Robert Benedict implemented his first Real World Negotiating™ seminar in 1984 for Rosemount Engineering in Burnsville, MN  (now owned by Goodrich and still a client)!

Emphasizing a “minimum of theory and a maximum of readily useable negotiating skills,” the popularity of his seminar grew quickly.  Minnesota companies such as MTS Systems, ADC Telecommunications and Tennant Company signed on for multiple negotiating seminars and referred Benedict to several other Midwestern firms.

Seeking to expand the business, Benedict began speaking nationwide to chapters of the National Association of Purchasing Management (now the Institute of Supply Chain Management).  He also began writing articles on negotiations for regional trade journals across the US.

In 1988, he was invited to write a series of articles on negotiations for the national trade journal, Purchasing World.  These articles on, The Negotiation Planning Grid, How to Fight a Price Increase, How to Deal With Back Door Selling, Negotiating With Single and Sole Source Suppliers, and How to Trade Rather Then Give Concessions, attracted the attention of many large, global companies, including General Motors and Rockwell International.

Benedict eventually trained over 2500 buyers for General Motors and 1000 buyers for Rockwell International’s defense sectors.  Referrals from this work led to extensive seminars in both the automotive and aerospace industries – then to virtually every industry segment in the US. 

In 1989, Benedict published his first book on negotiations, “Negotiating in the Real World of Purchasing and Engineering,” and was selected to address NAPM’s International Purchasing Conference on the topic of “Single and Sole Suppliers – What to do When They Play Win/Lose.”  He would be invited back to repeat that topic at 6 subsequent international conferences.

By 1995, Benedict began to train additional trainers to implement his various negotiating seminars.  Each trainer selected had extensive background negotiating from either the purchasing or sales side. 

Robert Bollar had been a national VP of sales, Paul Oie a general manager with both purchasing and sales responsibilities, Joe Rice a director of purchasing for a multi-billion dollar company, and Mike Lee had multiple years of sales negotiation with companies in a variety of industries. 

Each of these professionals trained with Benedict for a year before being licensed to present the negotiations training on their own.

The impact of adding these trainers was explosive as the training expanded not only to North America, but to Europe, South America, and Asia as well. 

Today, whether the negotiating seminars are presented in Shanghai or Detroit, Los Angeles or Berlin – BNS’ goal is still the same as it was in Robert Benedict’s first session in 1984: “A minimum of theory and a maximum of readily useable skills.”

The focus continues to be on participants achieving identifiable, measurable results.