Tobias Thiele

“Good negotiators ask one more question before they give one more concession.”

Tobias Thiele is an ENS negotiation and influencing strategist based in Utrecht. He works with commercial teams in the food and agri value chain who want to prepare better, ask sharper questions and hold on to their value when the pressure rises. Tobias works in German, Dutch and English and supports clients across the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where he knows the cultural differences at the negotiation table from first-hand experience.

Experience

Tobias spent more than ten years in international B2B sales at FrieslandCampina and vaneeghen, working in dairy and food ingredients. Those years on the sales side of the table gave him a practical understanding of price pressure, annual contract rounds and the many people who influence a buying decision. Today he works as a consultant and trainer focusing on the food industry and the DACH region, drawing on his experience in sales, negotiation and commercial communication.

Specialist Focus

Tobias works mostly with companies in food, feed, food ingredients, FMCG and foodservice, and with clients in the maritime and industrial sector. His programmes range from in-company Negotiation + Influencing training to implementation coaching over several months, in which managers and account teams apply the ENS framework to their own live deals and customer conversations. Recent work includes a management programme for more than 100 managers of an international coffee and tea company and an implementation coaching track for sales managers at a leading European animal feed company. Alongside the ENS method he brings in structured sales methodology and Cialdini’s principles of persuasion, so negotiation skills connect with the way teams already sell and manage their accounts.