pricing-defender

---
name: pricing-defender
description: Plans and writes your price conversation so you keep the number and keep the deal. Use before sending a quote, or when a buyer asks for a discount.
---

# Hold your price without losing the deal

A timed price plan, the words for the call, and a written trade for every concession.

## Claude does

1. Asks for six inputs: {DEAL_FACTS} (what you sell, list price, term), {PRICE_HISTORY} (call number, minutes in, who has raised price and how often), {DISCOUNT_ASKED}, {BUYER_WORDS} (the pushback, verbatim), {NON_PRICE_LEVERS} (scope, term, start date, payment terms, references), {SENDER_NAME}.
2. Refuses to guess your floor, margin, approval limit, a competitor's price, or whether the buyer is bluffing. Each becomes a `[YOU CONFIRM]` marker, never a number.
3. Scores timing against Gong's 11,331 opportunities: price first raised on call 1 wins 42%, call 2 32%, call 3 15%, never 5%. Budget on call 1 is 49% against 7%. Aim for minute 38 to 46; who raises it first does not move the win rate.
4. Counts buyer price mentions. Three or four is the peak; under three it is under-discussed, over four the deal is only price. Claude names your side and one corrective line.
5. Sets the channel: email only wins 5%, phone only 15%, both 35% (37,671 opportunities). So it writes an email stating the price, a script that negotiates it, and a confirming email.
6. Classifies the pushback: budget ceiling, competitor price, value not proven, or indecision. Per JOLT, 40 to 60% of losses are indecision, 56% of those fear of choosing wrong, and urgency backfires 84% of the time. So it writes risk removal, never a deadline.
7. Sets the beats: pause longer than feels natural, one clarifying question first (top reps answer an objection with a question 54.3% of the time against 31%), the answer, then "Does that make sense?"
8. Builds the trade table. Every concession is bought with scope, term, start date, payment terms or a reference. Never a bare discount.

## Then Codex does

Codex writes the bulk variants: the same defence rewritten per objection type and per concession tier, plus the confirming email. Mechanical repetition of a structure Claude fixed.

```
codex exec --sandbox danger-full-access --skip-git-repo-check -C "<working folder>" - < CODEX.md
```

Claude fills {DEAL_FACTS}, {PRICE_HISTORY}, {DISCOUNT_ASKED}, {BUYER_WORDS}, {NON_PRICE_LEVERS} and {SENDER_NAME} into CODEX.md first.

## Claude checks

1. No email negotiates the number. A discount in writing is the 5% channel: reject it.
2. No deadline, scarcity or expiring offer anywhere.
3. Every figure traces to {DEAL_FACTS} or carries `[YOU CONFIRM]`. One invented number fails the pack.
4. Every concession has a named ask beside it.
5. Every objection reply opens with a question. A strong answer to the wrong objection makes it worse.
6. {SENDER_NAME} appears on anything sendable.

Reject and rerun once, quoting the failing line. If it fails twice, Claude writes that piece itself.

## Rules

- Email the price, negotiate by phone, confirm by email.
- Never discount without a trade.
- Never push urgency at an indecisive buyer; remove risk and recommend one option.
- Ask before you answer, and pause longer than is comfortable.
- Public information only.
- Never invent a fact, a number or a quote.
- Anything sent in someone's name says whose name it is.

## If Codex is not installed

Claude writes the variant pack itself and says so.

## Built from

- Gong Labs, price and budget timing, https://www.gong.io/blog/data-reveals-the-best-time-to-talk-price-and-budget - 11,331 opportunities.
- Gong Labs, negotiation channel, https://www.gong.io/resources/labs/this-deadly-simple-negotiation-mistake-is-costing-you-deals-heres-how-to-avoid-it/ - 37,671 opportunities.
- Gong Labs, objection handling, https://www.gong.io/blog/handling-sales-objections - 67,149 calls.
- JOLT Effect, Dixon and McKenna, https://www.jolteffect.com/blog/what-is-the-jolt-effect - indecision data.
- louisblythe/Sales-Skills, https://github.com/louisblythe/Sales-Skills - 143 stars via api.github.com.

# Hold your price without losing the deal - Codex task

Write a price defence pack for one live deal. You have no memory of the conversation that produced this file. Work only from what is below.

## You are given

- {DEAL_FACTS} - what is sold, list price, term, stage.
- {PRICE_HISTORY} - call number, minutes in, who has mentioned price and how often.
- {DISCOUNT_ASKED} - the reduction the buyer wants.
- {BUYER_WORDS} - the pushback, verbatim.
- {NON_PRICE_LEVERS} - what can be traded instead of money: scope, term, start date, payment terms, reference rights, support tier.
- {SENDER_NAME} - whose name goes on anything sent.

## Produce

One file, `price-defence.md`, six sections in this order.

1. **Price email** - under 120 words. States the price plainly and asks for a call. Ends with this line adapted to the deal: "Totally makes sense. Let's hop on a quick call to align pricing with your budget plus answer any questions. I'm sure we can knock this out in 7-9 minutes tops." No discount offered, hinted at or accepted.
2. **Call script** - for each objection in {BUYER_WORDS}, three lines in order: the clarifying question asked first, the answer, then "Does that make sense?" Mark a two second pause before each question.
3. **Objection variants** - the same three lines for four types: budget ceiling, competitor is cheaper, value not proven, cannot decide. Four sets, twelve lines.
4. **Trade table** - one row per item in {NON_PRICE_LEVERS}: concession given, ask taken in return, one line of wording. No row gives money without taking something.
5. **Risk removal** - three options that cut the buyer's fear of choosing wrong: a scoped pilot, a phased start, an exit or success-criteria clause. Then one sentence recommending a single option by name.
6. **Confirming email** - under 100 words, sent after the call, restating what was agreed. Signed with {SENDER_NAME}.

## Rules

- No deadline, expiring offer, scarcity claim or any urgency device.
- Never invent a number, a customer name, a statistic or a quotation. Anything not supplied appears as `[YOU CONFIRM]`.
- Only sections 1 and 6 are emails, and neither may negotiate a number.
- Every concession is paired with an ask.
- British English, plain sentences, no em dashes.
- Anything written to be sent carries {SENDER_NAME}.

## Return

Print the full contents of `price-defence.md`, then a check block listing:

- word counts for sections 1 and 6
- number of objection sets written (must be four)
- number of trade rows, and how many lack an ask (must be zero)
- every `[YOU CONFIRM]` marker used
- one line confirming no urgency or scarcity wording appears anywhere