10 English Phrases to Win Your Next Negotiation

Hi there,

Eccoci qua con la nuova edizione di The English Breakfast—la rubrica settimanale di consigli e trucchi di Business English pensata appositamente per i professionisti italiani.

Versati una bella tazza di caffè e mettiamoci all’opera… ☕️

Vuoi ottenere il miglior prezzo per un servizio? O magari devi chiudere un accordo e fare una bella figura con clienti esigenti?
Allora ti servono un po’ di negotiating skills — abilità di negoziazione.
Per fortuna c’è The English Breakfast a darti una mano! 😉

Iniziamo con alcune frasi chiave che potresti sentire durante una trattativa.

Challenge 🏆️ Luca e Rachel stanno cercando di trovare un accordo per un nuovo servizio. Leggi la loro conversazione: riesci a trovare le frasi mancanti (da 1 a 10)?
Sceglile dalla lista e metti alla prova le tue abilità da negoziatore!

Let’s continue in English 😎 

How did you do in the quiz? Check your understanding of the key negotiation phrases below:

1. "Where do you stand on...?"
   → Used to ask someone’s position or opinion diplomatically.
   Example: "Where do you stand on the pricing structure?"

2. "Let’s meet halfway."
   → A friendly way to suggest a compromise.
   Equivalent to: "Troviamo un compromesso."
   Example: "We’re asking for €50K, you're offering €30K — how about €40K? Let’s meet halfway."

3. "We’re not quite there yet."
   → Used to politely say that an agreement hasn’t been reached.
   Example: "Thanks for the proposal, but we’re not quite there yet."

4. "Can you be a bit more flexible on that?"
   → A polite way to ask the other side to move from their position.
   Example: "That timeline is tight. Can you be a bit more flexible on that?"

5. "That could be a dealbreaker."
   → Refers to something that might cause the whole negotiation to fail.
   Example: "If we can’t agree on delivery terms, that could be a dealbreaker."

6. "Let’s put that to one side for now."
   → Useful for moving past a point of disagreement to focus on easier topics first.
   Example: "Let’s put pricing to one side for now and look at the timeline."

7. "We’re willing to consider that, if..."
   → A classic phrase for conditional agreement.
   Example: "We’re willing to consider a discount, if you extend the contract to 24 months."

8. "We’ll need something in return."
   → Signals reciprocity — you’re open to a concession, but expect one too.
   Example: "We can reduce the cost, but we’ll need something in return."

9. "That’s not a road we want to go down."
   → A polite, indirect way of rejecting an idea.
   Example: "We’ve looked at outsourcing, but that’s not a road we want to go down."

10. "Let’s circle back to that."
    → Means to return to a topic later. Common in negotiations and meetings.
    Example: "Let’s circle back to payment terms after we finalise scope."

Listening 🎧️ 

If you had to think of 4 top tips (=pieces of advice) for negotiating, what would you say?

Make a list of your ideas then watch the video below to see if any of them are mentioned by the negotiations expert.

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Dan

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