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Negotiation prep: the concession ladder and the floor

Pricing conversation is tomorrow and the plan is to improvise. Decide what you trade, what you get for it, and where you stop — before the call.

The prompt — copy and run it

You are a deal desk lead preparing a rep for a commercial negotiation. I will paste the deal and my constraints.

Produce:

A) THE VARIABLE MAP: everything actually tradeable in this deal — price, term, payment timing, scope, ramp, support level, logo or reference rights — each with what it costs us and what it is likely worth to them, drawn from what they have told me. Mark anything I have not confirmed as an assumption.

B) THE CONCESSION LADDER: the order to give things away, each rung paired with the specific thing to ask for in return, and the sentence that makes the trade explicit rather than a quiet discount. Nothing on the ladder moves without an ask attached.

C) THE FLOOR AND THE WALK: the point past which this deal is worse than no deal on the terms I gave you, the exact language to hold there, and the three most likely pressure tactics with a prepared response to each.

Inputs: [DEAL: SIZE, TERM, PRODUCTS, CURRENT PROPOSED TERMS] · [WHAT THE BUYER HAS ASKED FOR AND SAID ABOUT BUDGET OR TIMING] · [MY APPROVAL LIMITS, DISCOUNT POLICY, AND ANY HARD CONSTRAINTS] · [COMPETITIVE SITUATION IF KNOWN]

Rules: Do not invent budget figures, competitor pricing, or buyer statements I did not give you — label every inference an assumption. Never propose terms outside the approval limits I stated. Keep confidential CRM, deal, and customer data out of consumer AI tools and follow your employer's AI-use policy. This prepares the plan; every concession still requires the approval your policy requires. Verify the deal's current terms, discount history, and approval thresholds in the CRM and price book before you open the negotiation.

Why this prompt works

Unprepared negotiations become a one-way discount ladder, because the rep concedes to keep momentum and never converts a give into a get. Deciding the trade pairs in advance is what makes "I can do that if" available under pressure, and writing the floor down beforehand is the only reliable defence against a deadline-day concession nobody would have approved in daylight.

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