Virtual Negotiation Strategies

The CFO walked into the boardroom with 8 different scenarios. Each told a different story about their future. One scenario showed something nobody expected: pausing US exports would be the most profitable if tariffs where negotiated away in the next 30 days. Weeks ago an Anaplan customer was facing critical tariff uncertainty around US exports. Instead of making a gut decision, they modelled 10+ interconnected scenarios connecting: - What-if tariffs are negotiated away in the near future? - Inventory levels across regions - Demand forecasts under different tariff rates - Pricing strategies and P&L impact The decision was made in hours, not weeks. It turned out to be the right decision. This is connected planning in action. Most companies plan in silos: - Finance owns P&L - Supply chain owns inventory - Sales owns demand The winners connect it all. What's the most challenging scenario your team is planning for?

10 Negotiation Claude Prompts I run before every important conversation: Save this. Most founders lose deals in the prep, not the room. 1/ Prep Brief "You're a negotiation coach with 20+ years of experience. I'm about to negotiate [deal/situation] with [other party]. Build me a one-page prep brief: my goals, their likely goals, leverage on both sides, and the 3 outcomes I'd accept." 2/ BATNA Analysis "Here's the deal on the table [paste]. Walk me through my BATNA: my best alternative if this falls through. Then walk me through theirs. Tell me who actually has more leverage and why." 3/ Opening Offer "Here's the context for a negotiation I'm walking into [paste]. Help me craft my opening offer. Include the number, the framing, and how to deliver it so it anchors without killing the deal." 4/ Objection Scripts "Here are the 5 pushbacks I'm expecting in this negotiation [paste]. Write me 2 responses to each. One that holds firm, one that opens a creative trade. Tell me which to use when." 5/ Trade List "Here's what I want and what they want [paste]. Build me a list of 10 trades I could offer that cost me little but feel valuable to them. Rank by how much they'd move the deal forward." 6/ Silence Playbook "Walk me through how to handle silence in a negotiation. What to do when they go quiet after my number. What to do when I should be quiet. Give me 5 scenarios and the right move for each." 7/ Email Draft "I need to send a negotiation email [paste context]. Write me 2 versions. One that holds firm without burning the relationship. One that opens a creative path forward. Keep both under 150 words." 8/ Walk-Away Point "Here's the deal I'm considering [paste]. Help me define my real walk-away point. Include the financial line, the relationship line, and the deal-killers I shouldn't compromise on no matter how good the rest looks." 9/ Power Read "Here's everything I know about the person I'm negotiating with [paste]. Tell me what likely matters most to them: money, time, ego, security, control, legacy. Help me adjust my pitch around what they actually care about." 10/ Post-Negotiation Debrief "Here's what was said in a negotiation I just had [paste transcript or notes]. Tell me where I gave up leverage too early, where I should've pushed harder, and 3 things I'd do differently next time." The prompts are only half of it. Negotiation isn't a personality. It's a process. The best negotiators I've watched aren't smooth talkers. They're prepared. They know their walk-away point before they sit down. They listen more than they pitch. And they don't take the first yes that pops up if it's the wrong yes. Most deals are won in the hour before the call, not during it. Which prompt are you running first? ♻️ Repost if you know a founder who walks into negotiations winging it. P.S. Building a 10-business portfolio, fully remote, from Colorado. Six down so far. Full breakdowns at nathanhirsch(dot)com/newsletter.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬. In my class on complexity and innovative evaluation methods, I always ask participants a simple question before introducing Scenario Planning: what assumptions about the future is your current strategy built on? The room usually goes quiet. Most strategic plans assume one probable future. One trajectory for funding. One political environment. One set of stakeholder priorities. When that future does not materialise, the plan collapses. 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡. It develops 3 to 4 divergent but plausible futures and uses them to stress-test strategies. The goal is not prediction. The goal is robustness. 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐮𝐥: → Strategic planning under deep uncertainty → Risk assessment across shifting political contexts → Building adaptive capacity in programmes and institutions → Testing assumptions before committing resources → Preparing for disruption in health systems, governance, or financing Being right about one future matters far less than being ready for several. The attached Intrac Scenario Planning Guide remains one of the best practical resources on how to develop and use scenarios. It covers the full process from identifying driving forces to constructing scenario narratives. What alternative futures could disrupt your programme or policy? #ScenarioPlanning #StrategicForesight #Uncertainty #AdaptiveStrategy CIREM Hub: Complexity, Systems Thinking & Politics, Arsene Ngombe, Hyphae, Ben Wood, PMP

After 15 years coaching Fortune 500 sales teams, here's the shocking pattern I'm seeing: While most sales teams are blaming market conditions for stalled deals, others are accelerating their velocity. The difference isn't luck or timing, it's strategy. From my work with Microsoft, SAP, Tata, and Ericsson, I've seen sales teams 3x their million-dollar deals even in challenging markets. Here are four moves that the highest-performing sales teams are using right now to keep deals moving forward: 1. Conduct Joint Risk Assessments with Your Customers When you do a joint risk assessment, you're looking at risk from different lenses. Don't just focus on the financial risk, the operational risk, people risk, or technology risk but also include the personal lens - is any fear holding an individual back? Doing this joint assessment will actually help you to identify what truly is stopping the deal so you can take action. Remember, the customer's risk is your opportunity in disguise. 2. Address the Lack of Consensus Think about the decision makers who have not said yes - who in the committee is not aligned? If there is a lack of alignment between the individuals and the collective, that will result in a stall. The key is to identify these stakeholders and work on building consensus among them. 3. Elevate the Altitude of Your Engagement Can you get some of your leaders to directly go upstairs? Meet with CXOs, the CEOs, the boards, so that you could have a conversation at that layer, to ensure that your project becomes an organizational priority. This higher-level engagement can often break through roadblocks that exist at lower levels of the organization. 4. Conduct Scenario Planning Exercises You can't control everything. If the industry is slowing down, the market is slowing down, or if there is a cyclical downturn - you have to find other avenues. What's your plan B? What's your Plan C? These scenario planning exercises will help you foresee potential slowdowns and prepare contingency plans. This ensures no rude surprises, you're always ready to adapt to changing circumstances. The most successful sales organizations don't wait for market conditions to improve - they adapt their approach to succeed within current realities. What techniques have you found effective in keeping deals moving forward in challenging markets?