Negotiation glossary
What is Concession?
Updated 8 October 2026 · 3 min read
A concession is a movement away from your position toward the other side's, on price or on any other term. The two questions that decide whether it helps you are what you ask in return and how it is presented; a concession given for free teaches the other side that pushing works.
Every negotiation is a sequence of concessions. The difference between a good and a bad negotiator is rarely whether they concede (almost everyone does) but what each concession achieves. "Fine, 5 percent off" lowers the price. "I can do 5 percent off if we sign for 24 months instead of 12" lowers the price and doubles the contract.
Four rules that hold in almost every context
- Never concede without a counterpart. Even a small one ("I'll take 3 percent off if you confirm today") keeps the exchange two-sided
- Label it. "This is a real effort on our side" costs nothing and stops the other side from treating your move as the new baseline
- Concede slowly and in decreasing steps. Each step smaller than the last tells the other side you are running out of room, which is exactly what you want them to believe as you approach your reservation price
- Trade across issues. Give on what is cheap for you and valuable for them (a start date, a public reference), take on what is valuable for you and cheap for them
The concession that costs the most
The first one, when it comes too early. Conceding in your first reply, before the other side has argued anything, tells them your anchor was not serious and that the same pressure will work again. If you must move early, move a little and ask for something.
A worked example
A hiring manager offers 95,000. The candidate who replies "I was hoping for 120,000, but I could accept 100,000" has conceded 20,000 to nobody: the manager had not even objected yet. The candidate who replies "120,000 is what the three comparable roles I have pay; what flexibility do you have on the base, and what about a signing bonus?" has kept her anchor and opened a second issue to trade on.
Concession patterns and what they signal
| Pattern | Example (price, in euros) | What the other side reads |
|---|---|---|
| Decreasing steps | 1,000, then 500, then 200 | You are approaching your limit; the deal is close |
| Equal steps | 500, 500, 500 | There is more where that came from; keep pushing |
| One big step | 1,500 at once | Your opening was padded, or you are in a hurry |
| Increasing steps | 200, then 500, then 1,000 | Pressure works on you; push harder |
The amounts matter less than their shape. Decreasing steps tell a credible story about where your limit is, without ever stating it.
Conditional concessions: the "if, then" habit
The most useful sentence in a negotiation starts with "if". If you can sign for two years, then I can work with 5 percent less. A conditional concession protects you three ways: nothing is given until the condition is accepted, the other side has to pay for the move, and the conversation shifts from your price to their commitment. Unconditional concessions do the opposite: they reward pressure and invite the next request.
Concessions that cost little and are worth a lot
Not every concession is about price. Often the best moves are on issues you value less than the other side does:
- Timing: an earlier start, a later delivery, a faster signature
- Terms: payment schedule, deposit, length of commitment
- Scope: one feature fewer, one more revision round, a pilot before the full contract
- Risk: a guarantee, an exit clause, a trial period
Trading these issues against each other is what integrative negotiation means in practice, and it is how both sides end up better off than with a split down the middle.
The Negosim analysis report lists every concession you made and what, if anything, you got for it; the pattern is usually the first thing players want to fix.
Related terms
- Anchoring: Anchoring is the effect the first figure named in a negotiation has on the final result. Both sides adjust from that figure rather than from an objective value, so the party that opens with a credible, ambitious number tends to close nearer to it.
- Integrative negotiation: Integrative negotiation is an approach where the parties look for agreements that make both better off, by putting several issues on the table and trading what is cheap for one against what is valuable for the other. It contrasts with distributive negotiation, where a single fixed amount is divided.
- Walk-away point: The walk-away point is the point at which you end the negotiation and turn to your best alternative because any further concession would leave you worse off. It is your reservation price seen as an action rather than a number, and it only protects you if you set it before the conversation starts.
- Counteroffer: A counteroffer is a reply to an offer that proposes different terms instead of accepting or refusing it. It keeps the negotiation open, signals what you need, and replaces the other side's number with yours as the new reference point.
- Logrolling: Logrolling is trading concessions across two or more issues that the parties value differently: each side gives ground on what matters less to it and gains on what matters more. It is the basic mechanism of integrative negotiation and the reason both sides can do better than a split down the middle.
