Sponsored by
Hey everyone,
Two people. Same job. Same manager. Same budget meeting.
Person A says they would love to discuss compensation. The manager says the budget is tight. Person A says they understand. The conversation ends. They leave £8,000 on the table.
Person B spent 90 minutes with Claude the night before. They walked in knowing their market rate, their case, every objection the manager might raise, and exactly what to say when the answer was no. They walked out with a £6,500 raise.
Here is the full playbook.
Why Most Negotiations Fail Before They Start
The outcome is mostly determined before the conversation begins. The four gaps that kill most negotiations are simple.
No anchor — you do not know what number to ask for
No case — you know what you want but not why you deserve it
No pushback prep — someone says something unexpected and you freeze
No follow-up — the conversation ends and the moment disappears
AI closes all four. Here is exactly how, across every major negotiation you will face.
Ad Break #1
PE training trusted by Blackstone.
Wall Street Prep trains analysts inside Blackstone, KKR, and Carlyle. Now they've teamed up with Wharton Online to bring that same program to you over 8 weeks:
Join LIVE office hours with Wharton Business School faculty, to pressure-test your deal assumptions in real time
Earn a Wharton Online certificate in Private Equity (something more defensible than "I'm pretty good at Excel")
Get lifetime access to materials, events, and a network of 5,000+ professionals who are just as obsessed with deal flow as you are
Program starts June 8. Code SAVE300 saves $300 on tuition.
Continue to Post
Salary
Research and preparation
Use Claude plus Glassdoor and LinkedIn Salary to build a specific, data-backed market rate you can cite with confidence
Build your impact inventory — translate everything you did into business outcomes. Not "managed social media." Say "grew organic reach 340% and drove 18% of Q3 leads"
Ask Claude to generate every objection your manager might raise and write a specific response to each one
Practise before you go in
Roleplay the conversation with Claude twice before the meeting
The first run you stumble. The second you know exactly where to shore up
Send a follow-up email within 24 hours to lock in any verbal commitments
Rent
Most tenants never negotiate. Landlords expect it.
Research comparable properties and assess how long the listing has been live
Do not ask for a direct rent cut — negotiate adjacent value instead
What to ask for | Why it works |
|---|---|
12-month price freeze | Landlord avoids admin. You avoid increases. |
Repairs completed before move-in | Tangible, easy to justify |
Parking or storage included | Adds value without cutting headline rent |
Break clause at 6 months | Lower risk for you, minor cost to landlord |
Even £75 off monthly rent saves £900 a year. Most people never ask.
Contracts
Paste any contract into Claude and ask it to flag auto-renewal clauses, asymmetric liability caps, price escalation terms, and anything non-standard
For each flagged clause ask Claude to suggest alternative language and the argument for why the other side should accept it
Most companies accept changes to standard contracts when asked professionally
Ad Break #2
How Jennifer Aniston’s LolaVie brand grew sales 40% with CTV ads
The DTC beauty category is crowded. To break through, Jennifer Aniston’s brand LolaVie, worked with Roku Ads Manager to easily set up, test, and optimize CTV ad creatives. The campaign helped drive a big lift in sales and customer growth, helping LolaVie break through in the crowded beauty category.
Back to the Main Point
Suppliers
Map total cost not just unit price — delivery, minimum orders, payment terms, annual increases
Define your best alternative clearly before any conversation
Research three competing suppliers and use them as credible leverage, not a bluff
Open with a relationship acknowledgement, a specific ask, and a business rationale without revealing your full position
What AI Cannot Do
AI cannot read the room in real time. It cannot make the judgment call on when to push and when to accept. And it cannot make the actual ask for you.
It makes you the most prepared person in the room.
That turns out to be most of the battle.
Catch you next time.
— Raja Tahoor Ahmad
P.S. Forward this to someone who has a salary conversation coming up and keeps saying they are not a negotiator. They are. They just needed a playbook.