Prepare on one page
Interests, range, alternatives, walk-away.
Because you hadn't decided your number, and the silence felt unbearable.
Deciding your range in advance removes most of the difficulty. With a target and a walk-away written down, the conversation becomes a comparison rather than an improvisation under pressure.
Alternatives create the calm that reads as confidence. Having somewhere else to go changes your tone more reliably than any technique, which is why we build that before the conversation happens.
And rehearsal does the rest. The first time you say a number out loud, your voice does something odd. Better that happens with a coach than across a table.
Interests, range, alternatives, walk-away.
The pause is not yours to fill.
We coach the conversation, not the terms.
Twenty minutes, free, on the negotiation in front of you.