Contract negotiations often carry a reputation for being slow, combative, and frustrating (just ask any sales representative). But in reality, the best negotiations are collaborative and, when done well, they accelerate business rather than slowing it down. (No, really.)
In a recent episode of the LinkSquares podcast, LinkSquares Senior Director of Legal Ashlyn Donahue talked with author, professor, and negotiation expert Moshe Cohen about best practices for contract negotiation in the age of AI.
One theme came up repeatedly: negotiation is less about winning and more about creating alignment.
That mindset shift is especially important in contract negotiations, where legal, sales, and customers (and everyone in the contract approval chain) must work together to create agreements that work for everyone.
Here are five rules for smarter contract negotiations, and how modern tools like AI-powered CLM can help teams apply them in practice.
One of the biggest misconceptions about negotiation is that it’s adversarial.
Negotiation isn’t a fight: it’s simply a conversation with a purpose. Anytime two parties need to make a decision together but start from different positions, they’re negotiating.
That perspective is critical in contract negotiations. If both sides approach the process like a zero-sum contest, collaboration breaks down quickly. But if they treat negotiation as a shared effort to meet both parties’ needs, it becomes far easier to reach an agreement that sticks.
The best negotiators focus on solving problems together, not beating the other side.
Great negotiations rarely happen by accident. They’re the result of strong preparation.
Preparation means understanding:
Without that context, negotiators end up learning on the fly (or not at all), which slows deals down, weakens leverage, and can lead to agreements that end up doing more harm than good. Preparation prevents these problems.
Preparation is also where technology can make a major difference. Historically, teams had to dig through emails, ask colleagues, or manually search document repositories to understand past relationships, risks, and conflicts of interest.
Modern contract lifecycle management platforms change that dynamic by providing:
When negotiators have this information at their fingertips, they enter discussions with confidence and momentum. That makes better agreements happen faster and more consistently.
In any business, there’s constant pressure to close deals quickly. Sales goals become legal deadlines every month of every year. (Right now, every sales rep on your team can remind you how many business days are left in the quarter, and it's not because they're really into calendars.) But rushing negotiations often creates bigger delays later on.
When negotiators move too quickly, they’re more likely to:
Counterintuitively, slowing down at the right moments can actually accelerate deals. (There's often nothing more powerful than a pregnant pause.)
Experienced negotiators pause to:
This pause creates space for better decisions, and prevents the costly backtracking that happens when agreements are rushed.
In other words: a thoughtful negotiation is usually a faster one.
Many negotiations stall because both sides focus on positions instead of interests.
It's a tale as old as time: One side insists on a specific clause. The other side refuses to accept it. Discussions grind to a halt.
But when negotiators step back and ask why the clause matters, new possibilities often emerge.
Maybe the clause protects against operational risk the other side isn't aware of. Maybe it addresses compliance concerns in a regulatory environment one party isn't familiar with. Maybe it’s simply standard language that would require an onerous approval (or three) to amend.
Once the underlying motivation is clear, negotiators can often find creative solutions that satisfy both sides.
Curiosity, not confrontation, is often the fastest path to agreement.
One of the most common, and costly, negotiation mistakes is negotiating against yourself.
This usually happens when someone starts making concessions before the other party even requests them.
For example, a salesperson might offer multiple concessions upfront in an effort to move the deal forward quickly. (If you can't discount price, discount constraints.) But by doing so, they eliminate valuable bargaining chips before the negotiation even begins.
Smart negotiators protect their leverage by:
Silence, in fact, can be a powerful negotiation tool. When people feel uncomfortable, they often start talking, and inadvertently reveal information or give away value.
Sometimes the best move is simply to pause (pregnantly or otherwise) and let the other side speak.
Everyone seems to be asking whether AI can simply "fix" negotiation so humans don't have to worry about these best practices. The answer is yes, but also no (see how we didn't concede a position there?).
As AI becomes more embedded in contract workflows, it will increasingly support negotiators in several ways:
But AI isn’t replacing human negotiation anytime soon.
Contracts still involve relationships, context, and emotional dynamics that algorithms struggle to fully capture. Even in an AI-assisted world, negotiation will remain a deeply human skill.
What AI can do, however, is remove the friction around preparation, information gathering, and internal alignment, allowing negotiators to focus on negotiation strategy instead of administration.
The most effective negotiators combine strong interpersonal skills with the right technology.
A modern CLM platform like LinkSquares gives legal and sales teams the shared visibility they need to:
When negotiation is supported by clear processes and accessible data, deals move forward faster, and with fewer surprises.
In the end, smarter negotiations aren’t just about tactics. They’re about giving your teams the tools and information they need to succeed. If you're ready to adopt the CLM platform that can maximize the value, speed, and consistency of your contract negotiations (and prep you for the AI-powered contract future), contact LinkSquares today.