Impact Negotiation Group

Impact Negotiation Group supports clients with their commercial challenges. We work closely together with our clients by providing support in negotiations, improving and integrating negotiation processes, and offering specialized negotiation training. 

Our experience covers a variety of industries.
✅ 	Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)
✅ 	Pharmaceutical
✅ 	Private Equity
✅ 	IT Services

Additionally, we work across various functional areas, such as:
✅ 	Sales and Business Development
✅ 	Procurement
✅ 	Human Resources (focusing on employee relations)
✅ 	Market Access

For more information visit: www.impactnegotiationgroup.com or directly book a call with me with the link above.

Founding Partner & Negotiation Consultant

NPM Capital

As Manager of Procurement Services I:
➢ Helped NPM Capital participations companies increase their commercial results
➢ Improving the ROI for NPM Capital
➢ Advisory: support NPM Participations with strategic negotiations (both sales & procurement).
➢ Buying optimization: identifying and executing joint procurement projects.
➢ Establishing networks between (ex) participations functions for knowledge sharing.
➢ Establishing a database for best practices & setting up gross group learning and developing initiatives.

Manager NPM Procurement Services

The Gap Partnership

As Senior Consultant & Client Director I helped my clients in different industries (Retail, Pharma, FMCG and Oil & Gas) with their commercial challenges by supporting all aspects of the negotiation process. My role focused on realizing the optimal result of any commercial challenge:
➢ Strategy Development.
➢ Tactical Planning.
➢ Communication Planning.
➢ Risk identification and mitigation.
➢ Negotiation Coaching.
➢ Business Development.
➢ Key Account Management.

Senior Consultant & Client Director

As Consultant & Client Director, I helped my clients with:
➢ Negotiation consultancy (tactical and strategic).
➢ Negotiation coaching.
➢ Workshops on negotiation, aimed at long-term behavioural change.
➢ Business Development.
➢ Key Account Management.

Consultant & Client Director

Shell

As Procurement Manager, I was responsible for the Capex and Opex spend for the BeNeLux Retail Network (500+ retail stations), annual spend 100+mln EUR. I provided: 
➢ Contract management (EPCM & FMCG contracts).
➢ Tender development & execution.
➢ Claim management.
➢ Continuous improvement.
➢ Change management.
➢ Negotiations.

Procurement Manager Retail Networks

As Contract Engineer Wells, I was responsible for the commercial management of major well contracts of the Majnoon Oil Field (Basrah, Iraq, annual spend of 150mln USD). I provided:
➢ Tender development and execution.
➢ Claim management.
➢ Contract management (EPC and Service contracts).
➢ Contract & commercial negotiations.
➢ Relationship management with internal and external (government) stakeholders.
➢ Management over a team of 6 Iraqi graduates, training them in procurement.

Contract Engineer Wells

I worked on the ultra fast track FCP Gas Project for the Majnoon Oil Field, Iraq, responsible for CAPEX spend of 80mln USD. I provided:
➢ Project Management.
➢ Contract management and ensuring proper contract execution.
➢ Commercial negotiations.
➢ Risk identification and control.
➢ EPCM contractor management and managing the contractors' procurement departments.

Contract Engineer- Projects (Majnoon Iraq Gas)

➢ Responsible for the procurement and contract management of four capital projects at the Pernis Refinery with a combined spend of US$200 plus million.

Contract and Procurement Lead

➢ Responsible for C&P Management Reporting and driving continuous improvements.

C&P Upstream International Reporting Analyst

LifeTunes

➢ Operations manager for the startup LifeTunes.

Operations Manager (start-up)

Early on in my career I was tasked with negotiating a contract worth over 200 million dollars. 😮

I had no formal training in negotiation and felt ill prepared for the challenge😟. Over a period of 9 months (and some notable moments such as a the other negotiator dropping his pants and showing me his backside🙈) the deal concluded with us realizing a cost saving of 45%.

That experience has been lifechanging💡, and for the past 7 years I have dedicated my career to helping others maximize their deals. Leading to me co-founding Impact Negotiation Group in 2022. 

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐞 𝐝𝐨:
We support organisations with their critical negotiations through thorough preparation, planning, and execution. Our approach empowers you to proactively take control and achieve the best possible results.
We radically challenge what our clients think negotiation is all about. 97% of negotiation work does not take place at the table, in front of the other party. It’s all in the preparation and strategy. 

Having trained more than 5.500 people, after 40h of your time over a 12 month period, we will give you a competitive advantage in your negotiations.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬:

Our consulting business generates 65% of our revenue, with every partner actively engaged in negotiations daily. We work across various industries, including FMCG, pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, private equity, professional services, IT services, labor relations, and retail. This broad exposure has equipped us with the insight to distinguish between theoretical concepts and practical applications.

𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲: 
✅Annually, we support over $1 billion in negotiation value. Since our start, we have worked with 50 clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to scale-ups, providing advice on every imaginable negotiation scenario. The results - A staggering 17.3x return on investment. 🚀

✅We train commercial professionals at Fortune 500 companies to scale-ups and our intensive training program have resulted in a recorded 14.9X return on investment within the first 12months!🚀

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐒𝐚𝐲:

"Enriching, instructive, and immediately applicable insights." - Lily Libeert, Commercial Director

"An excellent program that perfectly balances theory and practice, infused with humor." - Mike Franke, Sales Manager, VodafoneZiggo

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐓𝐨 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐍𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬? 
Send me a LinkedIn DM and let’s explore if we’re a fit on a 15min call.📲

Marc Saris

The Biggest Threat to IT Service Companies In 2026

Hourly billing.

We see that many of our clients active in the IT service still heavily rely on hourly billing. Why? Because that’s what they have been doing since the 90s. 
However: Hourly-based models are biggest commercial risk for IT service providers going into 2026. 

Why?

❌ AI is compressing delivery times: the same work is delivered in a fraction of the time. If you get paid by the hour you will see your revenue evaporate. 
❌ Procurement is more price focused then ever: AI is helping them benchmark quicker pushing downward on rates.
❌ Hourly fees commoditize your expertise: it is difficult to argue why your senior developer should be 30% more expensive than the competitors.
❌ Competitors are already shifting to value-based or outcome-based models: don’t be left behind.

The companies that don’t evolve their pricing strategy will see revenue evaporate cost rise and margins erode. Those that do will separate themselves from the pack.

At Impact, the past two years we’ve engaged in a number of projects working with IT service and software development companies to help them:
✔ Transition away from hourly-based pricing to value based pricing
 ✔ Adapt their negotiation approach to focus on value based deals 
 ✔ Strengthen their negotiation capability with clients and procurement
 ✔ Confidently price based on value, outcomes, and strategic impact,  not time

The key isn’t “just changing pricing.”

The real unlock is understanding the full commercial process and the negotiations that support it.

Pricing is only as strong as your ability to defend it, position it, and get buy-in from stakeholders.

If you’re an IT service leader still wrestling with how to make this shift, or you know your team is too dependent on hourly billing, 2025 is the last safe window to fix it.

If you want to explore what this transition could look like for your company, send me a message.

The companies preparing now will dominate in 2026. The ones sticking to old models… won’t.

Negotiation Strategy Consultant │ Co‑Founder @ Impact Negotiation Group │ €1.77B+ in Deals Advised │ Sales & Procurement Negotiator │ Trained over 1,200+ Commercial Professionals

Negotiations in 2026: The Shift No One’s Talking About ⚠️ 

I’ll never forget my first big negotiation at Shell.
Excited. Nervous. A little terrified.
Sitting across from a seasoned account manager, I felt every emotion at once.

Then came the training that changed everything.
It showed me the behaviours behind great deals: what to say, when to act, when to stay silent.
That was the start for a decade-long career in negotiation.

For years, those skills were enough.
But in 2026? They’re not anymore.

Negotiations Have Changed ⚠️ 

That old picture of two people in a room, trading proposals until they shake hands…
 🕰️  It’s quickly fading from reality.

Now:
✅ Deals unfold across email threads, Teams chats, shared docs, WhatsApps
✅ A new generation of leaders is more comfortable typing than talking.
✅ Negotiation isn’t a snap shot moment, it has become a process across channels, people, and time.

And that changes everything. ➡️ The Skill Shift

Reading the room still matters.

But it’s not enough. ⚠️ 

The leaders who win in 2026 know how to:
 ✅ Manage stakeholders across multiple touchpoints
 ✅ Design the deal before the first proposal lands
 ✅ Sequence interactions according to a plan
 ✅ Steer the process, not just the conversation
 ✅ Align internally and externally long before proposals hit the table

This isn’t optional.
It’s the new reality!

Why It Matters
If your organization still treats negotiation as something that happens in the meeting… you’re leaving money on the table.

What you need:
👉 Clear negotiation processes
👉 A deal architecture framework
👉 Teams trained in end-to-end negotiation management

That’s what we’ve been building at Impact Negotiation Group since day one  helping commercial teams capture more value by mastering what happens before, during, and after the conversation.

2026 will reward those who adapt.
And penalize those who don’t.

💡 Curious how your team stacks up?
 Let’s talk, I’d love to hear how you’re approaching negotiations in 2026.

What to do when clients demand hourly billing ⏱️ 

My last post, several people reached out stating:  “Marc, fully agree… but our clients demand hourly billing.”

What to do? 

Lets first understand why clients ask for hourly billing as it’s almost never because hourly billing creates better outcomes. 

❌ It’s because hourly billing gives them the illusion of control:

❌ They can compare vendors more easily. Hourly rates make it simple for procurement to benchmark and negotiate down

❌ They haven’t done the work. They don’t know what they want/need. 

❌ They believe hours = effort = value. We all know this is untrue

❌ They want predictability. Hours feel measurable, even if they aren’t tied to results.

❌ They lack confidence in the provider. When trust is low, clients try to control scope and effort.

The reality is: Clients don’t actually want hours. They want outcomes, speed, and a problem solved. Tracking hours is a burden.

How to shift clients away from hourly billing:
✅  Focus the conversation on the impact of the solution: “What’s the business impact if we get this right?”

✅   Focus on nailing down the scope: The problem, The desired outcomes, The value of achieving them

✅   Price the result, not the labor. Your expertise isn’t less valuable because you're faster with AI, it’s more valuable. Speed is an advantage, not a discount.

✅   Stop justifying hours. Start demonstrating impact. The more you talk about hours, the more clients focus on cost. The more you talk about value, the more they focus on ROI.

The biggest mindset shift?

Hourly billing is a supplier mindset.  Value-based pricing is a strategic partner mindset.

And clients want strategic partners,  especially going into 2026.

If your clients are still “demanding” hourly billing, it’s not a dead end.
It’s a signal that the value conversation hasn’t been had yet.

Final thought
The transition isn’t about convincing clients overnight. It’s about strengthening your commercial process, and professionals to be able to have the right conversations. 

If you're struggeling with that transition, or want your team to learn how shift shift their conversation then reach out.

#negotiation #valuebased

Going into the weekend with gratitude!
Wisdom from Jimmy Carr. 
Happy weekend when you get to it. 

https://lnkd.in/euQm63VY

Open video: We Are Living Like A King... on youtube.com

Negotiation Navigators

Supporting Procurement and Sales teams to maximise their Negotiation Results 🎯 I Training 👨‍🏫 I Advisory 🧭 I Coaching 👥 I E2E negotiation support 🔄. Founder  𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 🧭

𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘄                  ☎️ +316 115 205 90 
𝗘𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹                       ✉️ Reinout.de.schepper@negotiationnavigators.com
𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 📅 www.calendly.com/reinoutdeschepper
𝗪𝗲𝗯𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲                    🌐 www.negotiationnavigators.com

Negotiation Expert

Randstad

Focus areas; solution concepts, commercial productivity, negotiation excellence, best practice & education.

head of Commercial Excellence

Randstad Sourceright

Advising clients in the EMEA on (partial) outsourcing solutions for their contingent & permanent workforce as we all strive for the right talent, @ the right time, @ the right cost and in compliance with local legislations and company policies.

As SVP Sales EMEA, I am responsible for providing the strategic direction to expand national, regional, global services, overseeing the build of processes and solutions that refine the customer experience.

Overseeing the Negotiation Excellence department with the objective to help clients by ensuring Randstad negotiates the best contractual & individual placement rates in SOW & MSP.

Member of the European Leadership Team.

Senior Vice President, Mainland Europe Sales

Negotiation Excellence: helping clients by ensuring Randstad negotiates the best contractual & individual placement rates in SOW & MSP.

Supporting the Randstad Sales, Account Management, SCM, SOW and Procurement organisations in optimising negotiation results in a variety of different negotiation settings.

head of Negotiation Excellence

Advising clients in the Benelux & Nordics on (partial) outsourcing solutions for their contingent & permanent workforce as we all strive for the right talent, @ the right time, @ the right cost and in  compliance with local legislations and company policies.

Business Development Director Benelux-Nordics,

Philips

★ Procurement Engineering Director, Head of Procurement Philips Shaving 
★ Site Procurement Lead Drachten
★ Leading a team of 10 FTE in Drachten & Klagenfurt

Procurement Engineering Director

This team ensured the further development and utilization of advanced negotiation (standard, coached and Game Theory) and contracting techniques. Working  alongside the Commodity Managers, Procurement Engineers and a variety of stakeholders from e.g. R&D, HR, Facility Management, Country & BU managers, setting up optimal negotiation rules and designs, tailored to the commodity specifics and sourcing environment. 
★ Co-led the change initiative to setup of the Negotiation & Contracting Excellence team
★ Led many successful Game Theoretic competitive nego's (>€1.5B spend) in BOM and Indirect
★ Coached negotiation leads towards bilateral negotiations on > 300 negotiations & €3.1B spend 
★ Conducted >20 Game Theoretic negotiation trainings globally with an average NPS >90%
★ Setup & conducted Game Theoretic negotiation trainings for M&A, Finance, Legal, Sales

Negotiation & Contracting Excellence Director

Co-responsible for driving one of the largest change initiatives within Philips Procurement. 
Setting up a Negotiation & Contracting Excellence team, fundamentally changing the way Philips (>800 Procurement professionals)  negotiates, via improved & standardized negotiation preparation, coaching, training and, where possible, moving from a bi-lateral negotiation mindset to utilizing competition wherever possible with the support of a team of highly skilled tender experts.

Procurement Strategy & Transformation Director

As part of the global Contingent Labor & HR Services team, functionally leading a team of sourcing specialists operating in EMEA (the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Israel)  and APAC (India, China, Japan). Focus on strategy development, opportunity identification and translating strategy into improvement programs. Achieved 25.1mEUR savings vs 16mEUR targets.

Senior Sourcing Manager Contingent Labor & HR Services

As Supplier Relationship Manager globally responsible for one of the Philips top 35 suppliers.

Supplier Relationship Manager

Philips Global Contingent labour team member, responsible for: 
Contracts related to Temporary personnel in the Embedded Software, F&A and general staffing 
Hiring of all temp. personnel for twelve sites in the southern part of the Netherlands & Belgium.
First point of contact for all Personnel & Professional services for sites in the southern part of the Netherlands and Belgium.

Involved in Philips global contingent  labour strategy development and driving preferred supply base selection (various commodities), Total Cost of Ownership projects (general staffing), Managed Service Provider roll outs & optimization (functional staffing).

Sourcing Specialist Personnel & Professional services

Apr  2009 - July 2010
Latin America implementation manager
Setting up a centralised Non Product Related purchasing organisation in Brazil. 

Feb 2009 - Apr 2009, PMO
Project Management Officer for a worldwide savings project related to the purchasing of Non - Product Related goods and services.

Aug 2008 -  Feb 2009, Project leader 
Assessing the maturity levels and identifying improvement opportunities for the different purchasing departments.

Management Trainee Philips General Purchasing

Are you committed to elevating your negotiation capabilities? Are you ready to empower your Procurement and Sales teams to deliver results that are not just better but exceptional? If you have an everlasting hunger for maximising the value from every negotiation, rigorously preparing your strategies, and executing with steadfast precision, then you've come to the right place. 
𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘄:   ☎️  +316 115 205 90 or 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: 📅 www.calendly.com/reinoutdeschepper

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗺 𝗜?
Living in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 after past experiences in China 🇨🇳 and Brazil 🇧🇷, and working around the globe 🌍. In love with my girlfriend and our daughter. When not empowering others in reaching their full negotiation potential, you'll find me pushing my limits in the gym, on the running track, or on the tennis court.

𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗲
In 2013 I was co-responsible for setting up the Negotiation Excellence function at 𝗣𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 which brought an unprecedented level of savings whilst strengthening stakeholder and supplier relationships. In 2020 I repeated the trick but this time on the 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 side, which resulted in optimised margins ánd win-rates.

Why I founded 𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀
I see companies struggle in how to best prepare for negotiations. Their people enter negotiations feeling uncomfortable 😣 or underprepared 📉, resulting in overlooked improvement opportunities or a smaller piece of the negotiation pie 🍰. Through training 👨‍🏫, tools 🛠️, and advisory services 🧭, we at 𝗡𝗲𝗴𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 anchor an intuitive negotiation methodology 🔗 in your company’s DNA , boosting your negotiation capabilities 💪 and giving you the confidence 😇 needed to achieve truly stellar results 🌟.

𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀
🔹 𝟭) 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: Strengthen your team's ability to maximise negotiation outcomes.
🔹 𝟮) 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴: Master the art of competitive negotiations.
🔹 𝟯) 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘆: Anchor negotiation preparation and execution into your standard way of working.
🔹 𝟰) 𝗧𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 & 𝗧𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀: Ensure negotiations are a smooth and successful operation.
🔹 𝟱) 𝗖𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴: Guide your team through the preparation, internal alignment, and final negotiation.
🔹 𝟲) 𝗘𝗻𝗱-𝘁𝗼-𝗘𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁: (Co)lead a negotiation from preparation to final closure.

𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘄 ☎️  +316 115 205 90 or 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 📅 www.calendly.com/reinoutdeschepper

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