Speaking
I give talks on negotiation for sales teams, founder communities, professional associations and business networks.
Sessions are light on slides and heavy on stories. Most people arrive fairly sure they dislike negotiating, and by the end they’ve usually changed their minds.
For a general audience
“You’re Already Negotiating”
We tend to think of negotiation as something that happens over a contract or a sale. In fact it goes on all day, at work and at home: whether a deadline can move, which project gets the budget, what time the kids go to bed. This talk shows how the more you know, the more creative you can be. It gives practical ways to prepare, find out what the other side wants and get past a standoff on price.
People leave with a different idea of what negotiation is.
For a sales audience
“The Creative Negotiator”
Salespeople are told to negotiate but are rarely shown how. This talk gets into the mechanics: preparing properly, asking questions that open things up, holding a line without making an enemy and finding creative solutions when the conversation gets stuck. It also covers the difference between a position and an interest, which is often where those solutions come from.
Teams leave with a preparation framework for any significant negotiation.
For teams that want to go further, I also run training built around their own negotiations.
Format and fee
My talks run 30 to 60 minutes plus questions. They work at conferences, offsites, all-hands meetings, kick-offs, monthly association meetings and more.
I don’t charge for a talk of this length. Instead, I ask the host to donate to a food charity and to reimburse my travel outside the San Francisco Bay Area.
Speaking is how I meet most of the people I end up working with, so I have every reason to make it worth their time.
Speaker bio
For event programs, here’s a short bio you’re welcome to use.
Arjen Maarleveld spent four decades in technology, at Oracle, Apple, Alcatel and France Telecom and then as COO of Tait Communications, CEO of Vega Navigation and President of Avtec. He has negotiated on every side of a deal, buying, selling and partnering, across North America, Europe and Asia. He learned the discipline from Ingemar Dierickx, who created INSEAD’s Negotiation Dynamics program. Arjen now coaches executives, advises organizations and chairs Vistage peer advisory groups in the San Francisco Bay Area. He holds American, Dutch and New Zealand citizenship and works in four languages.
Download the speaker one-sheet (PDF)“I have worked with Arjen and invited him to speak to my professional association because I knew he would bring valuable insights. He proved to be a natural, highly engaging speaker.
His presentation was simple yet powerful, and he quickly shifted the mindset of attendees who initially felt negotiation was not their strength. The feedback afterward was exceptionally positive, with members highlighting both how much they enjoyed the session and how practical the insights were.
Arjen combines strong executive perspective with the ability to engage and influence a room, qualities that make him an excellent coach and speaker.”