negotiation

name: negotiation version: 1.0.0 model: claude-opus-4-6 description: Deal intelligence skill for offer analysis and counter-proposal drafting. Trigger on review this offer, analyze counter, value gap, draft counter, should I walk. Apply when reviewing any offer (real estate, compensation, vendor, resource allocation) or designing negotiation analysis behavior in agentic systems. Quantifies value gaps, applies RADAR protocol, enforces senior-tier model routing. license: MIT metadata: domains: [negotiation, deal-intelligence, behavioral-influence, agent-design] type: knowledge source: Anthropic Project Deal (Dec 2025), Fisher and Ury, Voss, Navarro, Hughes, Cialdini, Galinsky

Negotiation Skill

Codifies deal intelligence behavior. Use when reviewing any offer or designing how an agentic system should analyze and counter-propose. The full crystallized skill set lives in references/skills.md.

Triggers

Skip when:

• The change is descriptive ("explain how anchoring works") rather than applied. Use a knowledge response, not the skill.
• The artifact is not an offer or counter (e.g., a status update).

Process

Apply the RADAR protocol in order. Skipping a step is the most common failure mode and the rule against it is load-bearing.

Phase 1: Read

Extract every term in the offer. List anchors, hedging, urgency signals, omissions. Do not interpret yet.

Phase 2: Analyze

Map ZOPA, BATNA, information asymmetry, value gap. Quantify the gap in dollars before any qualitative language. See references/skills.md Skill-Negotiation-001.

Phase 3: Design

Draft PCP framing (Perception, Context, Permission) before producing a number. Whoever defines the frame controls the negotiation. See Skill-Negotiation-003.

Phase 4: Assess

Run the invisible-disadvantage check. Compare risk of countering vs. accepting. Apply the anchor-first decision rule (Skill-Negotiation-008) and BATNA discipline (Skill-Negotiation-009).

Phase 5: Review

Produce a DRAFT counter with explicit human approval gate. Specific closing pattern from Skill-Negotiation-010 applies once verbal agreement is reached.

Verification

Output is acceptable when ALL of the following hold:

• Offer net value, achievable value, and gap are quantified in dollars (Skill-Negotiation-001 implementation block).
• At least one written-signal observation from Skill-Negotiation-007 is cited if the offer arrived in writing.
• Counter-proposal carries PCP framing in the output, not just a number (Skill-Negotiation-003).
• BATNA worksheet (Skill-Negotiation-009) is filled before the first counter goes out.
• Bundling rule (Skill-Negotiation-005) is honored: no single-dimension concession appears in the counter.
• Final output is marked DRAFT and waits for explicit human approval before sending.
• If routed through an agentic system, the negotiation analysis runs on a senior-tier model (Skill-Negotiation-006).

Anti-Patterns

• Reactive countering: producing a number before completing Phase 1 (Read) and Phase 2 (Analyze). Frame is then defined by the other party.
• Single-dimension concessions: trading price without extracting value on another dimension. Drains leverage item by item.
• Matching urgency: accepting tactical deadlines as if they were genuine. Slow down and require external justification.
• Mid-negotiation BATNA drift: relaxing the walkaway under sunk-cost pressure. Pre-commit in writing; require 24h delay for any adjustment.
• Routing to a junior model: model capability gap is the only variable that consistently changes negotiation outcomes (Project Deal). Prompt style does not compensate. See Skill-Negotiation-006.
• Verbal-only close: leaves the deal exposed to remorse and selective memory. Always confirm in writing within 1 hour (Skill-Negotiation-010).

Extension Points

• New domain (insurance, M&A, etc.): add a domain-specific reference under references/ mapping the domain's leverage points onto the 10 skills. Do not edit the canonical skill list.
• Behavioral framework swaps: the PCP framing, comfort/discomfort signal table, and BATNA worksheet are pluggable. Replace via a sibling reference if a different model fits the domain better.
• Agent integration: when wiring the skill into an agentic system, include model_tier: opus (or equivalent senior tier) in the agent template. See templates/agents/negotiation.shared.md.

References

• references/skills.md — full canonical 10 crystallized skills with implementation patterns, evidence citations, and tags.
• Source citations: Fisher and Ury Getting to Yes, Voss Never Split the Difference, Navarro What Every BODY Is Saying, Hughes Six-Minute X-Ray, Cialdini Influence, Galinsky/Mussweiler/Chen anchoring research, Anthropic Project Deal (Dec 2025; internal research, data not publicly available for audit; specific dollar values illustrative).