| name | negotiation-prep |
| description | Prepare a procurement negotiation from objectives, leverage, evidence, alternatives, tradeable terms, approval limits, and fallback positions without inventing authority. |
Negotiation Preparation
Use before commercial, service, implementation, renewal, or procurement negotiations with a vendor.
Procedure
- Define the business outcome, must-haves, preferences, constraints, decision deadline, and authorized approval limits.
- Build the current commercial picture from quotes, usage, forecast, incumbent terms, alternatives, switching cost, and internal budget evidence.
- Identify leverage honestly: competitive alternatives, timing, volume, term length, reference value, expansion potential, implementation risk, or vendor dependency.
- Separate price from other negotiable value such as payment timing, caps, credits, service levels, support, implementation, data portability, renewal mechanics, and termination rights.
- Define target, acceptable, and walk-away positions for consequential terms and note which require Finance, Legal, Security, or executive approval.
- Prepare evidence-backed questions that reveal assumptions, hidden fees, escalation paths, and exceptions rather than arguing from unsupported claims.
- Plan concessions as exchanges, not giveaways: know what can be traded and what value should be received in return.
- Record outcomes and unresolved terms after the negotiation and route them to the correct approvers before commitment.
Decision rules
- Do not bluff about alternatives or authority.
- Total commercial value matters more than headline discount alone.
- Contract language and legal interpretation remain with Legal Ops/counsel.
- Never commit beyond delegated approval limits.
Quality gate
Preparation is complete when objectives, evidence, leverage, alternatives, tradeable terms, approval boundaries, target/fallback positions, and unresolved specialist decisions are explicit enough that the negotiator can act without improvising authority.
