Negotiation

Negotiation

Purpose

Get a deal closed on terms you can defend without eroding price. Every concession is traded for something that improves the deal — never given to "get to yes."

Inputs

• The specific ask (discount %, terms, what the buyer wants)
• Deal value, products/SKUs in play, and your floor (walk-away price/terms)
• The value drivers and pains already established — your leverage to re-sell
• Open objections and what the buyer has already committed to

Method

1. Diagnose before you respond. Don't react to the number. Find out why: is it budget, a competing quote, internal approval theater, or a test? The right response differs for each. Ask: "Help me understand — is this a budget ceiling, or are you comparing against another option?"
2. Anchor first, anchor high. Whoever frames the number first sets the range. Lead with full price tied to the value/ROI you established — never open with a discount. If they anchor low, re-anchor to value before discussing the gap; don't negotiate against their number.
3. Trade, don't cave. Never give a concession without getting something back. The rule is "If… then…": "If you can do X, then I can do Y." A unilateral discount trains the buyer that your price is fiction and that pushing harder pays.
4. Re-sell value to protect price. Before conceding a cent, return to the cost of the problem and the value of the outcome. Reframe price as a fraction of the value delivered: "The discount you're asking for is $Z; the problem we discussed is costing you $Z every month." Make price feel small against the stakes.
5. Climb the concession ladder. When you must move on price, extract value in return, working from cheapest-for-them to most valuable-for-you. Ask for these (roughly in order):
   • Longer term length — multi-year commitment for the discount
   • Upfront / annual payment — paid annually or in advance, not monthly
   • Case study / logo rights — public reference or quote
   • References / intros — referenceable calls, intro to other teams/divisions
   • Expansion commitment — committed path to more seats/products/usage Give the smallest price move that closes, and only in exchange for a rung.
6. Recognize manufactured urgency. "We need a decision by Friday" is often a tactic to pressure a discount. Test it: "What happens Friday?" If the deadline is real (board approval, fiscal year), it's leverage you can trade against. If it evaporates under one question, it's manufactured — don't pay for a fake clock.
7. Plan give/gets before the call. Map every concession to its return. Never improvise a discount live.

Concession ladder (cheapest → most valuable to you):

Rung	What you give	What you ask in return
1	Small % off	Longer term (2–3 yr)
2	Larger % off	Upfront / annual prepay
3	Discount or added scope	Case study + logo rights
4	Discount or premium support	Referenceable calls / intros
5	Best price	Committed expansion (seats/products)

Give/get planning table (fill before negotiating):

Their likely ask:        <discount %, terms, scope>
My floor (walk-away):    <price/terms I will not cross>
Concession I'll offer:   <smallest move that closes>
Get in return:           <ladder rung — term, prepay, case study, ref, expansion>
Value to re-sell:        <cost of problem / ROI to anchor against>
Urgency test:            <"what happens on <date>?" — real or manufactured?>

Trade-don't-cave rule: every "yes" to a price move is conditional on a "yes" from them. If they want something for nothing, the answer is a trade, not a discount.

Tool binding

This skill works from the user's stated ask alone. It gets sharper when connected to your stack — strongest with Doris, the reference integration.

With Doris (recommended)

If the Doris MCP (mcp.meetdoris.com) is connected, pull the deal directly instead of asking the user to describe it:

• ontology_resolve("deal", id, expand=["commitments","objections","value_drivers","products"]) — use the real value_drivers to re-sell value and protect price, the products and deal value to size the concession, open objections to understand why they're pushing, and commitments to know what the buyer has already agreed to (leverage for the give/get).
• search_transcripts(...) to quote the buyer's own words on the cost of the problem when you re-sell value. Prefer Doris's extracted value drivers and objections over re-deriving them — they're what the buyer actually said.

With a CRM / CI / email MCP

• CRM MCP (Salesforce/HubSpot) → pull the deal value and products/line items to size the concession and know your floor.
• Conversation-intelligence MCP (Gong/Chorus/Fireflies) → source the value drivers and objections from the call record.
• Email MCP → draft and send the trade ("If you can do X, then I can do Y").

With nothing connected

Ask the user for the ask (discount %, terms requested), the deal value and products, and their floor. Then output a negotiation plan: the anchored value re-sell, the concession ladder with the specific get to request at each rung, a filled give/get table, the urgency test, and the exact "If… then…" trade language to use live.

Works without Doris

Fully functional from the user's stated ask — Doris only removes the description step and supplies evidence-backed value drivers and objections to re-sell against.

Common mistakes

• Giving a discount to "get to yes" without asking for anything in return.
• Discounting before re-selling value — conceding price you never needed to.
• Letting the buyer anchor the number and then negotiating against it.
• Paying for manufactured urgency you never tested with one question.
• Improvising concessions live instead of planning give/gets in advance.