Most Negotiations Are Lost Before Anyone Talks Price.
Chris Sund speaks on negotiation the way it happens in business: across a desk, over email, with a buyer who has already compared you to someone else. He teaches two frameworks he created and uses himself. LOCKS names the five things the other side needs before they can say yes. LAARC handles the objection in the middle of the conversation. He has taught both to 800+ sellers at the Definitive Healthcare sales kickoff.
Where Teams Book Chris on Negotiation
Most negotiation training is about tactics and anchors. Chris works on the part that decides most deals: whether the other side wants it, believes it will work, trusts you, can see the plan and understands what waiting costs.
Sales Kickoffs
A general session that gives the whole team one language for deals. See sales kickoffs.
Account & Key Account Teams
For renewals, expansions and contract conversations where the relationship has to survive the negotiation.
Business Owner Conferences
For owners who negotiate with customers, vendors and their own people every week.
Leadership Teams
For leaders negotiating internally: budgets, headcount, priorities and the hard yes from a peer.
Why Do Good Negotiators Still Lose the Deal?
Most deals that fall apart do not fall apart on price. The buyer never really wanted the product, did not believe it would work for them, did not trust the person across the table, could not see how it would start, or did not see a cost to waiting. A discount fixes none of those, which is why discounting so often fails.
Chris tells a true story from his brewery sales days. His beer was in every major store except the biggest retailer in the country, and the buyer would not take his calls. When the buyer finally answered and asked whether Chris knew how many products crossed his desk, Chris did not cut his price. He showed the buyer what saying no was costing him: a top seller his competitors all stocked, and loyal customers walking out to buy it elsewhere. The buyer asked for every best seller, in every store, with a display. That is the Stakes letter of LOCKS.
- LOCKS: Love the Product, Own Belief, Confidence in You, Kickoff Plan and Stakes, the five conditions behind every yes
- How to find which condition is missing before you negotiate on price
- LAARC for the objection in the middle: Listen, Acknowledge, Ask, Respond, Confirm
- Stakes without pressure: showing the cost of waiting honestly, not with fake urgency
- Why discounting first usually loses the deal and the margin
- Negotiating inside the company: budgets, headcount and priorities
Proof: Sales Kickoffs and Objection Sessions
Chris delivered You Are Capable of More: Sales at the Definitive Healthcare Sales Kickoff in Boston, to 800+ sales professionals and leaders. The session covered a consistency system, objection handling through LAARC, rejection resilience, ownership of the number and conviction that transfers.
He teaches the same objection work to business owners and professionals at the emPower Breakfast: at the Sarpy County breakfast, and as the featured speaker at the Lincoln emPower Breakfast on October 15, 2026 with You Are Capable of More: Handle Objections to Achieve Success. He has also taught LAARC at LeadingAge Illinois, which published the method in its annual conference program, and at the POWER Conference.
Chris would be an incredible addition to any live audience. I’ve had the privilege of seeing Chris speak a few times now, including at our company’s Sales Kickoff in front of 800+ people — which he crushed. Each time he finds a unique way to connect with his audience on both a personal and professional level, keeping everyone engaged and attentive.
Having Chris Sund as a Sarpy County Empower Breakfast speaker was a breath of fresh air. He was amazing — brought up all the things that make us all a little crazy and gave us new ways of handling objections. Definitely a great start to a day. I would always be happy to recommend Chris.
LOCKS: The Five Conditions Behind a Yes
When a negotiation stalls, one of these is usually missing. Find it before you move on price.
Love the Product
Does the other side actually want what you are offering, or only the lowest number?
Own Belief
Do they believe it will work for them? Doubt looks like a price objection.
Confidence in You
Do they trust you to deliver and to pick up the phone when something goes wrong?
Kickoff Plan
Can they see how it starts: who does what, by when?
Stakes
What does waiting cost them? Show both paths and let them decide.
Programs on Negotiation and Deals
Each runs as a keynote, a half-day workshop or a full-day workshop.
The LOCKS Framework
Crack the Code of the Deal: the five conditions a buyer needs before a deal closes.
The LAARC Method
Listen, Acknowledge, Ask, Respond, Confirm. The objection conversation.
You Are Capable of More: Sales
The sales keynote: consistency, rejection resilience and ownership of the number.
How to Handle Objections
The full objections program, with live practice on your scenarios.
Sales Training Workshop
A half day or full day practicing LOCKS and LAARC on live deals.
How to Handle Price Objections
The article: what to do before you discount.
Formats
A common format is the keynote for the whole team, then a working session where people run LOCKS against their own live deals.
Keynote
The negotiation keynote for the whole room, built around the deals your team negotiates.
Half Day
The keynote plus practice: small groups run LOCKS on live deals and role-play LAARC on real objections.
Full Day
A full day for a sales or account team, or for the managers who coach negotiations afterward.
Who Books This Session
Related pages: The LOCKS Framework · The LAARC Method · How to Handle Price Objections · How to Close More Deals · Sales Keynote Speaker · Sales Kickoff Speaker · Revenue Growth Speaker
What Planners Ask About a Negotiation Speaker
What kind of negotiation does the session cover?
Business negotiation: customers, renewals, vendors, partners and internal decisions. Chris is a sales and operations executive, and the material comes from deals he has made and teams he has led.
Can it work for people who are not in sales?
Yes. Leaders negotiate budgets, headcount and priorities every week, and account, procurement and operations teams negotiate with customers and vendors. LOCKS works for any decision another person has to say yes to.
Is it a script?
No. LOCKS and LAARC are ways to read a negotiation and run a conversation. People keep their own voice, which is why they keep using them.
Can it be customized to our deals?
Yes. Before the event Chris asks for the objections and stalled deals your team deals with most, and builds the examples and practice around them.
Can the keynote be paired with a workshop?
Yes, as a half-day or full-day sales training workshop.
Can every attendee get the book?
Yes. See bulk book orders for pricing and signed editions of You Are Capable of More.
You Are Capable of More
The bestselling book behind the keynote, and the 2026 Paris Book Festival winner in the How-To category. Ten principles for closing the gap between what a team is producing and what it is actually capable of.
Teams often give every seller a copy at the kickoff, and Chris can run a signing table after the session. Bulk pricing and signed editions are available.
He Learned It Selling
Chris is President & COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare and COO of Nebula. He has spent the past decade in healthcare staffing, a commission-driven, relationship-driven sales business where producers can leave for a competitor any week.
He took Uniti Med from startup to one of the largest healthcare staffing companies in the US: 10x revenue growth on the core brand, #3 on the Inc. Regionals list of the fastest-growing companies in the Midwest, and a Fortune Best Workplaces award along the way.
Before healthcare he spent ten years in restaurants and beverage, finishing as head of sales and marketing for a brewery, where he got his product into the biggest retailer in the country by showing the buyer what saying no was costing him. That is the Stakes letter of LOCKS. He is the bestselling author of You Are Capable of More and writes for Inc. and Forbes.
Stages I Have Spoken On
Where Sales Audiences Have Heard Chris
Kickoffs, breakfasts and conferences where Chris has taught deals and objections.
Definitive Healthcare SKOBoston, MA · 800+ sellersemPower Breakfast LincolnOct 2026 · Handling ObjectionsemPower Breakfast Sarpy CountyHandling ObjectionsLeadingAge IllinoisPublished the LAARC MethodPOWER ConferenceOmaha, NEBeatStars Company MeetingVirtual · May 2026Also: The LOCKS Framework · Sales Keynote Speaker · All Sales Speaking · See all speaking engagements →
Bring Chris to Your Team
Tell Chris about your team and the negotiations that cost you the most. You’ll get a fast, straight answer on fit and availability.
Check AvailabilityResponse within one business day · Speaker kit, bio & headshots