The Top 7 Negotiation Mistakes Procurement Professionals Make—And How to Fix Them 

Procurement teams are all too familiar with the tense feeling that comes with sitting at the negotiation table. As Freddie Mercury and David Bowie famously put it, everyone feels “Under Pressure.” 

These are the moments that can feel so high-stakes for your business—no matter how long you’ve been in procurement. Procurement teams are often brought in at the last minute, which means there’s little time to prepare properly, only adding to the pressure. 

We sat down with Tom Mills of Procure Bites to understand what common mistakes procurement teams make and how to avoid them for your next negotiation round. Tom explains the universal challenge that plagues the industry. “Procurement professionals are well trained in the basics of negotiations, but because teams are often under-resourced and over-worked, they can come into negotiations feeling underprepared, and that’s where these mistakes can happen,” he says.

Mistake #1: Internal misalignment undermines negotiations

The biggest mistake Tom sees happen to even the best teams? 

Failing to align internally before getting into the negotiation room.

“Teams have to align with the business stakeholder they’re supporting to make sure they deliver the outcomes that are important to them,” says Tom. “Teams will often focus on cost or payment terms, but the stakeholder is more interested in issues, like, access to innovation or better service. That creates friction, which slows down the whole process and leads to ineffective negotiations.”

Worse, failing to align means your stakeholder may actively undermine you during negotiations or you’ll lose goodwill by adding more and more demands on your supplier.

What to do instead: Start by educating your stakeholder on the types of negotiation items that are must-haves from a procurement perspective, like cost and payment. At the same time, be sure to know exactly what is important to the stakeholder so you’re presenting a united front. Says Tom, “You want to have the same vision and the same goals going in, so you both know what’s at stake.”

Mistake #2: Short-term focus fails to account for total cost of ownership (TCO)

Alignment only works if procurement teams are incentivized around the right things. 

“The problem many procurement teams face is that to justify their existence within a business, their KPIs are heavily weighted toward financial gains,” explains Tom. “But by over-emphasizing these short-term wins, they may be missing out on long-term cost-savings. This sounds so obvious, but it’s really an issue of the pressure teams are under from management.”

What to do instead: When looking at a potential deal, procurement teams should evaluate the total cost of ownership (TCO), which includes maintenance, staffing, and escalating costs as the years go on. That includes:

• What’s the cost of purchase?
• Does it require significant investment in training?
• What data resources does it require?
• Can it scale as our business grows, adding more seats?
• Who will manage the tool moving forward?
• What’s the opportunity cost of staying with the same solution?

Says Tom, “Only when you’ve looked at the total cost of ownership can you assess the value of the detail and doing so will give you a better idea of what’s important to the business, and how you can achieve that value.”

Mistake #3: Losing your cool at the table can cost your team the deal

Negotiation is a high-stakes moment in any deal cycle. Even the most experienced procurement professionals can sweat a little. It’s your emotions that can trip you up in the moment. If you get too amped up, you can lose control of the room very quickly. “There’s no mistake bigger than signing up for a deal that could cost you for years to come, so you have to get it right,” says Tom.

What to do instead: Slow it way, way down. 

Tom has been in his fair share of deal rooms. He prefers taking a measured approach—and not fearing silence in the conversation. “There’s this danger that you think, we’ve got to move now, we’ve got to keep talking, but you might not know what to say next, or you’re not feeling ready,” he says. “If this happens, it’s absolutely fine to take a step back and reassess.”

He recalls a recent negotiation for a big-ticket CRM tool where he had to call a timeout for his team. “I remember thinking: ‘Things are getting out of control here. We need a collective pause,’ and I said to both sides of the table that we needed a quick break. That was so important just to regain control for myself, and to make sure my team was clear in the direction we needed to go next.”

Mistake #4: A zero-sum game sets you up to fail

One of the biggest myths with negotiation is that you should treat it as a zero-sum game. That you’ve got to push, and push, and push or else you won’t get what you want. But taking an aggressive approach can backfire on you.

What to do instead: “Good, effective negotiators ultimately want to reach a position where both parties feel satisfied, and no one feels diminished,” says Tom. “Being a hard negotiator doesn’t mean that you’re a good negotiator. I’d say the opposite, because going hard can waste a lot of time and leave a lot of collateral damage.”

He remembers an early career win that soured very quickly. “I thought I’d done it because I’d talked them down to the best possible price, but instead, I had completely ruined the value of that relationship. So when there is a supply issue or you need to speak with someone, they’re not going to prioritize you because they don’t feel good about the relationship.”

The most successful negotiations hit the right numbers, but they also build trust between you and the supplier. Tom adds, “What the world needs now, what supply chain needs now, what procurement needs now, is really good collaborators who can reach agreement in a way that leaves people feeling satisfied and wanting to do more for each other.”

Mistake #5: Take control of the room as much as possible

What happens when you go into a negotiation with open arms and your sparring partner goes for the jugular?

Dealing with an aggressive negotiation partner puts procurement teams on the defensive. But don’t rise to the bait, warns Tom.

What to do instead: Turn the temperature down.

Tom recommends recalibrating the room by stepping back and looking at the big picture. “I ask them to think about three years from now. What does success look like? Often, both sides have a shared view of the future, but it’s the here and now that becomes the tricky point.”

Tom calls this method VPN:

• Vision: Remind both sides what the overall vision is for these negotiations. What do you want to achieve? Why are you here in this room today?
• Principles: What are two or three principles that are important for both parties?
• Numbers: Making everything transparent, including proposed number of years, contract SLAs, cost, price, or other terms easily available.

Doing this can help de-escalate the tension and move forward together.

Mistake #6: Sometimes, it’s better just to walk away

Procurement teams are called in to negotiate a deal, so if it falls apart, they take the blame. Especially if it all looks good on paper, and management wants a deal.

But part of the value procurement teams bring is knowing when to hold ‘em…and knowing when to fold ‘em.

What to do instead: “There will be times where you just have to be honest and say, is this really a partnership you want to enter into?” asks Tom. “If this is the start of the relationship, when we should both be most excited about working together…what’s it actually going to be like when we hit a roadblock?”

It’s okay for procurement professionals to take a step back and assess the relationship dynamic as a key data point. When you’re signing a contract, you’re also entering into a relationship. Set a boundary before you start negotiations about behavior, terms, or numbers and stick with it. Don’t be afraid to walk away if you need to.

Mistake #7: Letting ego win the day

Most of these mistakes discussed above come down to one sneaky element that can ruin your negotiations: Ego.

“I’ve been caught in this trap myself,” admits Tom. “You’ve pushed hard on a certain term, you’re under intense pressure from the rest of  your team, and then you realize, you’re not seeing the bigger picture.”

What to do instead: Find a way to move forward by asking yourself, “What’s keeping them from saying yes to this?”

Says Tom, “You have to have the self awareness to say, ‘Is it me that needs this specific clause or term, or is it what the business needs?’ And that’s really important. It’s so easy for ego to get in the way and keep you from making a deal.”

In procurement, relationships are everything

We often think about negotiating as a way to achieve a business goal, but as Tom reminds us, it’s about building a relationship that drives long-term value for both your business and the supplier. “In a world where AI can democratize access to data like market insights and cost benchmarking, the value that procurement brings is in building long-term, sustainable relationships that drive value,” he says. “The more you can build good, collaborative partnerships based on strong decision-making, the more you’ll end up achieving your goals.”

For more procurement insights from Tom Mills, check out the rest of his conversations with Ironclad:

• The 3 Biggest Challenges Procurement Professionals Faced in 2025—and How to Address Them in 2026
• How to Maximize Your First 90 Days in a New Procurement Org
• Process Before Tech: Why the Fundamentals Matter for Procurement Teams
• Why Procurement Professionals Get Burnout—And What to Do About It

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Ironclad is not a law firm, and this post does not constitute or contain legal advice. To evaluate the accuracy, sufficiency, or reliability of the ideas and guidance reflected here, or the applicability of these materials to your business, you should consult with a licensed attorney.