A discount without a trade teaches the buyer your first price was fiction. When they ask for 10% off, don’t answer with price first — ask what can change on their side: faster signature, longer term, upfront payment, reduced scope, or a reference.
🎯 Try this today: Pick one active deal and write three give-gets you’d ask for before offering any concession.
Discounts train buyers to ask twice. Concessions protect margin when you trade them instead of donating them.
Use the Trade Ledger:
1. Clarify the ask: “What are you trying to solve with that request?”
2. Name the value: “That change affects scope, timing, or economics on our side.”
3. Request a give: “If we can do X, can you commit to Y?”
4. Package it: “So we’d agree to X in exchange for Y.”
5. Confirm in writing: No verbal “special exceptions” floating around.
🎯 Try this today: Write three acceptable “gets” you can ask for in your next negotiation: faster signature, annual prepay, longer term, reduced scope, reference, or executive intro.
When a buyer says, “Can you do better on price?” don’t negotiate against yourself. If you respond with a discount, you just proved the first price was fake.
Borrow from Never Split the Difference and use a calibrated question: “What part of the investment is hardest to justify?” Now you’re negotiating around the real constraint—not a reflexive ask.
🎯 Try this today: Write your one-sentence response to “Can you do better?” and use it before offering any concession.
A discount is not a pricing event. It’s a behavior-setting event. If you drop price without asking for something back—faster signature, longer term, upfront payment, reduced scope—you teach the buyer that pressure works.
🎯 Try this today: Pick one active deal and write your “give-get” before the next call: “If they ask for ___, I’ll trade it for ___.”
Every new request is a stowaway stealing time from work you’ve already committed to. Before you say “Sure,” name the hidden passenger: “Taking this on means Feature X ships a week later.” The explicit trade-off forces real prioritization—yours and theirs.
🎯 Try this today: When the next ask lands, open a blank email (even if you won’t send it) and write one sentence starting with “If I accept, ____ will slip by ____.” Decide only after you’ve seen that cost in black and white.
G.I.V.E. Trade Stack — four moves that turn a flat “no” into a creative “yes”
1. Goals – open by stating the outcome they’re guarding (“You need to cut Q4 spend without dinging uptime”).
2. Interests – probe one layer deeper: “Which matters more—cash savings or predictability?” Hidden drivers surface.
3. Variables – list every knob beyond money: scope, timeline, risk, head-count, visibility, data access.
4. Exchange – pair each ask with a give: concede on a low-cost chip for you, win a high-value chip in return (“If we drop on-site visits, can we keep priority tickets?”).
Multiple small swaps grow the pie and keep both sides feeling respected.
🎯 Try this today: Ahead of your next negotiation, write three variables you can cheaply give and three you dearly want—walk in ready to G.I.V.E. rather than fight over one number.