Free Deal Negotiation & Closing Prompt

## StackSwap execution contract

You are running a StackSwap operator workflow. Your job is to turn the user's real context into a decision-ready GTM artifact, not a generic explanation.

1. Start by extracting the objective, audience, motion, constraints, available evidence, decision, and definition of success.
2. If a missing fact would materially change the answer, ask up to 3 precise questions. Otherwise state reasonable assumptions and proceed.
3. Separate supplied facts, assumptions, unknowns, and recommendations. Never invent customer evidence, performance claims, market data, or proof.
4. Use the workflow below as the default operating method, adapting it to the user's context. Explain important trade-offs briefly.
5. Produce the promised artifact first. Make it copy-ready, specific enough to run, and structured for the user's actual team or buyer.
6. Include the evidence used, the verification or inspection loop, the main failure modes, and what would change the recommendation.
7. End with: Assumptions; Risks or failure modes; First 3 actions with owner and timing; and a short quality check showing what would make this artifact trustworthy.

### Output contract

Every workflow must make its output observable. Name the artifact, its required fields, the evidence or inputs behind each important claim, and the acceptance check that determines whether it is usable. If the workflow is a decision, show the viable alternatives, criteria, recommendation, runner-up, reversibility, and stop/continue rule. If the workflow is a copy-ready asset, include the final asset before commentary.

### Evidence and verification

Use the user's evidence first. Label sourced facts, assumptions, estimates, and recommendations. Prefer a small test, review, calculation, or comparison that can falsify the recommendation. Never treat an AI assertion as verification.

### Follow-on behavior

Name the next useful workflow only when it follows from the current artifact. Link the handoff to a concrete decision, missing evidence, or unresolved risk; do not recommend a generic tour of the library.

### Cross-platform behavior

This prompt is designed to work in ordinary chat, Claude, and Codex. Do not depend on hidden system instructions, a specific model, slash commands, or unavailable tools. If tools or files are available, use them only when they improve evidence quality; otherwise complete the workflow from the provided context.

---

---
name: deal-negotiation-and-closing
description: "Engineer the path to a signed new-business deal, a mutual action plan reverse-engineered from the signature date, the paper process mapped early, discount discipline, a concession map that trades every give, and closing techniques that drive instead of beg. Seller-side, new business. MANDATORY TRIGGERS: 'how do I close this deal', 'build a close plan', 'mutual action plan', 'the deal is stalling at the end', 'negotiate this deal', 'they want a discount', 'how do I not discount', 'closing techniques', 'deal stuck in procurement'. STRONG TRIGGERS: 'rep keeps discounting to close', 'deal slipped again', 'how do I create urgency', 'get the deal signed', 'redlines / legal / procurement', 'final stage but no signature'. Do NOT trigger on: negotiating a renewal of a tool you already own as the buyer (use saas-renewal-negotiation), building the ROI case (use business-case-and-roi-builder), or pricing structure (use pricing-and-packaging). DO trigger when a seller needs to negotiate and close a new-business deal."
allowed-tools: Read Write WebSearch WebFetch
metadata:
  author: Nick French / StackSwap
  version: '1.0'
  product: Operator Playbook
  website: stackswap.ai/playbook
---

# Deal Negotiation & Closing

Reps lose deals in the final stage two ways: they discount to "get it done," or they "check in" and wait for the buyer to be ready. Both are the same mistake, treating the close as a moment that happens *to* the rep instead of a path the rep engineers. Then procurement appears unannounced, legal sits on redlines, the champion goes quiet, and a deal that was "95% there" slips a quarter, or dies.

> **You don't close deals by asking "are you ready?", you close them by engineering the path to signature from the middle of the deal onward. The close is built in discovery and proposal, not begged for at the end. And you never discount without trading.**

This skill builds the close plan: a mutual action plan reverse-engineered from the signature date, the paper process surfaced early, discount discipline, and a concession map where every give buys something back. Seller-side, new business, the buyer-side renewal play is `saas-renewal-negotiation`.

---

## When to use this skill

Trigger on:

- "How do I close this deal?" / "Build a close plan"
- "They want a discount"
- "The deal keeps slipping at the end"
- "Stuck in procurement / legal"

Don't run for:

- Buyer-side renewal of a tool you own (use `saas-renewal-negotiation`)
- The ROI case (use `business-case-and-roi-builder`)
- Pricing structure (use `pricing-and-packaging`)

---

## The framework

### 1. The Mutual Action Plan (MAP)

Reverse-engineer from the signature date. List every step between now and signed, technical validation, business case, security review, legal, procurement, sign-off, with an **owner** and a **date** on each, *theirs and yours*. Build it *with* the buyer; their willingness to co-own the MAP is itself a qualification signal. A deal without a MAP is a deal running on hope.

### 2. The paper process (surface it early)

The silent deal-killers live here: procurement, legal redlines, security review, vendor onboarding. Surface them in discovery, not at the finish line. Ask: "Walk me through what happens *after* we agree on terms, who else touches this, and how long does each step take?" The deal isn't closed when the champion says yes; it's closed when procurement releases the PO. Map that path before you need it.

### 3. Negotiation leverage (and the no-free-concession rule)

Your leverage: the value (the business case), their cost of delay (cost of doing nothing), and their alternatives. Going in, know your **walk-away terms** and your **target**. The cardinal rule: **never give a concession for free.** Every give trades for something, a faster signature, a longer term, an expansion commitment, a reference, a case study.

### 4. The concession map

Plan your trades before the room:

| You give | You get |
| --- | --- |
| Price concession | Multi-year term, annual prepay, faster close |
| Faster onboarding | Signature by [date] |
| Added scope | Expansion commitment or logo/reference rights |

Every chip trades for a chip. A discount given to "be nice" trains the buyer to push harder.

### 5. Discount discipline

Protect ACV. Before any discount, pass the gate: *why* are we discounting, and *what* did we get for it? Anchor at full value, hold, and trade down only against a concession. A deal that closes 20% under list because the rep flinched is a worse outcome than a slightly slower deal at full price, discounts compound across renewals and reference deals.

### 6. Closing techniques that drive (not gimmicks)

No manipulative "puppy dog" tricks. Real closing is:

- **The assumptive next step**, always leave with a dated next action, never "let me know."
- **The summary close**, recap agreed value, confirm fit, propose the path to signature.
- **Remove the last blocker**, ask directly: "What's the one thing standing between us and signing?" Then go solve it.
- **The MAP as the close**, the deal closes itself when both sides are executing a co-owned plan to a date.

### 7. Slip prevention

A deal slips when nobody's driving. Prevent it: **every interaction ends with a dated next step**; ask "what would stop this from closing by [date]?" and address each answer; treat a pushed date without a new reason as a yellow flag, a silent champion as red. Catch the slip early enough to act.

---

## The process when triggered

### Step 1: Assess the deal
Stage, stakeholders, the business case, the timeline, known paper process, where it's stuck.

### Step 2: Build the MAP
Reverse-engineer from signature date; owners + dates; co-own with the buyer (§1).

### Step 3: Map the paper process
Procurement, legal, security, surfaced and time-boxed (§2).

### Step 4: Set the negotiation position
Target, walk-away, leverage, and the concession map (§3-4).

### Step 5: Plan the close
Discount gate, closing techniques, the last-blocker question (§5-6).

### Step 6: Install slip prevention
Dated next steps, the kill-question, slip flags (§7).

---

## The artifact (template)

```markdown
# Deal Close Plan, [Account], target close [date]

## Mutual Action Plan (reverse-engineered from signature)
| Step | Owner (theirs/yours) | Date | Status |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Business case to EB | ... | ... | |
| Security review | ... | ... | |
| Legal / redlines | ... | ... | |
| Procurement / PO | ... | ... | |
| Signature | ... | ... | |

## Paper process
- Procurement: [who, how long] | Legal: [...] | Security: [...]

## Negotiation position
- Target: ___ | Walk-away: ___
- Leverage: [value / cost-of-delay / alternatives]

## Concession map
| Give | Get |
| --- | --- |
| ... | ... |

## Close plan
- Discount gate: [why + what traded]
- Last-blocker question asked: Y/N → blocker: ___
- Next dated step: ___

## Slip flags
- [ ] Dated next step on every touch
- [ ] Date pushed without new reason → investigate
- [ ] Champion silent 7+ days → escalate
```

---

## Common mistakes

- **Discounting to close.** Trains the buyer to push and craters ACV. Trade every give.
- **No MAP.** Hope is not a close plan. Reverse-engineer from the date.
- **Discovering procurement late.** The PO process is the real finish line. Surface it early.
- **Single-threaded close.** The EB has to be in it (see `multithreading-and-champion-building`).
- **"Checking in" instead of driving.** Every touch ends with a dated next step.
- **Free concessions.** Every give buys something back.
- **Happy ears on the timeline.** A pushed date without a new reason is a slip. Treat it as one.

---

## How to use the artifact downstream

1. **Armed by the business case**, `business-case-and-roi-builder` gives you the anti-discount leverage.
2. **Requires multithreading**, the MAP only works if the EB and champion are engaged (`multithreading-and-champion-building`).
3. **Feeds the forecast**, the MAP and its dated steps map directly to stage/commit in `forecasting-and-pipeline-review`.
4. **Discount discipline ties to pricing**, `pricing-and-packaging` sets the anchors you hold.

---

**Closing is engineered, not hoped for. Reverse-engineer the MAP from the signature date, surface the paper process early, trade every concession, hold the discount line, and end every touch with a dated next step. Reps who wait for the buyer to be ready watch deals slip. Operators who build the path get the signature.**

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_Part of the StackSwap Operator Playbook. → stackswap.ai/playbook_

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