Negotiations Intensive

Negotiation Skills for High-Stakes Conversations

Negotiations happen every day — with clients, colleagues, vendors, partners and senior leaders. The UGA Executive Education Negotiations Intensive gives you practical negotiation strategies to prepare for high-stakes conversations, navigate resistance and reach stronger agreements while maintaining productive relationships.

Bring a real negotiation challenge. Learn the strategies. Practice the difficult moments. Apply what you learn on the job and leave with a personal negotiation playbook you can use again and again.

Request Info

View Program Info

Program Information

Date

March 25 & 26 ; April 16th

Format

In-Person

Location

Terry Executive Education Center
3475 Lenox Road
Atlanta, GA 30326

Program Fees

$4,500 (Includes meals, parking and all program materials)

Career Impact

Strong negotiation skills will help you:

Approach high-stakes conversations with greater preparation and confidence
Advocate for priorities, resources and outcomes more effectively
Manage resistance, competing interests and difficult conversations
Influence colleagues and stakeholders, even when you do not have formal authority
Protect value without sacrificing important relationships
Build a repeatable approach to workplace negotiation you can apply throughout your career

Program Overview

The Negotiations Intensive is a hands-on negotiation training program designed to move negotiation skills from the classroom into the workplace.

Across 24 hours of live learning, you will work with a real negotiation challenge from your professional life. Two consecutive in-person learning days introduce practical negotiation frameworks and give you opportunities to practice. Two live virtual sessions provide additional coaching and application as you put those strategies to work. Three weeks later, you will return for a final in-person capstone focused on advanced application, feedback and preparing for future negotiations.

The result is much more than an understanding of negotiation theory. You will leave with experience applying what you have learned and a personal negotiation playbook you can use for the conversations ahead.

Request Info

What Makes This Negotiation Program Different

Work on a real challenge

Rather than practicing negotiation only through hypothetical situations, you will bring an actual workplace, client, vendor, partner or cross-functional negotiation into the program.

Practice between sessions

Learning continues after the first two days. Virtual coaching and practice sessions give you the opportunity to apply new negotiation strategies in your work, discuss what happened and refine your approach.

Understand the human side of negotiation

Successful negotiation requires more than tactics. You will examine how conflict, emotion, perception, bias, credibility, resistance and individual communication styles affect high-stakes conversations.

Build a process you can use again

The program culminates in a personal negotiation playbook with practical tools and approaches you can return to long after the program ends.

What You’ll Learn

Through instruction, guided practice, coaching and application, you will strengthen your negotiation skills and learn how to:

Prepare strategically before a negotiation begins
Identify priorities, interests and opportunities to create value
Open difficult conversations with greater clarity and confidence
Ask for what you need while understanding the interests of others
Respond to resistance, pressure and challenging tactics
Navigate concessions without giving away unnecessary value
Manage conflict and emotion when the stakes are high
Strengthen your credibility and influence during a negotiation
Adapt your approach to different people and situations
Follow through after the conversation to support stronger agreements and working relationships

Who Will Benefit

The Negotiations Intensive is designed for professionals whose success depends on influencing decisions, aligning stakeholders and reaching agreements.

Emerging leaders and experienced managers
Project and program leaders
Client-facing professionals and business development leaders
Professionals responsible for managing vendors or external partners
Functional experts moving into broader leadership roles
HR, operations, finance, consulting, sales and technical professionals
Anyone who regularly negotiates priorities, resources, scope, timelines or expectations

You do not need to work in sales or negotiate formal deals to benefit from negotiation training. If your work requires you to ask, influence, push back, resolve competing priorities or reach agreement with others, you are already negotiating.

Takeaways

You will leave the Negotiations Intensive with:

A strategy for addressing a real negotiation challenge

Practical frameworks for preparing for future negotiations

Experience rehearsing difficult conversations and responding to resistance

Feedback and coaching on your negotiation approach

Tools and templates you can apply immediately in your work

A personal negotiation playbook for future high-stakes conversations

Greater confidence in knowing how to prepare, respond and follow through

Employer Support

Gaining support for professional development requires planning, research, and effective communication to demonstrate how it benefits both you and your company, addressing tough questions with clear value propositions.

Talk to us about a custom program for your organization.

Instructors

Ben Hippeli

Founder and CEO, Benchmark Training

Ben Hippeli helps leaders and sales professionals turn practical methods into lasting changes in how they work. A four-time entrepreneur and former executive leader of a national nonprofit, he draws on more than 30 years of experience leading organizations and coaching teams. He also teaches professional selling at the University of North Florida, where he advises the Osprey Sales Club and founded the Professional Selling Advisory Council. His approach connects negotiation and sales concepts to the conversations and decisions professionals face at work.

Cindy Rippé

Senior Lecturer of Marketing and Director of the Sales Program, UGA Terry College of Business

Cindy Rippé brings experience in sales, coaching and experiential teaching to the Negotiations Intensive. Before entering academia, she earned national sales honors, including National Salesperson of the Year. At Terry, she helps students practice sales skills through direct engagement with industry professionals. Her teaching has earned the Society for Marketing Advances’ Distinguished Teaching Award, and her research has appeared in more than 30 publications. Rippé holds a doctorate in marketing from Grenoble Ecole de Management and a bachelor’s degree in advertising from the University of Florida.

Dennis Lanham

Executive Director of Executive and Professional Education, UGA Executive Education

Dennis Lanham brings more than 20 years of experience developing education programs for professionals and organizations. Before joining Terry, he served as senior assistant dean and executive director of Santa Clara University’s Leavey Executive Center, where he expanded its leadership, corporate governance and other nondegree programs. He began his career in professional development with Georgia State University’s Executive MBA and executive education programs. Lanham holds an MBA from Georgia State’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business. At Terry, he leads programs and partnerships that respond to the needs of working professionals.

FAQs

Why take this program?

Most professionals negotiate every day, whether they realize it or not. From managing stakeholder expectations and securing resources to handling client concerns and navigating difficult workplace conversations, strong negotiation skills are essential for success. The Negotiations Intensive helps you approach these all conversations with greater confidence, preparation, and strategic discipline. Unlike other workshops, this experiential program combines practical frameworks, coaching, real-world application, and personalized feedback to help you achieve immediate and lasting results.

Who is this program for?

The Negotiations Intensive is designed for professionals who regularly influence, persuade, collaborate, or make decisions across teams and organizations. Ideal participants include:
– Mid-career professionals and emerging leaders
– Managers and directors
– Project and program managers
– Client-facing professionals and business development leaders
– Consultants, advisors, and attorneys
– HR, operations, finance, and technical professionals
– Functional experts transitioning into broader leadership roles

Whether you negotiate with clients, vendors, partners, peers, direct reports, or senior leaders, this program will help you build a repeatable process for achieving stronger outcomes while maintaining productive relationships.

What can I accomplish after taking this program?

After completing the Negotiations Intensive, you will be able to:
– Prepare strategically for high-stakes negotiations using proven frameworks and tools.
– Analyze stakeholder interests, motivations, and decision-making styles.
– Navigate conflict, resistance, objections, and difficult negotiation tactics with confidence.
– Adapt your communication approach to different behavioral and personality styles.
– Conduct more effective negotiations with clients, vendors, partners, and internal stakeholders.
– Create value, protect priorities, and make disciplined concessions.
– Lead difficult conversations without damaging important relationships.
– Apply a repeatable process for future negotiations using your personalized negotiation playbook.

What is the teaching format?

The Negotiations Intensive uses a blended learning format designed to maximize application and skill development.

– The experience includes:
– Two consecutive in-person learning days
– Two live virtual sessions
– One in-person capstone day – held three weeks after the 2 consecutive days
– Pre-program assessments and preparation activities
– AI-supported coaching and practice tools

Where is the location for this program?

The 3 days in person will be hosted at the Terry Executive Education Center
3475 Lenox Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30326
*parking will be validated

The Live-Online session will be conducted via Zoom

What will I receive at the end of this program?

A certificate from the University of Georgia Terry College of Business and a completed personalized toolkit for future negotiations, including:
– A Personal Negotiation Playbook
– Negotiation preparation worksheets and planning templates
– BATNA, ZOPA, concession, and strategy guides
– Conflict and stakeholder analysis tools
– Communication and behavioral-style adaptation resources
– Objection-handling and negotiation scripting tools
– Simulation feedback and coaching notes
– A field application plan for ongoing development

Are there any prerequisites?

No.

What are my payment options

Payment must be received in full before the first in-person day of the program – but you may reach out to Jordan King to set up installment payments.

Learn More

We’re here to answer any questions you may have about the Negotiations Intensive program or other programs provided by the Terry College of Business Office of Executive Education.

Jordan King

jordanking@uga.edu (404) 467-5130

Director of Conferences & Open Enrollment Programs, Executive Education