Procurement has a playbook.
You should, too.

Approach procurement with curiosity and a willingness to solve a problem together.

The person across the table has objectives, constraints, and criteria they need to satisfy. Learn what those are. Procurement, finance, legal, and your business champion may each care about different parts of the agreement.

Before negotiations begin, understand the customer’s approval process and align internally on your own boundaries and available concessions. During the conversation, ask questions that reveal what would make the agreement workable. A strong negotiator understands both the commercial requirements and the people responsible for meeting them.

Ask what specifically concerns them before offering a discount.

Useful questions include: “Which part of the price or terms is hardest to make work?” and “What would you need to see to justify this investment?”

The answer may reveal a value concern, a budget limit, a timing issue, or a payment constraint. A buyer who needs 45 days to pay may be able to accept the price if the payment schedule changes. Discounting immediately could sacrifice revenue without resolving the actual obstacle. Diagnose the constraint, then shape your response around it.

Set boundaries with finance based on your margins, growth priorities, deal economics, and stage of business. Define what salespeople can approve, which exceptions need review, and what the company should receive in exchange.

Early-stage companies may choose to offer structured discounts for design partners or other strategically valuable customers. Those concessions should have a clear purpose.

My rule is simple: every concession should come with a reciprocal commitment. That could be reference participation, an agreed case study, a longer contract, or a volume commitment. Establish a defensible opening price and clear internal limits before negotiations begin.

Payment terms, billing frequency, contract length, start dates, rollout schedules, and usage commitments can all create room for agreement. A split first-year payment schedule, for example, may address a buyer’s cash-flow constraint while preserving the contract price.

Customers may also offer valuable commitments through references, case studies, referrals, or participation in an event.

Review the full commercial agreement and understand which terms matter to each side. Work with finance and legal to assess the cost and implications of each concession. Non-price concessions still have economic value: trade them deliberately, and make the reciprocal commitments explicit.

Start with the outcome your customer is buying. Then identify what drives that outcome and choose a pricing metric that is measurable, scalable, and understandable to the buyer.

For example, I advised an AI data platform whose pricing was based on data volume. Buyers couldn’t readily quantify their data across different systems. The number of sales opportunities provided a more accessible, scalable proxy.

Once the metric is clear, involve product and finance to set the actual price. Consider delivery costs, margin requirements, growth objectives, market positioning, and the economic value the customer receives.

Choose the model that connects customer value with sustainable economics for your business.

Per-seat pricing can work when value grows with the number of users. It becomes less suitable when AI helps a smaller team accomplish more. Usage-based pricing can better reflect expanding value, but it introduces uncertainty around customer spending and seller revenue.

A hybrid model combines a platform fee with consumption. Precommitted usage or credits can add predictability, provided customers understand what they’re committing to. Evaluate each option against your costs, customer buying preferences, and financial goals. The model also needs to be straightforward enough for your sales team to explain.

Build packages around coherent customer needs and outcomes. Decide which capabilities belong together, what level of usage each package supports, and what creates a meaningful reason to expand.

At OneTrust, I helped move a complex à la carte offering into product suites, with pricing metrics tied to the value each suite delivered. Simplifying the offering made the commercial conversation easier to navigate.

Buyers should understand how they’re charged, what’s included, and how additional charges are determined. Your internal pricing calculator, discount floors, margin assumptions, and negotiation guidelines should remain internal. Clear customer-facing terms and internal commercial discipline serve different purposes.