Deal Strategy & Commercial Negotiation Guelsah
Guelsah
Dereli
The deals that matter most deserve a closer.
Enquire about working together Scroll
The deals that matter most deserve a closer.
Enquire about working together Complex enterprise agreements don't fail on price.
They fail on structure, timing, and the room dynamics no one prepared for.
Eight years closing seven-figure enterprise deals at SAP across industrial Europe. Then three continents, a commercial venture, and a Schranner negotiation certification later — I advise companies on the deals they can't afford to get wrong.
My work sits at the intersection of commercial rigour, stakeholder psychology, and deal architecture. I don't just coach. I work alongside your team at the moments that matter — the structure conversations, the stakeholder strategy sessions, the final table.
I work with a small number of clients at a time, by design.
Designing the commercial framework before you get to the table — terms, sequencing, and leverage points that hold.
Deal architecture is the work that happens before negotiation begins — and it determines most of what's possible at the table. I help clients design the commercial framework for complex agreements: how terms are sequenced, where leverage is built in, which concessions are available and which are not. The frameworks I developed across eight years at SAP closing seven-figure enterprise deals gave me a precise view of what separates agreements that hold from those that unravel. I work through the deal structure with your team, identify the pressure points counterparts will probe, and help you sequence the conversation so you control its direction. The output is a commercial structure that reflects your actual priorities — not just a set of terms that emerged from whoever pushed hardest.
Real-time counsel and preparation for negotiations where the margin for error is low and the stakes are high.
When the stakes are high and the margin for error is narrow, preparation is everything — and so is having someone in the room who has been here before. I provide real-time advisory support for negotiations that matter: the enterprise contract renewal where the counterpart arrives with a much lower number, the acquisition where one clause shifts the value equation, the pursuit where momentum has stalled and trust needs rebuilding. Schranner methodology applied to live commercial situations means working from a structured framework — not improvisation. I help your team prepare the strategy, read the room, and adjust in real time. My role is not to replace your negotiator. It is to give them the preparation, the framing, and the external read that internal teams rarely have when they are too close to the deal.
Mapping influence, anticipating objections, and preparing your team for multi-threaded enterprise buying decisions.
Enterprise deals rarely fail on price. They fail when teams misjudge the buying committee — who the real decision-maker is, whose objection will surface late, which stakeholder has an agenda that was never discussed in a formal meeting. I help clients map the influence structure, identify the individuals who will shape the outcome, and prepare the right conversation for each room. The buying group dynamics I encountered across SAP's enterprise accounts — multi-threaded decisions, procurement interacting with IT, legal intersecting with finance — gave me a precise understanding of how large organisations actually buy. I work with your team on stakeholder strategy before engagement, and provide real-time support when the landscape shifts mid-pursuit.
Protecting and growing existing contracts — approaching renewals as strategic inflection points, not routine events.
Renewals are inflection points — most teams treat them as admin. When a multi-year contract comes up for renewal, the counterpart has had years to prepare their position. Your team, often distracted by new business, arrives underprepared. I help clients approach renewals as strategic moments: mapping what has changed in the relationship, identifying what the counterpart's walk-away looks like, and building the commercial case for retention and expansion before the first renewal conversation happens. Across years of managing multi-year contracts in enterprise technology, I learned that the best renewal outcomes are shaped six to twelve months before the contract anniversary — not in the final negotiation. I work with account teams on that preparation: the positioning, the stakeholder strategy, and the commercial structure that protects and grows the relationship.
Aligning sales, legal, finance, and product around a single pursuit strategy — so the right message reaches the right room.
Large deal pursuits break down when internal teams move in different directions. Sales, legal, finance, and product moving in the same direction — on the same commercial logic, with the same understanding of priorities — is not the default. It has to be built deliberately. I work with pursuit teams to establish a shared strategy: what we're prepared to give, what we're not, how we sequence the conversation, and who owns which relationship. This is particularly acute in enterprise technology pursuits, where deal cycles are long, internal stakeholders multiply, and the counterpart often reads the misalignment before your own leadership does. I help teams close that gap — through facilitated strategy sessions, clear decision frameworks, and a consistent commercial narrative across every room the deal touches.
Advising on first-mover commercial strategy and deal structures when entering unfamiliar markets or segments.
First-mover commercial deals in unfamiliar markets carry a specific kind of risk: you don't yet know the norms, the counterpart reads that, and the deal structure that results reflects the imbalance. I help companies entering new markets get the commercial foundation right — the deal terms that will set precedent, the sequencing of relationships before formal negotiation begins, and the structures that protect optionality as the market develops. Markets I've entered commercially across Europe, APAC, and the Middle East have given me a working knowledge of how negotiation norms, regulatory expectations, and buying dynamics differ — and how to adapt commercial strategy accordingly without losing position. Whether you're a founder entering a new segment or an enterprise team launching in a new region, I help you build the deal architecture before the first serious conversation happens.
A negotiation advisor works alongside your team on live commercial situations — not after the fact, but in the structure conversations, preparation sessions, and at the final table. My role is distinct from general consulting: I focus specifically on the mechanics of high-value commercial agreements. I help clients design deal frameworks, anticipate counterpart dynamics, and hold positions under pressure. Where a generalist might review a contract, I help shape the negotiation strategy that determines what ends up in it. Keywords: negotiation advisor, commercial negotiation consultant.
Most engagements are triggered by a specific situation with meaningful stakes — a high-stakes renewal where the counterpart is pushing hard on price, a market entry requiring first-mover commercial terms, an enterprise sales pursuit with a complex buying group, or a strategic acquisition where deal structure will determine value capture. Companies typically engage me when internal teams are close to the situation and benefit from an external perspective with enterprise deal experience and no internal politics.
Coaching transfers skills over time. Advisory work is situational — I'm engaged on a specific deal or pursuit, not a long-term training programme. I don't just coach. I work alongside your team at the moments that matter: the strategy session before the first serious counterproposal, the stakeholder mapping when the buying group expands, the final table when positions harden. The output isn't better negotiators in six months — it's a better outcome on this deal, now. Some clients engage both; they're different interventions for different needs.
My background is enterprise technology — eight years at SAP closing multi-year, seven-figure agreements across industrial Europe — so I'm most at home with complex B2B technology, industrial, and professional services deals. I've worked commercially across three continents, including Middle East and APAC, so I understand how negotiation norms and buying dynamics shift across regulatory environments. I work with companies selling into large enterprise accounts, as well as with founders and executives on the buy side of strategic agreements.
Engagements are scoped per deal. Every situation is different — the counterpart, the stakes, the timeline, the internal team dynamics. I don't offer a fixed programme or a retainer by default. We start by understanding what you're working on and where the leverage sits. The right place to start is a conversation.
A small number of client engagements.
Chosen with care.