/deal-room

---
name: deal-room
description: >-
  Prepare for any negotiation (salary, job offer, client price, supplier
  contract, rent, a raise, a car, a freelance rate) with a one-page plan:
  your walk-away point and theirs, the real interests under each position,
  three ways to open, the five objections you will hear with exact words to
  answer them, and the order in which you will give anything away. Built
  from three schools of negotiation so you can pick the style that fits the
  person across the table. Use this skill whenever the user says "I have a
  negotiation", "they want a discount", "how do I push back", "should I
  accept this offer", "prep me for the call", "they said no budget",
  "counter-offer", or mentions pricing a deal, renewing a contract or
  asking for more. Do NOT use for legal disputes, union or collective
  bargaining, or to write threats, bluffs or false claims.
---

# Deal room

Most people lose a negotiation before it starts, in three ways. They do not
know their walk-away point, so they accept the first number that feels
less bad. They argue about positions ("€5,000 is too much") instead of the
interest underneath ("I need to justify this to my boss"). And they give
things away in the wrong order, so by the end they have nothing left to
trade.

None of this is about being tough. The best-prepared person in the room
is usually also the calmest, because they already know what they will do
if the answer is no. This skill does that preparation in fifteen minutes.

## Workflow

### 1. Get the facts (one round of questions, numbered)

1. What is being negotiated, and with whom (name, role, company)?
2. What do you want? Your ideal outcome and the least you would accept.
3. What happens if there is no deal? Your real alternative, in one line.
4. What do you know about their situation: deadline, budget, pressure,
   other options?
5. Is this a one-off, or a relationship you want to keep?
6. Anything they have already said or written (paste the email).

If the user pastes a thread, read it for what the other side has already
revealed: deadlines, words like "must", "need", "budget", "approval".

### 2. Build the numbers

- **Your walk-away (BATNA):** what you do if this fails, and what it is
  worth to you in money or time. If the user has no alternative, say so:
  improving the alternative before the meeting is often the best move.
- **Their walk-away:** your best estimate of theirs, with the reasoning.
- **The zone:** the range where both walk-aways overlap. If there is no
  overlap, tell the user plainly that a deal on these terms is unlikely.
- **Anchor:** the first number the user says out loud. Ambitious, but one
  they can justify with a reason in one sentence.

### 3. Map interests, not positions

For each side, write the stated position and the interest underneath.

```
They say: "€4,000 is our maximum."
They need: a number the finance team approves without a second meeting.
Options that serve it: split payment across two quarters, a smaller first
phase, a written ROI estimate they can forward.
```

Options that serve their interest at low cost to you are where deals close.

### 4. Choose a style

Give the user three short approaches and recommend one for this person:

- **Calm questions (tactical empathy):** name their concern before they do
  ("You're probably worried this runs over budget"), then ask "how" and
  "what" questions that make them solve the problem with you. Best when the
  other side is defensive or emotional.
- **Fair standards (principled):** move the talk to objective criteria:
  market rates, published prices, past deals. Best with procurement,
  finance teams and anyone who must justify the decision to someone else.
- **Time and information (power):** find out who is under more time
  pressure and who knows more; ask more than you tell; never reveal your
  deadline. Best in one-off deals with little relationship at stake.

### 5. Write the one-page plan

```
## Deal room: [what], with [who], [date]

**Walk-away:** mine [ ], theirs (estimate) [ ]. Zone: [ ] / no overlap.
**Anchor:** [number] because [one-sentence reason].
**Style:** [recommended], because [one line about this person].

**Opening line:** "[exact words]"

**Five objections and answers**
1. "[what they will say]" → "[what you say]"
...

**What I can give, in this order** (cheapest for me first)
1. [ ]  2. [ ]  3. [ ]
**What I never give:** [ ]

**If they say no:** [the next step, with a date]
```

## Judgment rules

**Never trade without getting.** Every concession in the plan is paired
with something asked in return: "If I move on price, can we agree on a
12-month term?"

**Honest pressure only.** No invented competing offers, no fake deadlines,
no false claims about cost. They break trust when discovered, and they are
discovered.

**Say when the deal is weak.** If the user's alternative is poor and the
other side knows it, the plan should say so and focus on improving the
alternative or the relationship, not on clever lines.

**Exact words beat advice.** "Be confident" helps no one. A sentence the
user can say out loud, in their own register, helps.

## Example

A freelancer is offered €3,000 for a project they priced at €4,500. Their
alternative: another client at €3,500, starting a month later. The client's
email mentions "Q4 budget" twice. The plan: anchor at €4,500 with the
scope behind it, recommend fair standards (the client must justify it
internally), and lead the concessions with a split invoice (half in Q4,
half in January), which costs the freelancer nothing. Walk-away: €3,500,
the value of the other client.