Walk into the negotiation with a plan.
“The prospect just asked for a discount and I have no idea what I can give up.”
Your walk-away and target, the concession ladder, their likely asks, and the holds that protect price and terms.
What this skill does
Turns a looming price conversation into a plan you can run. It fixes your target and your walk-away before the pressure sets in, lays out the order you trade concessions and what you ask for in return each time, predicts what the other side will push on, and gives you the words to hold the line. You leave knowing the floor you will not cross and the moves you will make above it.
Inputs
- Works today with: what you paste about the deal. The price on the table, what they have asked for, the terms in play, who is in the room, and your own cost floor. A few sentences is enough to start.
- More powerful connected to a CRM: it reads the deal size, stage, close date, and history automatically, so the ladder is anchored to the real opportunity.
- Sharper with a meeting or email tool: pulls what the buyer actually said they cared about, so their likely asks are grounded, not guessed.
- Sharper with a pricing or quoting record: anchors the walk-away to your real discount floor, not a round number.
How it works
- 1Walk-away and target (set both first)
Two positions before anything else. The TARGET is what you are steering to. The WALK_AWAY is the point past which the deal costs more than it earns. Everything in between is where you negotiate. Name both before the conversation so no in-room pressure quietly moves them.
- 2The concession ladder (trade, never give)
List what you can concede in order of least painful to most. For each rung, name what you ask for in return. Nothing moves for free. A discount buys a signature date. A longer term buys a better rate. If you cannot name what a concession buys you, it is not on the ladder yet.
- 3Their likely asks (anticipate, then answer)
Map what the other side will push on: price, payment terms, scope, timing, an exit clause. For each, draft the response that holds. The goal is that nothing they ask catches you deciding on the spot.
- 4Protect price and terms (the holds)
For the two or three things you will not move, write the sentence that holds them without ending the conversation. "I can't move the rate, but here is what I can do on the start date." A hold with an alternative is a hold that survives.
- 5Sequence and room (who, in what order)
Note who is in the room and who is not. Plan what you open with, what you hold back, and what you never put on the table unless asked. The first number anchors the range, so decide it on purpose.
Output format
NEGOTIATION PLAN · Acme Corp · $60K on the table (illustrative)
Target: list price, 12-month term, signature by month-end
Walk-away: below 15% off OR no term commitment
Concession ladder (trade, do not give):
1. Flexible start date -> ask: signature this week
2. 10% off list -> ask: 24-month term
3. Add onboarding credit -> ask: reference logo + case study
(floor: 15% off, and only with a multi-year term)
They will likely ask:
"Can you do 20% off?" -> Hold. Offer the term-for-rate trade instead.
"Net-60 payment" -> Give, in exchange for the signature date.
"Month-to-month" -> Hold hard. This breaks the model.
Open with: list price, framed on the outcome, not the number.
Tips
- No concession on the ladder without a named thing it buys you.
- Walk-away is set before the plan is built, never adjusted mid-plan to make a deal fit.
- Their likely asks are grounded in what they actually said where that is available, and flagged as assumption where it is not.
- Any number carried from the deal is shown with its source, never invented to look precise.
Turn a discovery call into a qualification scorecard.
Runs your call against your qualification framework, captures the deal, and names the gaps you still have to fill.
Build a demo that maps to the buyer's problems.
Maps every feature you plan to show to a problem the buyer actually stated, and cuts what does not map.