Essential English Phrases for Business Negotiations

Negotiation in a second language is hard. You need to be clear, persuasive, and diplomatic. all at the same time. One wrong word can change the tone of the entire conversation. "That's unacceptable" is very different from "I'm not sure we can work with that."

This guide gives you the exact phrases for every stage of a business negotiation in English, so you can focus on your strategy instead of searching for words.

Phase 1: Opening the Negotiation

The opening sets the tone. You want to be professional, warm, and clear about your goals without showing your full hand.

Building rapport first:

- "Thanks for taking the time to meet. I'm looking forward to finding something that works for both sides."

- "Before we dive into the details, I just want to say we really value this partnership."

Stating your position:

- "Let me start by outlining what we're looking for."

- "From our perspective, the key priorities are..."

- "What we'd ideally like to see is..."

- "Our starting position is..."

Asking about their position:

- "I'd love to hear what's most important to you in this deal."

- "What are your main priorities here?"

- "Where are you coming from on this?"

Example dialogue:

*You:* "Thanks for meeting today. We've really enjoyed working together this year, and we'd like to talk about the contract renewal. Let me start by sharing where we're coming from."

*Them:* "Sure, we'd love to hear your thoughts."

*You:* "Our main priorities are extending the contract to two years and adjusting the pricing to reflect the increased scope. What's most important on your side?"

Phase 2: Making Proposals

This is where you put specific offers on the table. The language needs to be clear but leave room for negotiation.

Presenting your offer:

- "What we'd like to propose is..."

- "We were thinking something along the lines of..."

- "Based on our analysis, we believe a fair price would be..."

- "Here's what we have in mind."

Softening your proposal:

- "This is just a starting point. we're open to discussion."

- "We're flexible on the details, but this gives you an idea of where we're headed."

- "I want to put this out there for discussion, not as a final number."

Key tip: In English, softening language is not weakness. It is strategy. Phrases like "we were thinking" and "something along the lines of" signal that you expect a back-and-forth. Hard statements like "our price is X, take it or leave it" shut down negotiation.

Phase 3: Countering and Responding

When you receive a proposal you cannot accept, the way you respond matters enormously.

Acknowledging their offer (even if you disagree):

- "I appreciate you putting that on the table."

- "Thanks for sharing that. Let me give you our perspective."

- "I understand where you're coming from."

Countering:

- "That's a bit higher than we had in mind. What we could offer is..."

- "I'm not sure we can go that far, but here's what we can do."

- "We'd need to see movement on the price. Would you be open to..."

- "If we're going to meet your price, we'd need to adjust the scope / timeline / terms."

Expressing concerns without shutting down the conversation:

- "My concern with that approach is..."

- "The challenge on our end is..."

- "I want to make this work, but I need to be upfront about our constraints."

Example dialogue:

*Them:* "We're looking at $85 per unit for the next order."

*You:* "I appreciate you putting that on the table. That's a bit higher than we were expecting, given the volume we're committing to. Based on our numbers, we were thinking closer to $72. But I know there's probably a middle ground. what would you need from us to bring that price down?"

Notice the structure: acknowledge, counter with reasoning, then open the door for compromise.

Phase 4: Finding Compromise

This is where deals are made. Both sides move toward the middle.

Signaling willingness to compromise:

- "We're willing to be flexible on... if you can move on..."

- "Here's what I can do. if you can meet us at..., we can agree to..."

- "Let's see if we can find a middle ground."

- "What if we split the difference?"

Conditional offers (if/then):

- "If you can extend the contract to 24 months, we can offer a 10% discount."

- "We'd be happy to include that, provided the payment terms are net 30."

- "I could go to $78 if we're talking about a minimum order of 500 units."

Testing options:

- "What if we structured it differently. instead of a flat rate, what about a tiered pricing model?"

- "Would it help if we adjusted the delivery schedule?"

- "Let me throw out an idea and see what you think."

Key principle: In English-language negotiations, the most powerful word is "if." Every concession should be conditional. "We can do X if you can do Y." This protects your position while showing flexibility.

Phase 5: Expressing Limits

Sometimes you need to draw a line. The key is being firm without being aggressive.

Setting boundaries clearly:

- "I'm afraid that's as far as we can go on price."

- "Unfortunately, that's a dealbreaker for us."

- "We've stretched as far as we can on this one."

- "I wish I could be more flexible, but our margins don't allow it."

Keeping the door open:

- "While we can't move on price, we might be able to add value in other ways."

- "That specific term is off the table, but I'm open to creative alternatives."

- "Let's see if there's another way to make this work for both of us."

Phase 6: Closing the Deal

When you have reached agreement, confirm everything clearly.

Summarizing the agreement:

- "So just to confirm. we've agreed on..."

- "Let me recap what we've discussed to make sure we're aligned."

- "Before we wrap up, let me run through the key points."

Confirming next steps:

- "I'll have our team draft the contract and send it over by Friday."

- "What are the next steps on your end?"

- "Should we schedule a follow-up to finalize the details?"

Closing positively:

- "I'm really pleased we could make this work."

- "I think this is a great outcome for both sides."

- "Looking forward to a strong partnership."

A Complete Mini-Negotiation

Here is a condensed example putting it all together:

*You:* "We'd like to propose a 12-month contract at $5,000 per month, which includes the full service package."

*Client:* "The scope looks good, but $5,000 is above our budget. We were hoping to stay closer to $3,500."

*You:* "I understand budget is a concern. $3,500 would be tough for us at this scope. we'd be below our cost on some of the deliverables. But here's what I can do: if we remove the monthly reporting and reduce the social media posts from 12 to 8, I could bring it down to $4,200. Would that work for your budget?"

*Client:* "The reporting is actually important to us. Could we keep the reporting and reduce something else?"

*You:* "Good point. What if we keep the reporting but move to a quarterly strategy review instead of monthly? That would let me offer $4,400 with everything else included."

*Client:* "That could work. Let me run it by my team and get back to you by Thursday."

*You:* "Sounds great. I'll send you a summary of what we discussed so your team has all the details. Looking forward to hearing from you."

Build your negotiation confidence

Our Business English Essentials course has a full module on negotiation language, with role-play exercises and real-world scenarios.

For comprehensive professional communication skills, Professional English Basics covers meetings, emails, presentations, and negotiations.

Book a 1-on-1 lesson to practice negotiation scenarios with personalized feedback.