Latest / Sales Leadership with Fexingo: Quota Carriers, Sales Managers, and Revenue Teams / How Sales Reps Can Use Negotiation Brackets to Win Better Deals
Transcript
- Lucas: So you're in a negotiation with a procurement director. They ask for your best price. You give them a number. And from that moment on, you've lost control of the range. Luna: Because now they have a single point to anchor against, and they'll chip away at it. Lucas: Exactly. That's the classic mistake. Today I want to talk about a technique that flips that dynamic—negotiation brackets. Instead of giving one number, you give a range with a built-in rationale. Luna: Like saying 'we typically price this between X and Y'? That feels risky—what if they just take the low end? Lucas: That's the fear, and it's why most reps don't do it. But the bracket works because it frames the conversation around value, not just price. Let me give you a concrete example from a rep I know at Salesforce. Luna: Okay, I'm listening. Lucas: This VP of enterprise sales closed a $4 million deal in Q1 this year—June 2026 now, so just a few months back. He used what he calls the 15-20-25 rule. He bracketed three things simultaneously: price, timeline, and scope. Luna: Three brackets at once? That's a lot to manage. Lucas: It is, but it gives you leverage. For price, he'd say 'for a standard implementation, it's in the $3.8 to $4.2 million range.' For timeline, 'most launches happen between six and nine months.' For scope, 'the typical deployment covers 1,000 to 1,500 seats.' Now the client sees a coherent package, not just a number. Luna: And if they push back on price, he can adjust timeline or scope within their brackets to keep the deal whole. Lucas: Right. The bracket acts as a frame. As long as you stay inside the frame, you're in control. The key is that the bracket must be legitimate—it has to reflect real variation in your offering. If you just pull numbers out of the air, procurement will smell it. Luna: So how do you set the bracket so it's not too wide to be credible, but wide enough to give you room? Lucas: Great question. I've seen top reps use a simple rule: the bracket's low end is your walk-away price, and the high end is the maximum justifiable value for that customer. The spread should be about 15 to 20 percent. Anything tighter and you have no room; anything wider and you look like you're guessing. Luna: And what about the anchoring effect? If they hear the low end first, don't they lock onto it? Lucas: They might, but that's where the other brackets come in. If they anchor on the low price, you can say 'sure, we can do that, but then the timeline moves to the longer end of our range, or we reduce scope.' The bracket forces trade-offs. A single number doesn't. Luna: So it's less about the number itself and more about the structure of the conversation. Lucas: Exactly. And here's the surprising part—the Salesforce VP told me that when he uses brackets, he actually closes at a higher average price than when he gives a single number. Because the client feels they're getting a customized deal, not a take it or leave it. Luna: That makes sense. It also protects the relationship—you're not hard-anchoring with an aggressive number. You're saying 'here's how we work.' Lucas: Right. And procurement respects that. They're trained to negotiate against a single point. A bracket makes them work a little, which actually increases their buy-in. Luna: Okay, so what's the most common mistake reps make when they first try this? Lucas: They set the bracket and then immediately concede to the low end before the client even asks. They say 'our range is $100,000 to $130,000' and then add 'but we can probably do $110,000.' You've just collapsed your own frame. Luna: Classic self-undermining. So the rule is: state the bracket and then shut up. Lucas: Exactly. Let the silence do the work. If the client says 'that's too high,' you ask 'which part?' Now you're negotiating inside your frame, not outside it. Luna: Do you think brackets work better in enterprise or SMB? Lucas: They work in both, but for different reasons. In enterprise, procurement expects range-based discussions because deals are complex. In SMB, a bracket can feel like you're being flexible, which builds trust. I've seen a SaaS startup use a $5,000 to $7,000 annual bracket for annual plans and got a 12 percent higher close rate. Luna: Interesting. So it's not just for big-ticket deals. Lucas: Not at all. The principle scales. Anywhere you have variable scope or timeline, you can insert a bracket. The key is to have a real reason for the range. If your product is a fixed-price widget, a bracket won't help. But most B2B sales have some variability. Luna: Let's talk about what happens when the client brings their own bracket—like procurement says 'we're looking at $80,000 to $90,000 for this project.' Lucas: That's actually a gift. Now you have their range. You can say 'that's a bit below our typical range of $100,000 to $130,000—let's see what we can adjust.' Now you're negotiating from a position of information. You know they have at least $80,000. Luna: So you don't reject their bracket—you overlay yours. Lucas: Exactly. And you look for overlap. If their high end is $90,000 and your low end is $100,000, there's a gap. That gap becomes the negotiation. You offer concessions in scope or timeline to close it. Luna: That feels much more collaborative than the old-school 'my price is firm, take it or leave it' approach. Lucas: It is. And it's more effective. The data backs it up. A study from Harvard Business School a few years back showed that negotiators who used ranges achieved better outcomes than those who used single points, because they discovered more value-creating trade-offs. Luna: Speaking of data, do you have a sense of how many reps actually use brackets? I feel like it's still rare. Lucas: It's rare, but growing. In a 2025 survey of 500 B2B sales reps, only about 18 percent said they regularly use brackets in pricing discussions. But among top performers—those hitting over 120 percent of quota—that number jumped to 45 percent. Luna: So it's a differentiator. The best reps are already doing it. Lucas: Exactly. And it's one of those techniques that's not hard to learn, but takes discipline to execute. You have to resist the urge to give a single number when you're under pressure. Luna: One thing I'm wondering—what if the client says 'just give me your best price'? That's the classic line that kills brackets. Lucas: Yeah, that's the test. The mistake is to cave. Instead, you say 'I want to give you a number that's fair for both of us. Our pricing depends on a few factors—let me outline the range and we can narrow it down together.' You don't refuse to answer; you reframe the question. Luna: That takes confidence. You have to believe that the bracket adds value, not confusion. Lucas: And that comes from preparation. Before the negotiation, you should know your three brackets—price, timeline, scope—and have a script for introducing them. Practice with a colleague until it feels natural. Luna: I'm curious about the psychology behind why brackets work. Is it just anchoring, or is there something else? Lucas: There's a concept from behavioral economics called 'extremeness aversion'—people tend to avoid extreme options. If you give a range, they're more likely to pick the middle. So if your range is $100,000 to $130,000, they'll naturally gravitate toward $115,000, which is exactly where you want them. Luna: So the bracket essentially uses their own psychology against them, but in a fair way. Lucas: It's not against them—it's with them. You're giving them a choice structure that helps them feel in control while steering toward a mutually beneficial outcome. That's why procurement teams actually prefer it—they have something to report back to their stakeholders. Luna: You know, this reminds me of something that came up in a recent coaching session I sat in on. The rep was negotiating a renewal and the client said 'we're only authorized to spend $50,000.' The rep came back with a bracket—'our standard renewal is $55,000 to $65,000, but let me see what we can do'—and ended up closing at $52,000 with a slight scope reduction. Lucas: That's a perfect example. Without the bracket, he might have dropped straight to $50,000 or even lower. The bracket gave him a framework to protect value. Luna: It also gave the client a win—they got a discount off the 'standard range,' which they can take back to their boss. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the beauty of brackets: they create perceived concessions even when you're not really giving up much. You can say 'I'm moving from the middle of the range to the low end' and it feels like a big gesture, but you've already built that low end into your walk-away. Luna: Speaking of which, one thing I've noticed is that a lot of reps don't even know their walk-away point. They go in without a clear floor. Lucas: That's a huge problem. A bracket only works if the low end is truly your bottom. If you're willing to go lower, you'll end up conceding past it. So before any negotiation, you need to know your minimum acceptable deal—and your team needs to support it. Luna: And that ties into what we talked about in Episode 47 about price increases—knowing your floor is essential whether you're raising prices or negotiating new deals. Lucas: Right. The bracket technique builds on that foundation. It's not a gimmick; it's a structured way to have a value conversation. And the more you use it, the more natural it becomes. Luna: So what's one thing a listener can do tomorrow to start using brackets? Lucas: Pick one deal that's in negotiation right now. Before your next call, write down three brackets: price range, timeline range, and scope range. Practice saying them out loud. Then on the call, when they ask for your best price, use the first bracket. Don't overthink it. Just try it. Luna: And if it feels awkward, remember that the other side is probably not used to it either. That's actually to your advantage. Lucas: Exactly. And if you want to dig deeper, there's a great book called 'Negotiation Genius' that covers a lot of this research. But honestly, just trying it once will teach you more than reading a hundred pages. Luna: Quick honest thing—a handful of listeners already chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what funds making episodes like this one. No ads, no sponsors, just listener support. If these conversations have moved your work forward in some small way, it's easy to join them. Lucas: Yeah, and we mean it—no pressure at all. The same content will keep coming either way. But if you find value and want to keep it ad-free, that's the only engine behind it. Luna: Alright, back to brackets. Lucas, any final thought on how to get started? Lucas: Just one: the bracket isn't about being tricky. It's about being transparent about the variables in your deal. When you frame it that way, it's not manipulation—it's good business. And clients appreciate clarity. Luna: I think that's the perfect note to end on. Next week we'll talk about how to handle the 'I need to think about it' stall—which is basically every rep's nemesis. Lucas: See you then.