Sami Sallinen

“What works in the interrogation room also works at your negotiating table.”

Sami Sallinen is Finland’s only former undercover police officer who trains organisations and specialists in negotiation and sales skills. More than 30 years of experience in the most demanding interaction situations imaginable, from heavy police interrogations to international undercover assignments, has been refined into the Tactical Negotiation® method that works at every negotiating table.

Before his coaching career, Sami was one of Finland’s first officers trained for international undercover operations. His career began in the Helsinki Police Department’s narcotics unit and continued through violent crime investigation, the homicide department, and the Finnish Security Intelligence Service. He has interrogated hundreds of criminals, infiltrated professional crime, and taken part in joint operations with police and intelligence agencies across Europe. Those years taught him one lesson above all: every encounter is energy. A negotiation is not won by the best argument alone, but by whoever understands the other party better.

As a speaker, Sami is exceptionally compelling. He combines solid facts, the laws of human behaviour, and gripping real-life stories from his police years. Although the background is serious, Sami is a positive and engaging performer. With his insights, teams learn to read people, build trust, and stay in control of negotiations even under pressure. His training has a 97.8% recommendation rate. He has opened up the same thinking in his books Kehokoodi: Sanattoman viestinnän opas (Readme, 2019) and Kehokoodi: Tunnista ilmeet ja eleet ja hyödynnä niitä kaikissa kohtaamisissasi (Readme, 2021), Taktinen neuvottelu: Hallitse haastavat kohtaamiset (Otava, 2021), written with Harri Gustafsberg, Pelko ja rohkeus (Otava, 2022), Vihainen mieli: Maalittamista ja vihapuhetta (Docendo, 2024), written with Heidi Holmavuo, and Undercover: Soluttautuja rikollisten maailmassa (Docendo, 2026), written with Kale Puonti.

Sami’s talks are an excellent fit for executive teams, managers, B2B sales teams, specialists, lawyers, customer service professionals, and anyone whose work depends on interaction, persuasion, and handling difficult situations. Talks are available in Finnish and English.