Official skill · Sales
Negotiation prep with tactical empathy
Prepares a negotiation with Never Split the Difference's tools: limits first, an accusation audit, labels, calibrated questions, safe-no questions and a planned offer sequence. Use it when before a price, contract, renewal or salary talk.
AI skill
Have your AI prepare your next negotiation, with your limit set first
14 days free · No card needed
Works in Claude, ChatGPT, and coding agents. On Team and Business, the official skill in your pod updates itself when we improve it.
When to use it
- Before a price, contract, renewal or salary talk
- The other side said no or went silent
- A deal keeps stalling
What you give it
- Goal, walk-away point and best alternative
- What you know about the other side
- Offers and objections so far
What you get
Limits, a map of the other side and unknowns, an accusation audit, labels, calibrated questions, no-oriented questions, an offer sequence, and a close.
How it works
- Set your limits first
- Map the other side
- Write the accusation audit
- Write labels for their emotions
- Write calibrated questions
- Plan questions that invite a no
- Plan the money sequence
- Plan the close
Example
What you give it
I run a 6-person design studio in Mexico City. A food brand wants a packaging redesign for 12 products. I quoted 380,000 pesos. Their procurement lead, Lucía, replied: 'Our budget is 250,000. Another agency quoted 240,000.' My costs are about 210,000; I won't go below 300,000 because it would delay another client. If this falls through, I have a smaller job worth 120,000 waiting. They want it before their May trade fair.
What you get back (the start of it)
Negotiation prep: packaging redesign, 12 products
Date: [date] · Counterpart: Lucía, procurement lead
My limits
Goal: 380,000 pesos, or less scope for less money · Walk away at: below 300,000 for the full scope · Best alternative: the 120,000 job waiting
Their side
| What they likely want / fear / answer to | Evidence or [check] |
|---|---|
| Stay in a 250,000 budget | her reply |
| Packaging ready for the May trade fair | the brief |
| Justify the choice to her boss or marketing [check] | procurement usually reports to a budget owner [check] |
Unknowns to look for: whether the 240,000 quote covers all 12 products; who in marketing chose us; whether the fair date is fixed.
The rest of this output, the full steps and the checks the AI runs before it answers are in your pod once you add the skill.
Use this skill in your AIShare it with your team
Add it to an AI Skill Pod and everyone on the team, contractors included, uses the same version from their own AI. Read the best ways to share AI skills with a team
Changelog
- v1.0.0 · · First release.
Sources
- The Black Swan Group: Never Split the Difference (read 2026-11-04)
- Wikipedia: Chris Voss (read 2026-11-04)