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Write the negotiating message

Countering on price, scope, or terms without blowing up the deal.

Longnegotiationmoney
Help me negotiate over email on the terms below.

Before drafting:
1. Tell me what I actually want, as opposed to what I am asking for.
2. Name my leverage honestly, and my alternative if this fails.
3. Identify what is probably cheap for them to give and valuable for me to have.

Then write the message:
- Anchor clearly, with a number or a specific term, not a vague hope.
- One sentence of justification grounded in value or the market, not in my needs.
- Offer a choice between two shapes I would accept, rather than a single demand.
- Stay warm and specific. No ultimatum unless I have said I will act on one.
- Do not soften the number with hedging. State the figure and stop.

Flag anything in my position I should not put in writing.

Situation:
What I want:

Making it yours

  • Paste your own material where the prompt asks for it. Everything above that line is instruction, not content.
  • Delete any rule that does not apply to you. A shorter prompt that fits beats a thorough one that does not.
  • If the answer comes back vague, add a line saying what you do not want. Constraints work better than encouragement.

Declining and negotiating. Saying no cleanly, and putting a number or a counter-offer in writing.

Related prompts

Say no without leaving the door ajarDeclining a request you are genuinely not going to do.Ask for a raise or a rate increasePutting a number in writing to a manager or a long-standing client.Decline a meeting without damageAn invite you should not accept, from someone you cannot simply ignore.Decline this kindlySaying no to something you are genuinely not going to do.Write a cold email that gets a replyReaching out to someone who has no idea who you are and owes you nothing.Follow up without being annoyingSecond or third nudge on something they genuinely might have missed.

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