Where leverage actually sits

Concentration: what share of your revenue does this counterparty represent, and what share of theirs do you? Switching cost: how long and how expensive is it for either side to replace the other? Information: who knows more about the goods, the demand and the alternatives? Timing: who needs to act first, and who can wait?

Timing is the most volatile and the most exploited. A seller disposing of inventory before a quarter end has a deadline the buyer does not, and price moves accordingly.

Three things that work even from a weak position. Document contemporaneously, because information asymmetry narrows when both sides know a record exists. Narrow the ask, because a small, specific term is far easier to win than a general one. And never sign under time pressure without recording the circumstances, since a challenge later will turn on what was known and what alternatives existed, as in economic duress.

In supply disputes the party that holds the documents usually also sets the clock, through notice windows and dispute deadlines. That combination, not size, is what decides most outcomes. Recognizing it before signature is worth more than any amount of negotiating skill afterwards, which is the point of the closeout deal checklist.