’t forget. ✅ Action: Actively protect their reputation: “How can we structure this deal to enhance your internal credibility?” 🔴 Mistake #5: Losing trust Repeated rejections from a key client taught me they had lost trust due to hidden risks. Transparency became my essential tool for successful negotiations. ✅ Action: Be radically transparent: “These are the risks; let’s address them openly and together.” Rejection isn’t failure, it’s your best negotiation guide when you decode it clearly. What’s your go-to strategy for overcoming negotiation rejection? If this helped you rethink how you handle rejection don’t keep it to yourself! Repost, comment, or tag someone who needs to read this today. ♻️ 

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝟑:𝟒𝟕 𝐩.𝐦. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 "𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞". 𝐈 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐈 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐸𝑥𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐵𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑓 How to turn customer rejection into your best product decision 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐬: You built something for six weeks. The market shrugs. You're stuck between defending your work and admitting you guessed wrong. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐩: You interview customers to confirm what you already believe. You filter out the signals that contradict your roadmap. You call resistance "education needed". 𝐒𝐚𝐲/𝐃𝐨/𝐃𝐨𝐧'𝐭: Record the exact words they use when they say no. Ask "what would you have to see to say yes" instead of pitching harder. Wait 48 hours before you respond to a harsh rejection. Show the feedback to someone who wasn't in the room. Don't explain your vision when they're telling you about their Tuesday. 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: We built an analytics feature because three enterprise prospects mentioned "reporting". Took us eight weeks. Zero adoption. I asked one customer why. She said: "I need to fix my process first. This just shows me I'm failing faster." We killed the feature. Built a workflow helper instead. 14 customers adopted in the first month. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠: Customers who say no even without an excuse are giving you better data than customers who say yes to be polite. 𝐶𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑒𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑐𝑜𝑙 Write down their exact objection within 60 minutes. Ask one follow-up question: "What did you expect instead?" Share it with your team before you interpret it. Look for the pattern after three similar rejections. Build the smallest thing that addresses the core objection. The features you're most proud of are often the ones nobody asked for. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲: Pull up your last three customer rejections. Write down the exact reason they gave, not your interpretation of it. If you don't have their exact words, you proved my point. 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐈 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞: "How do I know when to pivot vs when to push through customer resistance?" 𝐌𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲: If three unrelated customers describe the same missing piece, pivot. If they all want different things, you haven't found your customer yet. Pushing through resistance only works when you're educating a new market, not ignoring a bad fit. Most founders I work with are six months late to the pivot they knew they needed. ♻️ 💬 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜? 𝐈 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 – 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩𝐟𝐮𝐥, 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬!

I got lowballed during a negotiation, but here's how I flipped it into a win.   They came in low. Much lower than expected.   Most people panic. Some get offended. Others walk away.   All three are mistakes.   Because when you hear a lowball offer, you’re hearing one of two things:   1. They don’t see the value. 2. They’re testing how much you’ll bend.   Either way, this is your move, not theirs.   Rule #1: Never negotiate against yourself.   A low offer isn’t a rejection. It’s an opening.   Instead of arguing, do this:   1. Pause. Let the silence work. 2. Ask: ‘What are you optimizing for?’   This forces them to reveal their real priorities.   3. Anchor high.   Don’t justify. Reframe. (“I’m looking at X because of Y.”)   4. Add, don’t cut.   Instead of lowering your price, stack the value: “I can do A & B to make this a better fit.”   The best negotiators don’t “push back.”   They reposition the conversation so lowballing isn’t even an option.   If you’re leading deals, running teams, or making high-stakes decisions, this is your edge.   I teach top executives, founders, and leaders how to negotiate deals they actually want, without compromising.   Let’s talk. -------------------------- Hi, I’m Scott Harrison and I help executive and leaders master negotiation & communication in high-pressure, high-stakes situations. - ICF Coach and EQ-i Practitioner - 24 yrs | 19 countries | 150+ clients  - Negotiation | Conflict resolution | Closing deals 📩 DM me or book a discovery call (link in the Featured section)

Hearing "no" used to crush me. Now, I transform every rejection into an opportunity. Here’s how 👇 “No” used to feel impenetrable. It felt like there was nothing left to say once someone said “no.” But then, one day, my manager asked, “Did you ask that person what their decision-making framework is?” That question changed everything. I didn’t realize I could do that, or that I SHOULD do that. Now, when I face rejection, I see it as an opportunity to learn. I always ask: 🔍 “Why did you say ‘No?’” 🔍 “What are your criteria for these decisions?” 🔍 “What do you need to see before saying ‘Yes?’” Once I grasp those details, I make it my mission to own them. For instance, do they want: → A specific payback timeline? → Defined growth criteria? → Greater operational depth? Once I understand this criteria, I can make a plan to give them what they need. Getting support or funding isn’t about fighting against their decision-making framework; it’s about navigating it. If you spend valuable time arguing about their decision-making process, they will likely move on. They have countless other priorities and opportunities vying for their attention. So, if you want their support, learn how they allocate their resources. Frame your ideas in their terms, and you’ll find that “no” can often turn into “yes”--or at least provide you with clearer insight. 💡 What’s your best tip for turning a rejection into an opportunity? Share in the comments! 👉 Consider resharing this for anyone seeking support or funding right now! Follow me for more insights on innovation and invention.