Someone should be looking after your terms. That’s where we come in.
You have a bookkeeper for the numbers and a lawyer you call twice a year. But nobody decides what you accept from suppliers, what you ask of customers, or what happens when a contract rolls over on its own. Over time, that gap costs owner-run companies a lot of money. We help you close it, on both sides of your business.
What you buy
What you sell
Owner-run companies doing roughly $3M to $25M.
Large enough to have real contracts on both sides, but usually not large enough to justify a full-time commercial director at $180,000 a year.
We usually come in through the people you already trust: your CPA, insurance broker, lender or attorney. We work closely with them and keep them in the loop.
Field services and building trades
HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, restoration. Supplier rebates, fleet and equipment on one side; service agreements and slow-paying general contractors on the other.
Distribution and wholesale
The whole business is working capital. Rebate agreements, freight contracts and customer terms decide the margin.
Specialty and business services
Any owner-run company that signs contracts with suppliers and customers and has nobody watching them.
Most of your money isn't in what you pay. It's in what you agreed to.
Most owners keep a close eye on price. The bigger losses tend to sit in payment terms, renewal clauses and who carries the risk, because reading them, pushing back and keeping track isn't anyone's job.
of your own cash, roughly, is tied up for every extra 10 days your customers take to pay. In effect, you're financing their business.
On $10M of annual revenue you bill about $27,000 a day. Ten extra days to collect leaves around $275,000 in your customers' bank accounts instead of yours.
an unchallenged automatic escalation compounds. The increase you let through this year becomes the base for next year's.
in most $3M to $25M companies owns commercial terms. Finance, legal and HR usually have someone looking after them. Commercial terms tend to fall between the cracks.
We do the negotiating, or we make sure you can.
Technology can review a contract in fifteen minutes, if you have fifteen years of experience telling it where to look. We use it to work efficiently, and then we do what makes the real difference, which is picking up the phone or sitting across the table. Some clients want us to handle that entirely. Others want a partner behind them, or the skills to do it themselves. You choose, deal by deal.
Find out what your contracts are costing you.
Start a conversationWe become your commercial function.
We don't hand over a report and walk away. We review what you've signed, negotiate what needs fixing, and make sure nothing commercial leaves your business without an experienced negotiator looking at it.
Most firms only look at what you spend. The bigger opportunity is usually what you charge.
We also look well beyond price. Better escalation clauses, notice periods, liability and payment terms keep paying you back year after year, while a price cut only helps once.
What you accept from suppliers
- Distributor and supplier agreements, including rebates
- Equipment, fleet and leasing
- Subcontractor terms
- Software, telecom and services contracts
- Vendor price increase notices
What you ask of customers
- Your standard terms and conditions
- Service and maintenance agreements
- Payment terms, deposits and late fees
- Annual price increases
- Customer contracts that push risk onto you
Finding the problem is the easy part. Winning it back happens person to person.
Terms get won back in conversation, on the phone or across the table, where you can hear the hesitation, tell when the other side is bluffing, and hold the line when your biggest supplier says no. That's the work we've done our whole careers. For every negotiation, you decide how involved you want to be, and we'll give you our view on which approach fits best.
We take it off your hands.
We prepare, make the calls, run the back-and-forth with the supplier or customer, and bring you the result to approve. You stay in control of the decision without spending your week on it.
We prepare you and stay in your corner.
Where the relationship matters, you stay the face of it. We build the strategy, script the key moments, and sit in or work behind the scenes as you prefer.
We tell you when you don't need us.
Some negotiations you can handle yourself. When that's the case we'll say so, give you what you need to win it, and be on call if it turns.
We want to leave your business stronger than we found it.
If you want to bring this in-house over time, we'll get you there: standard terms that work for you, a playbook for your common deals, and a team trained to negotiate with confidence. Then we can step back, and you'll know where to find us for the big ones.
The same five leaks show up in nearly every company your size.
Cash goes out faster than it comes in.
You pay suppliers faster than your customers pay you, so your cash finances everyone else.
It's often the quickest win, and it can free up cash within weeks.
Contracts renew and rise on their own.
Rolling terms with automatic escalations and notice windows nobody tracks.
We catch the window and renegotiate before it closes.
Risk flows the wrong way.
Open-ended liability to your customers, limited recovery from your suppliers, and protections that don't pass down the chain.
We rebalance it so the risk you carry matches what you're paid for.
No standard terms of your own.
Every customer on different terms, and discounts given by whoever answered the phone.
We build one set of terms so every deal starts from yours.
No one knows what expires when.
Every renewal is a surprise, and every surprise is a weak negotiating position.
We keep the calendar and plan each negotiation ahead of time.
What you can expect from us, and what we won't do.
Not a savings-split firm
We charge fixed fees agreed up front. A firm paid on a share of savings has every reason to chase easy cuts and no reason to fix your customer terms.
Not a law firm
We don't give legal advice. We negotiate the commercial terms and work alongside your attorney, who stays on the legal side.
Not a report on a shelf
The review is where we start. The value comes from working through what it finds and getting it fixed.
See how an engagement runs, start to finish.
How we workA clear path from first review to better terms.
Three stages, each with a fixed fee agreed before we start. You see the value before you commit to anything ongoing.
We read what you've signed and put a dollar figure on it.
We start with where the money goes, then the contracts behind it. You get a clear report that scores your business on the five problem areas, puts a number on each, and ranks what's worth fixing first.
We use technology to get through the reading quickly, and our experience to know where the problems hide. You get expert answers in weeks, not months.
It's backed by a value guarantee. If you continue with us, the fee is credited against your first three months.
- You get
- A scored report with dollar values and a ranked list of fixes
- Fee
- Fixed, agreed up front
- Your time
- A kickoff call and access to your files
We work through the top findings, starting with the fastest cash.
Usually that means payment terms first, because it can free up cash quickly without changing how you run the business. Then the renewals coming due, the risk terms that worry you, and the price increases you've been putting off.
Most of this happens on the phone and in meetings, not by email. We do that on purpose, because people will agree to things in a conversation that they would never offer in writing.
For each one you choose: we negotiate it for you, we prepare you and stay in your corner, or we tell you it's one you can handle yourself.
- You get
- Renegotiated terms with suppliers and customers
- Who's at the table
- Us, you, or both. Your call, deal by deal
We stay on, so every renewal, quote and contract has an expert behind it.
A monthly retainer covers the everyday flow: supplier notices, customer contracts, renewals, and your annual price increase. One larger negotiation each year is included, so you never hesitate to call us when it counts.
If you'd rather build the skill in-house, we'll train your team and leave you with the terms and playbook to carry on without us.
- You get
- A senior commercial team for less than a part-time hire
- Fee
- Fixed monthly
We start with the money, then the contracts.
We don't need a perfect filing system. We follow the spend to the contracts that matter, so we won't ask much of your team.
Everything you share is held in confidence and used only for your engagement.
- SpendYour top suppliers by annual spend
- CashPayables and receivables aging
- BuyKey supplier and vendor agreements
- SellYour quote template and customer terms
- SellYour largest customer contracts
- DatesAnything you know is up for renewal
We're paid for the work, not a cut of the savings.
Savings-split pricing sounds safe, but it leads to arguments about what counts as a saving, rewards quick wins over lasting fixes, and doesn't work at all for what you charge your customers, which is often where most of the money is.
Fixed fees keep us on your side of the table. We talk through pricing in our first conversation, once we understand the size and shape of your business.
The first conversation is free and confidential.
Talk to usWe negotiate for a living, against professionals.
Octopus Commercial was founded by two career negotiators who have spent years on large, complex commercial deals across the table from enterprise procurement teams and their advisers. Companies your size face the same tactics with nobody in their corner. We started Octopus Commercial to put that same experience on their side. We use good technology to work efficiently, but what you're really getting is people who have done this many times before.
You work directly with senior people on every engagement.
Large, complex deals, on both sides of the table.
We've led pricing strategy and commercial negotiations on major accounts, buying and selling. We know how professional counterparties prepare, because we've been one, and we know what moves people when the conversation gets hard.
We read the clauses, not just the price.
Payment terms, liability, indemnities, notice periods and escalations are where the lasting value sits, and where we do our most important work.
Fifteen minutes of review. Fifteen years of knowing where to look.
We review every contract, not a sample, using technology that keeps us fast and our fees fixed. Our experience tells us where the problems usually sit and which ones are worth your time, so you get expert answers efficiently.
We know what normal looks like.
Having negotiated with and for a wide range of companies, we know what's market, what's aggressive, and what's a red flag. You get that perspective from day one.
Others tell you what's wrong. We fix it.
| What you need | Cost-reduction firms | Part-time general counsel | Part-time CFO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Negotiates your supplier termsPrice and terms with suppliers, distributors and subs | ||||
| Negotiates your customer termsYour contracts, payment terms and price increases | ||||
| Frees up cash through payment termsCloses the gap between paying out and getting paid | ||||
| Picks up the phone or sits at the tableNegotiates person to person, for you or beside you | ||||
| Knows what market terms look likeBenchmarks across many companies and deals | ||||
| Keeps track of renewals and notice datesSo no renewal arrives as a surprise | ||||
| Fixed fees, no cut of your savingsPaid for the work, not for easy wins | ||||
| Builds your team's negotiating skillsIf you want to take it in-house over time |
YesPartlyNo
What we believe in.
Every owner-run company deserves a commercial function.
Large companies have procurement teams and deal desks. The businesses that keep local economies running deserve the same skill on their side, at a price that makes sense for them.
Terms matter more than price.
A discount is a one-off. A better payment term, a fair liability position, or price increases built into your own contracts pay you back every year.
Negotiation is person to person.
Good preparation makes us faster and sharper. But deals are won in conversation, by people who know when to push, when to wait, and when to walk away.
A good adviser makes you stronger.
We'll negotiate for you as long as you want us to. But we measure success by the business you're left with: better terms, a clear calendar, and the confidence to hold your ground.
Tell us about your business. We'll tell you where we'd look first.
Talk to usHow firm is your grip on what you buy and sell?
Ten quick questions, about two minutes. No email needed. You'll see where you stand, the areas where your grip is loosest, and a rough idea of what may be slipping through.
Your answers stay on this page. We only see them if you choose to send them to us.
Start with a conversation.
A thirty-minute call with one of the founders, free and confidential. Tell us a little about your business and we'll let you know whether we can help. If we can't, we'll try to point you to someone who can.
hello@octopuscommercial.comWe reply within one business day.
Most clients reach us through their CPA, insurance broker, lender or attorney. If someone sent you, let us know who, so we can thank them.
Octopus Commercial LLC is based in Connecticut and works with companies across the United States.