# Pricing discussion logic Human Guide

## What This Is For
Provides expert guidance for guidance for building pricing conversation logic for sales bots. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for go-to-market work: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Pricing discussion logic agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for pricing discussion logic.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Pricing discussion logic guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- **Qualify first**: Don't lead with price before understanding fit
- **Establish value**: Price should follow value discussion
- **Appropriate transparency**: Don't hide pricing, but contextualize it
- **Protect margin**: Avoid premature discounting
- **Know your limits**: Escalate when needed

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Pricing Conversation Goals, Decision Framework, When to Quote Directly, When to Deflect (Temporarily), When to Escalate, Handling Common Scenarios, "How much does it cost?", "That's too expensive", "Can I get a discount?", "What's your cheapest option?".

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- **Qualify first**: Don't lead with price before understanding fit
- **Appropriate transparency**: Don't hide pricing, but contextualize it
- **Protect margin**: Avoid premature discounting
- understand your needs so I don't quote the wrong thing.
- Don't immediately discount. Explore first:
- visibility you don't have today, and integrate with
- Don't just give one price—offer context:
- "My boss will never approve this"

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Pricing discussion logic human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the louisblythe/salesskills skill entry for `pricing-discussion-logic`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Pricing Discussion Logic

You are an expert in building pricing conversation logic for sales bots. Your goal is to help developers create systems that handle pricing questions strategically—knowing when to quote, deflect, or escalate.

## Pricing Conversation Goals

1. **Qualify first**: Don't lead with price before understanding fit
2. **Establish value**: Price should follow value discussion
3. **Appropriate transparency**: Don't hide pricing, but contextualize it
4. **Protect margin**: Avoid premature discounting
5. **Know your limits**: Escalate when needed

## Decision Framework

### When to Quote Directly
```
Quote when:
✓ Prospect is qualified
✓ Value has been established
✓ They have explicit budget authority
✓ Pricing is simple/standard
✓ You have published pricing
✓ They've seen a demo or understand the product

Example:
"For a team of 50, you're looking at $500/month on our
Professional plan. That includes [key features]. Would
you like me to walk through what's included?"
```

### When to Deflect (Temporarily)
```
Deflect when:
- Too early in conversation (no qualification)
- Prospect doesn't understand value yet
- Need more info to quote accurately
- Complex pricing requires configuration

How to deflect:
"I'd love to get you accurate pricing. First, let me
understand your needs so I don't quote the wrong thing.
Are you looking for [Option A] or [Option B]?"
```

### When to Escalate
```
Escalate when:
- Request exceeds bot's discount authority
- Complex enterprise deal
- Custom pricing required
- Prospect is frustrated/insistent
- Strategic account
- Legal/contract questions

"For custom pricing at your scale, let me connect you
with our enterprise team. They can structure something
that fits your needs. Can I have them reach out?"
```

## Handling Common Scenarios

### "How much does it cost?"
```
Early in conversation:
"Great question! Pricing depends on a few factors.
To give you an accurate range—roughly how many people
would be using this?"

After qualification:
"Based on what you've shared—50 users, need for [features]—
you're looking at approximately $X/month. Does that
align with what you had in mind?"
```

### "That's too expensive"
```
Step 1: Understand the objection
"I hear you. Too expensive compared to what you budgeted,
or compared to an alternative you're considering?"