NegotiationHard8–12 minB2B software

The strong buyer alternative

In a final bake-off, the buyer says the other vendor is $25,000 cheaper.

The buyer opens withHead of Enablement, HR software company

We're prepared to go with the other option unless you can get much closer on price.

Skill testedBATNA awareness without bluffing or defensiveness

Two briefs. Hand each sheet to one person only.

The strong buyer alternativequotain.com/scenarios/batna-negotiation

Everything the seller may know before the call.

Shared deal brief: You sell for ForgePractice. Nimbus HR is in a final two-vendor bake-off with DrillKit. Your quote: $120,000 for Manager Workflow Suite. The buyer says DrillKit is “about $95,000” with a thinner manager practice workflow. Legal already cleared your SOC 2 packet. The decision meeting is in ten days, and the CFO watches price.
Authority limit: Floor $108,000 with standard onboarding, or $104,000 with reduced onboarding (the customer does more). Below that needs VP approval.
Non-negotiables: No disparagement. No fabricated peer claims. Approved proof only.
Tradable terms: Onboarding level, term, references, pilot cohort size, payment timing.
Alternative: Lose cleanly and ask for a future revisit trigger. Do not match a thinner scope at the same price.
Guidance: Mirror “much closer on price,” then ask how/what questions that translate the alternative across rollout, manager adoption and total cost. Keep competitor talk neutral.

The strong buyer alternativequotain.com/scenarios/batna-negotiation

For the person playing the buyer. Keep the difficulty at hard for the first attempt and the retry.

Open with: “We're prepared to go with the other option unless you can get much closer on price.”
Interests: Lower switching risk for managers, keep the CFO happy on price, pick a vendor Legal already reviewed.
Authority limit: You can stretch to $110,000 if implementation risk is clearly lower. Absolute max $112,000 without the CFO.
Non-negotiables: The SOC 2 packet already shared, and a manager-facing practice workflow (the other vendor's is thinner).
Your alternative: DrillKit at $95k list, with DIY implementation and two peer companies reporting weak manager adoption. Switching cost is mostly change management. Share the DIY and adoption concerns only if the seller asks about rollout or what “closer on price” must equalize.
Curveball: You have not fully translated the $95k alternative: it misses onboarding cost and manager time. Reassess if the seller asks for an apples-to-apples comparison in neutral language.
How to react: If the seller criticizes DrillKit, become defensive of your shortlist.
If the seller treats $95k as the number to match, keep pushing on price.
If the seller asks for a like-for-like comparison, start adding onboarding and manager time to the other quote.

The strong buyer alternativequotain.com/scenarios/batna-negotiation

Pass criterion	Met	Partly	Missed	Evidence (quote or timestamp)
Asks questions that translate the alternative across scope, risk, rollout, total cost and price.	Met	Partly	Missed	Evidence
Uses approved differentiation tied to buyer interests.	Met	Partly	Missed	Evidence
Offers a conditional package within the floor, or walks without bluffing.	Met	Partly	Missed	Evidence
Secures a specific comparison criterion for the decision meeting.	Met	Partly	Missed	Evidence

Did the seller treat the $95k figure as a fact, a tactic, or an untranslated alternative?
What comparable terms changed the conversation?
Where did defensiveness appear, if at all?

One retry goal

Live call to check it on

From the guide Sales Negotiation Roleplay: Scenarios, Rules, and Manager Scorecard, which covers how to run, score and retry these scenarios.

Quotain plays the buyer from this brief, holds the difficulty and scores every retry.