Improve your negotiation approach

Write down three things for every deal over a size you choose: the price you want, the price below which you walk away, and what you can give that costs you little. Do this at proposal stage, not during the final call.

Without a walk-away point, every concession feels reasonable on its own. Together they wipe out your margin. A limit also changes how you sound. You are calmer when you know you can say no.

Every concession needs something in return. Use the form "If I do X, can you do Y?" Longer payment terms for a longer commitment. A lower rate for a case study. A faster start for a signed order this week.

When you give something for nothing, you teach the buyer that asking works. Keep a list of what you can give and what each item is worth to you. That list is your currency.

"That is more than we expected" is a statement, not a request. Ask what they expected and what it is based on. Often the answer is a budget line, a competitor quote or a number someone else suggested.

Then reduce scope before you reduce price. Offer a smaller package, a phased start or a lower volume. If you lower the price for the same work, you tell the buyer the first price was soft. Our chapter on pricing and proposing to close covers how to present the number in the first place.

When a buyer says a competitor is cheaper, ask two questions. What does the cheaper option include? What happens to you if it does not deliver? Then compare outcomes, risk and effort, not line items.

Do not attack the competitor. Say what you do differently and let the buyer decide whether that matters. If it does not matter to them, you are either talking to the wrong buyer or the wrong segment, and that belongs in your lost deal analysis.

Buyers often ask to add something small. Treat each addition as a decision with a price, even when the price is zero. Say: "We can add that. It moves the start date by a week, or the fee by this amount. Which do you prefer?"

Pricing the change makes the buyer choose, and it keeps you out of unpaid work after signing. It also protects the delivery team, which you will brief in the sales-to-delivery handoff.

A deal that goes quiet after a proposal rarely stalls on price. Ask which step is next on their side and who needs to approve it. Offer to join a short call with that person.

Then set a date together: "If I send the revised terms tomorrow, can we agree by Friday?" A deal with an agreed date is a plan. A deal without one is a hope. Our chapter on reducing time from proposal to close goes deeper on timing.

For each of the four situations, write five lines:

• What it sounds like.
• What it usually means.
• Your first question.
• What you can trade.
• What you never do.

Keep it in your CRM or a shared doc, such as Notion, where reps will see it when they prepare. If you record calls with a tool such as Gong, add real examples after each month.

• Opening with a discount because you expect the objection.
• Answering the first no. Ask a question first, because the first reason is rarely the real one.
• Negotiating with the person who cannot sign. Find the decision maker early.
• Agreeing to a concession on a call and sorting out the cost afterwards.
• Treating the playbook as a script. It prepares you, it does not replace listening. Roger Fisher and William Ury make the same point in Getting to Yes: focus on interests, not positions.

Your average discount falls, and the share of discounts given with a trade rises. Reps can say what they gave up and what they got back on every closed deal. Stalled deals each have a named next step and a date. Win rate holds or improves, which tells you that firmer terms are not scaring buyers away.