10 Great Idioms & Expressions for Negotiations - Business English

Watch this short Business English vocabulary lesson and learn some of the most common expressions and idioms used in negotiations. Practise your speaking skills and become more confident by repeating the examples with me.

If you like my short lessons for busy people, and would like to support me, buy me a cup of coffee! Thanks! https://www.buymeacoffee.com/derekcallan

The idioms and expressions in this lesson:

 1. Give ground – if you give ground, you make a concession - something that you agree to give someone or allow them to do so you can reach an agreement
Both sides will have to give ground if they want to reach a deal.

2. meet half-way - to accept some of the things that someone wants, in order to reach an agreement with them – similar to give ground
We can’t cover all the costs, but we would be prepared to meet you half-way.

3. Sweeten the deal - to make an offer more attractive by adding something of value
She didn’t accept the first contract, so the company decided to sweeten the deal with an attractive pension plan.

4. sticking point - a sticking point in a discussion is a topic on which it is not possible to reach an agreement:
"The choice of supplier was a sticking point in the negotiations."

5. Back to square one – If you are back to square one, you have to start working on a plan from the beginning because the original plan failed
When they couldn’t accept the terms of the contract, it was back to square one for the negotiators.

6. Hammer out - to decide on an agreement, contract etc after a lot of discussion and disagreement
The two companies hammered out an agreement after weeks of tough negotiations.

7. iron (something) out - to solve or get rid of problems, difficulties
We should reach an agreement today. We just have to iron out some small details first.

8. Down to the wire - to be finished or achieved with very little time left (often used with go
The negotiations went down to the wire last night.

9. Clinch the deal - to succeed in making an agreement certain, esp. after a long period of discussion:
It took a lot longer than we expected, but we finally clinched the deal.

10. Tie up loose ends - to finalise all issues or pieces of business that are not critical but have not been completed yet.
We still need to tie up a few loose ends in the contract, but we should be ready to sign tomorrow.

Want to learn more Business English?
Join my email list and get my VOCABULARY EXTRA EMAIL every 2 weeks: https://derekcallan.com/newsletter/

Find out more about me:
Website: https://derekcallan.com/

Visit me on Social Media:
Instagram:   / derekcallan.english  
Facebook:   / derekcallan.english  


Music credits:
Intro music: Far Away by MK2
Background music: Honey and Milk by The 126ers