I spent twenty-three years in corporations — including time at the negotiating table, where the stakes were measured not in emotions but in concrete numbers in a budget. And there I saw the same mistake made by the most experienced negotiators: they walked into every negotiation with one ready-made strategy. For every situation.
A strategy refined over years works almost flawlessly with one type of partner — and stalls completely with another, leaving the negotiator confused: "I did everything that usually works."
The problem isn't that the strategy is bad. The problem is that the person across the table is built differently — and what reads as confidence to one person reads as pressure to another. And until you address what the person sitting across from you actually needs, the deal won't happen.
In my practice, many entrepreneurs and sales leaders have gone through the negotiation scenario — and the pattern repeats: the ones who close more deals don't use one strategy better than others. They change the strategy to match the specific person, doing detailed groundwork on that person before the meeting.
What actually differs
Not personality in a broad sense. Specific behaviour at the negotiating table — things you can observe and prepare for in advance.
- Pace of speech and pauses. One partner decides quickly and expects the same from you — a pause reads as hesitation. Another needs a pause to process the offer, and rushing them costs you the deal.
- Reaction to pressure. Some people respond to pressure with pressure and value directness. Others shut down at the first sign of being pushed and need room to reach their own decision.
- What reads as a concession versus a weakness. For one partner, flexibility in your position signals you're willing to deal. For another, the same flexibility reads as a lack of a firm position — and lowers their trust in the deal.
- What needs to be shown in the first few minutes. One partner needs to see expertise. Another needs personal rapport. A third needs concrete numbers with no preamble at all.
Why this decides the outcome of negotiations
In one of the financial-sector teams I worked with, I saw the pattern directly: sales departments where managers understood a key client's behavioural profile before the meeting closed deals on average a third faster than departments that prepared only on the content of the offer.
The difference wasn't the product or the price. The difference was that the negotiator walked into the room already knowing how to talk to this specific person — not to a person in general.
How this works in negotiations
FaceCode Method analyses two people from photographs and shows each person's behavioural profile in the context of negotiation: pace, reaction to pressure, what counts as a concession versus a weakness, and the point at which a partner finally shuts the deal down.
For a negotiator, this isn't a theoretical typology. It's a concrete cue before the meeting: direct and fast with this person, through pauses and space to decide with this one.
The free reading takes about 30 seconds. The full analysis — built around the "negotiation / business" scenario — gives a concrete tactic matched to your negotiating partner's character.
If an important meeting is coming up
You probably already have a photo of the person you're about to negotiate with — on the company website, on LinkedIn, in your correspondence. That's all you need for a first orientation.
Upload your photo and a photo of your negotiating partner. In thirty seconds you'll have a first understanding of how to approach the conversation with this specific person.