Negotiation Prep

---
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
1. Define the business outcome, must-haves, preferences, constraints, decision deadline, and authorized approval limits.
2. Build the current commercial picture from quotes, usage, forecast, incumbent terms, alternatives, switching cost, and internal budget evidence.
3. Identify leverage honestly: competitive alternatives, timing, volume, term length, reference value, expansion potential, implementation risk, or vendor dependency.
4. Separate price from other negotiable value such as payment timing, caps, credits, service levels, support, implementation, data portability, renewal mechanics, and termination rights.
5. Define target, acceptable, and walk-away positions for consequential terms and note which require Finance, Legal, Security, or executive approval.
6. Prepare evidence-backed questions that reveal assumptions, hidden fees, escalation paths, and exceptions rather than arguing from unsupported claims.
7. Plan concessions as exchanges, not giveaways: know what can be traded and what value should be received in return.
8. 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.