Training · Tech
Sales negotiation training for software and tech teams
This is a four-week negotiation training program for B2B software and technology companies, built on The Salecopy Method. It is for founders, sales leaders and reps who sell subscriptions, licenses or IT services to other businesses. At the end, your team can run a pricing conversation from a written plan: the buyer's deadline, the cost of waiting, every approver, the trades and the walk-away, all on the deal record in your CRM (customer relationship management system, the place your deals are kept).
Who it is for
- Founders at software companies who still close most deals themselves and want the next hire to negotiate the same way.
- Sales leaders at SaaS (software as a service) companies whose discounts get bigger in the last two weeks of every quarter.
- Account executives and account managers who sell seats, usage tiers, renewals and expansions.
- IT and software vendors whose deals pass through a security review and a procurement team before anyone signs.
How it runs
Four weeks. Live sessions with your team, on your own open deals. Between sessions, each person practises against an AI buyer and brings the transcript back. At the end, the eight moves are fields in your CRM, so the habits outlast the training.
Quoted per team as a custom fixed quote.
Why deals stall
Four ways tech deals get stuck.
The trial that never converts
The buyer starts a free trial or a pilot (a small paid or unpaid test) with no agreed test and no end date. It runs out quietly and nobody on their side has to decide anything.
The champion who cannot sign
Your contact loves the product and agrees the terms. Then finance, IT security or procurement (the team that buys on the company's behalf) sees the deal for the first time and reopens all of it.
The late security and legal review
The price is agreed, and then a security questionnaire and a contract redline arrive. The start date moves by weeks and the buyer uses the delay to ask for more.
Build it ourselves, or do nothing
The real competitor is often an internal engineering team, a spreadsheet, or the tool the buyer already has. Nobody loses the deal on a call. It just stops moving.
The Salecopy Method, in tech
The eight moves, in your sector's words.
| Move | What it means here | A line to say | On the record |
|---|---|---|---|
| S Signal | Find the date on the buyer's side that makes this urgent: a renewal with the current vendor, a launch, an audit, a new leader, a tool being retired. Your quarter end is not the buyer's deadline, and a trial with no end date is not one either. | When does your current contract renew, and what happens if you are still on the old tool the day after? | Why now (text) and Buyer's deadline (date), plus Trial end date on any deal with a trial or pilot. Required before the deal leaves discovery. |
| A Anchor | Work out with the buyer what the problem costs each month in their figures: hours of manual work, engineers kept busy maintaining an internal tool, licenses for the software you would replace. Your subscription is then compared with that number, not with a competitor's per-seat price. | You said two engineers spend about a day a week keeping the internal tool running. Using your salary figure, that is roughly this much a month. Is that about right? | Cost of doing nothing (currency, per month) and Whose numbers (the buyer contact who confirmed it), with the inputs kept in a note on the deal. |
| L List | Write down everyone who can approve, block or delay a software purchase: the champion, the budget holder, the IT or security reviewer, procurement, legal, and the people who will use it. Ask early which of them has to see it and in what order. | Before this is signed, who reviews it for security, who reviews the contract, and who owns the budget? I would like to get each of them what they need this week. | Buying roles on the deal: Decision maker, Budget holder, User, Security or IT reviewer, Legal or procurement, each with a contact attached and a last-contacted date. |
| E Evidence | Log each objection in the buyer's words and answer it with something they can check: a completed security questionnaire, a test run on their own data, a written answer on an integration, a reference call. For a trial or pilot, agree in writing what result counts as a pass before it starts. | That is a fair concern about the integration. Here is what I can show you working in your trial account, and here is the part I cannot show until setup. | Open objections (list on the deal): objection, raised by, evidence sent, status open or closed. Pilot success criteria (text) on any deal with a trial or pilot. |
| C Concessions | Write the two columns before the pricing call. What you can give: a lower per-seat rate, a price held at renewal, extra onboarding, a later billing start. What you ask for: a longer term, annual payment up front, a larger seat commitment, a signature date, a case study. | I can lower the per-seat rate if we move to a two-year term paid annually. Or we keep the one-year term at the current rate. Which matters more to you? | Give and get list (table on the deal): what we can give, what it costs us, what we ask for in return, approved by. |
| O Options | Write your lowest per-seat rate and shortest acceptable term before price is discussed, and what you will offer instead of going lower: fewer seats, a lower tier, a later start. Then write the buyer's real alternatives, which are usually to build it, stay on the current tool, or do nothing. | At that rate I cannot include every seat and the onboarding. I can do the full team at this rate, or one department now and the rest at renewal. | Walk-away (currency and terms), Our alternative (text) and Buyer's alternative (text), filled in before the deal enters negotiation. |
| P Paper | Agree a short dated plan that names the steps software deals slip on: the security questionnaire, the contract review, the purchase order, the signature, and the kickoff. Start the security and legal steps while the price is still being discussed, not after. | Let us write down what has to happen between now and go-live: security review, contract review, signature, kickoff. Who owns each one on your side, and by what date? | Mutual plan (checklist on the deal): step, owner on our side, owner on their side, due date, done. Include Security review and Contract review as their own steps. |
| Y Yes | End each call with one dated step that a named person on the buyer's side owns: the security form returned, the order form sent to procurement, the signature. A message saying the team is still testing is not a next step. | Good. Who sends the order form to procurement, and what day should I expect it back signed? | Next step (text), Next step owner (buyer contact) and Next step date. A deal in negotiation with no dated next step drops out of the forecast. |
The four weeks
What your team does each week.
- 1Why now and what waiting costsEvery open deal has a buyer deadline and a cost of doing nothing written on the record, confirmed by a named contact on the buyer's side.
- Signal: finding the buyer's own date, so your quarter end stops being the only deadline on the deal
- Anchor: building the monthly cost of waiting from the buyer's figures, including the cost of building it themselves
- Trials and pilots: setting an end date and a pass mark before the buyer logs in
AI practice drillEach rep pastes the notes from one live deal into an AI assistant and asks for the why-now in one sentence and the cost calculation with every input shown. The rep corrects it, then says it out loud to a colleague.
- 2The people and the proofThe team can name every approver on a deal and has a list of open objections with the evidence that answers each one.
- List: mapping the champion, budget holder, security reviewer, procurement and legal, and asking for introductions early
- Evidence: answering security, integration and adoption objections with something the buyer can check
- The champion who cannot sign: helping your contact make the case inside their own company
AI practice drillThe AI plays an IT security reviewer who has never heard of your product and asks hard questions. The rep answers only with evidence the company really has and writes down every question that had no answer.
- 3Trades and limitsEach rep walks into a pricing call with an approved give and get list and a written walk-away, and can respond to a discount request with a trade.
- Concessions: building the give and get list for term length, payment timing, seat counts and usage tiers
- Options: writing the walk-away and two smaller versions of the deal before the call
- Quarter-end pressure: what to say when the buyer asks what you can do if they sign this month
AI practice drillThe AI plays a buyer who asks for a discount three different ways. The rep must answer each one with a trade from the list, and the AI reports every time something was given with nothing asked in return.
- 4Paper, dates and renewalsEvery deal in negotiation has a mutual plan with owners and dates, a dated next step, and the same eight moves applied to renewals and expansions.
- Paper: writing the mutual plan with the buyer, with security and contract review as named steps
- Yes: closing each call with a dated step the buyer owns, and moving the deal back a stage when there is none
- Renewals and expansion: running the method on an existing customer who wants a lower rate or more seats
AI practice drillEach rep runs the full role-play below on a real deal, then gives the AI their deal record and asks it to list which of the eight moves have nothing written down.
Try it now
Practise it with AI
The role-play prompt
Copy the prompt into an AI assistant, fill in the square brackets with a real deal, and speak or type your side as you would on the call. The AI plays the buyer and scores you at the end. It is practice only: you still decide what to say to the real buyer.
You are going to help me practice a software sales negotiation. Play the buyer. Stay in role until I type END. About the deal: - I sell: [your product, one line on what it does] - The buyer: [company type and size], you are their [job title, for example head of operations] - What they use today: [current tool, spreadsheet, or internal build] - Deal size: [number of seats or usage tier], [list price], [term length] - Where the deal is: [for example, trial finished last week, pricing call today] - Today's date in the scenario: [for example, two weeks before my quarter end] How to play the buyer: - You like the product but you are not the only decision maker. Finance must approve the spend, and IT security and procurement have not seen it yet. Do not volunteer this. Reveal it only if I ask who else is involved. - You have a real reason to act and a real date, but share them only if I ask a good question about why now. - Your alternatives are to have your own engineers build something, or to stay as you are. Bring up at least one of them. - You know vendors discount at quarter end. Ask for a large discount early, and ask again in a different way later. - Raise at least two objections that are common when buying software, such as security, integration with your existing systems, whether your team will really use it, or being locked into a long contract. - If I offer a concession without asking for anything back, accept it and ask for more. - If I ask for a trade, respond as a reasonable buyer would: accept some, push back on others. - Do not agree to a dated next step unless I ask for one clearly. - Keep each reply to a few sentences, as a real person would on a call. Do not coach me while in role. If any detail above is still in square brackets or missing, list what is missing and ask me for it before we start. When I type END, leave the role and score me from 0 to 2 on each of the eight steps of The Salecopy Method, with one sentence of evidence from the conversation for each score: S Signal: did I find out what changed for you and your deadline? A Anchor: did I agree with you what the problem costs each month before I talked about price? L List: did I find everyone who can approve, block or delay? E Evidence: did I answer objections with proof, and say what I could not show? C Concessions: did every give have a get? O Options: did I hold a limit and offer a smaller version instead of going lower? P Paper: did I propose a written plan with steps, owners and dates, including security and contract review? Y Yes: did the call end with a dated next step that you own? Then give me the total out of 16, the single moment where I gave the most away, and the exact sentence I could have said instead. Do not draft or send any message to a real person. This is practice only.
The buttons open a new chat with the prompt already typed in. Fill in the square brackets before you send it, or copy it into the AI assistant you already use. It is for practice and preparation. A person still decides, speaks and sends.
The CRM behind it
A pipeline where each stage means something.
What must be true before a deal moves on, and the fields that hold the method. We set this up in the CRM you already run.
- 1DiscoveryWhy now and Buyer's deadline are filled in, and the buyer has agreed there is a problem worth solving.
- 2EvaluationCost of doing nothing is confirmed by a named buyer contact. Any trial or pilot has an end date and written success criteria.
- 3Stakeholder reviewEvery buying role has a contact attached, the security or IT reviewer has what they asked for, and the open objections list is up to date.
- 4NegotiationWalk-away, both alternatives and an approved give and get list are on the deal before the pricing call. There is a dated next step owned by the buyer.
- 5Contract and securityThe mutual plan shows security review and contract review with owners and dates, and no step is past its date.
- 6Closed wonThe order form is signed, a kickoff date is set, and the renewal date and the terms that were traded are recorded for the account manager.
| Field | Why it exists |
|---|---|
| Buyer's deadline | The date on the buyer's side that makes this urgent, so the deal is not driven only by your quarter end. |
| Trial end date and Pilot success criteria | Stops trials running forever and gives the buyer a decision to make on a known day. |
| Cost of doing nothing (per month) | The anchor for the pricing conversation, in the buyer's figures, with the contact who confirmed it. |
| Security review status | Not started, questionnaire sent, in review, passed. Shows late reviews before they move the start date. |
| Seats or usage tier, and Term | The size and length of the deal as currently proposed, so a discount can be judged against what was traded for it. |
| Walk-away and Give and get list | The limit and the planned trades, written and approved before price is discussed. |
| Renewal date | Carries the deadline and the agreed terms forward, so the renewal conversation starts from the record and not from memory. |
An invented example
A worked negotiation
This is an invented example to show the method in order. The company, the people and every number are made up.
- 1
The setup
A rep sells scheduling software to a field service company. The proposal is 40 seats at 50 dollars per seat per month, which is 2,000 dollars a month or 24,000 dollars a year, on a one-year term. The buyer's head of operations has finished a trial and opens the pricing call by asking for 20 percent off because she knows it is the vendor's quarter end.
- 2
Signal and Anchor
The rep does not answer the discount yet. From discovery, the record shows the Signal: the buyer's contract with their current tool renews in seven weeks. It also shows the Anchor: 10 dispatchers each lose about 3 hours a week to manual rescheduling, which is 30 hours a week. At the buyer's own figure of 40 dollars an hour that is 1,200 dollars a week, or about 5,200 dollars a month. The rep restates both and the buyer confirms them.
- 3
List
The rep asks who else will look at this before it is signed. The head of operations says the finance director approves anything over 20,000 dollars a year and IT will want a security questionnaire. Neither has seen the deal. The rep adds both to the buying roles and asks for an introduction to each this week.
- 4
Concessions and Options
The rep's written walk-away is 43 dollars per seat on a one-year term. Twenty percent off would be 40 dollars, so the answer to the request as asked is no. The approved give and get list has a trade: 10 percent off, which is 45 dollars per seat or 21,600 dollars a year, in return for a two-year term paid annually up front. The rep offers that, or the one-year term at list price, and asks which matters more.
- 5
Paper
The buyer prefers the two-year option but cannot commit until finance and IT agree. The rep proposes a mutual plan on the call: security questionnaire returned by Friday, finance review the following Wednesday, contract review that same week, signature a week later, kickoff two weeks before the old contract renews. Each step gets an owner on both sides.
- 6
Yes
The rep ends by asking who sends the questionnaire to IT and on what day. The head of operations says she will send it tomorrow and book the finance director for Wednesday. The rep records the next step, its owner and its date, and the deal stays in the forecast because a named person owns a dated step.
Sources
- Loewenstein, J., Thompson, L., & Gentner, D. (1999). Analogical encoding facilitates knowledge transfer in negotiation. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 6(4), 586-597.
- Paul J. Taylor, Darlene F. Russ-Eft, Daniel W. L. Chan (2005). A Meta-Analytic Review of Behavior Modeling Training. Journal of Applied Psychology (American Psychological Association).
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026). Occupational Outlook Handbook: Software Developers, Quality Assurance Analysts, and Testers. US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026). Table B-1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail. US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Every outside figure on this site was opened at its original publisher and checked twice before it was published. See all the research and how we check it.
Questions about this program
How long is the program and what does it cost?
It runs for four weeks. It is quoted per team, so the first step is a free 30-minute audit at [/contact/](/contact/) to look at how your deals are recorded today.
Do we need a particular CRM?
No. The fields and stages are built on the CRM you already own, such as HubSpot or Salesforce, and everything built is yours to keep. If the records need work first, see [HubSpot consulting](/services/hubspot-consulting/) or [CRM cleanup](/services/crm-cleanup/).
Does the AI negotiate with our buyers?
No. AI prepares the brief, plays the buyer in practice and checks what is missing from the deal record. A person decides, speaks and sends every message.
Does this work for renewals and expansions, or only new deals?
It works for both. A renewal has a Signal (the renewal date), an Anchor, approvers and trades just like a new deal, and week four covers it directly. The contract terms themselves are for your lawyer to review.
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Tell us about your team.
How many people sell, what you sell, and where deals get stuck. We reply with a written outline and a fixed quote for your team.