Module 1 · Chapter 4

Negotiation Variables: What to Trade and What It Costs

A renewal is about more than a price. This chapter shows how to list every point that can move, cost each one for both sides, and decide what to trade.

≈ 8 min read 8-question test

In this chapter

  • Why a renewal has many points to trade, not just one price
  • How to put each point in pounds a year, for both sides
  • What is never traded, and how the plan of trades begins

4.1Variables in one paragraph

Kestrow’s letter is mostly about price. But the new contract will settle many other points. How long will it run, how fast will bills be paid, and will Kestrow build a bay for electric vans?

Each point that can move is a variable. Before anyone makes an offer, you list every variable and price it twice: what it costs Polgarrow, and what it is worth to Kestrow. Then Polgarrow gives each point only in a trade: it gives up one point to get another back.

Key point

Price every point twice, once for each side, before anyone makes an offer.

Also in this chapter

  1. Why a renewal has many points, not one price
  2. Pricing each point in pounds a year
  3. What a point costs you is not what it is worth to them
  4. What is never traded, and the first trade in the plan
  5. Your job

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