Methodology
How NegotiateIt scores a negotiation
The NegotiateIt engine rewards specific, named negotiation moves. It checks whether the opponent has any real reason to give ground, and only then lets a concession through. Here is how that works.
The eight techniques
Every turn you take is read for technique. There are eight the engine recognises, each a distinct way of moving a conversation:
- Echo - repeat the last few words back to draw out more.
- Flip It - shift perspective so the other side sees the problem from your seat.
- Silence - let a pause do the work instead of filling it.
- Anchor - put the first number on the table to set the frame.
- Tag It - name the emotion in the room so it stops steering the talk.
- Get Ahead - raise the objection yourself before they can.
- Plan B - know your walk-away and let it carry quiet weight.
- Narrow Down - close the gap to the one thing still in the way.
Using a technique is not enough on its own - it has to fit the moment. The engine reads whether the move actually lands against this opponent, in this scenario, on this turn.
The concession gate
Opponents do not concede on schedule. A concession only comes through when three things are true at once: you have shown real, demonstrated technique; the opponent's emotional state has shifted enough to make giving ground possible; and you have built a face-saving bridge - a way for them to say yes without looking like they caved. Skip the bridge and even a strong case stalls. That is deliberate: it is how real negotiations actually move.
The debrief
Every session ends with a debrief. It walks back through what you did - which techniques you used, where they worked, where the gate stayed shut and why - so the next attempt is sharper than the last. The point is not the score. The point is the reps.
Where the techniques come from
The technique definitions draw, factually, on established negotiation literature: the work of Chris Voss in Never Split the Difference; Roger Fisher and William Ury in Getting to Yes; and the research published by the Harvard Program on Negotiation. We name these as sources of the ideas, not as partners in the product.
The scenarios are simulations built for practice. They are not real negotiations and their outcomes are not real outcomes - they are a safe place to rehearse the moves.
NegotiateIt is not affiliated with or endorsed by these authors or institutions.