Negotiation Done Differently
Strong, sustainable results. Strong, sustainable relationships.
What words come to mind when you hear the word negotiation? Negotiator?
Tough. Competitive. Frustration. Liars. Cheating. Battle. Winning. Losing.
Sounds like fantastic fun!
(no wonder people avoid negotiation like the plague...)
Those words describe Old School Negotiation. The classic, competitive approach to getting what you want in business.
It's not a whole lot of fun, and if my 15 years of negotiation experience have taught me anything, it's that taking the Old School approach does not get the results companies need - whether you're a freelancer, a startup or a corporation.
It just doesn't work.
We can't go around stomping our feet, banging our fists, drawing lines in the sand and using those win/lose techniques if we want real success. Sustainable success. Long-lasting, healthy partnerships with vendors, clients and collaborators.
We can't just do things 'the way they've always been done' and expect to make it work in dynamic conditions.
We need to change our approach if we want to see better results.
Negotiation Done Differently
I'm not an Old School Negotiator.
I'm decidedly New School. I'm proudly Next Gen.
And in my coaching, consulting and speaking work with entrepreneurs, startups and corporates I help them become Next Gen Negotiators too.
Out go Classic and Competitive.
In come Creative and Collaborative.
The result?
More money. Better margins. Pioneering solutions. Sustainable relationships.
And no more feeling as though in order to get the deal you want, you have to become someone you're not.
Ready to learn more about how to make Next Gen Negotiation work for your business?
Mentorship consulting masterclasses
Official Bio
Devon Smiley is a Negotiation & Commercial Consultant for founders and their teams. She’s closed $5 billion of commercial contracts as a lead negotiator and worked with hundreds of founders around the world and has distilled this experience into actionable guidance for startups and scaleups that are focused on securing strong commercial results without sacrificing relationships.
This is commercial growth and negotiation done differently.
Collaborative, not competitive. Big picture, not tunnel vision. Results-focused and impact-driven.
Industry agnostic, Devon has helped teams across SaaS, IoT, FinTech, DeepTech, digital, consumer goods markets (to name a few…) sign the right deals, expand their revenue and margins, increase efficiencies and cultivate strong relationships with their partners, clients and investors.
Devon’s engagement with accelerator and incubator programmes globally includes Expert-in-Residence roles with Imperial College Enterprise Lab in London, HEC Paris Incubator at StationF, and Ryerson DMZ in Toronto. Her insights on negotiation have been featured in The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.
A strong believer that negotiation benefits more than just the bottomline, Devon is honoured to have worked with pro bono partners including The Clinton Foundation and UN Women to lead negotiation skills training for their teams and communities.
