Software Negotiations: Do You Know How to Say NO?

Short answer: saying “no” well is a core software-negotiation skill. The move is William Ury’s “Yes, No, Yes”: name the interest behind your no, deliver the no clearly, then propose a path to yes.

This is fundamental in any software negotiation, and something you have to master. William Ury from the Harvard Program on Negotiation wrote a book on how to say “No.” “No” is one of the most-used words in the English language, so learning how to use it in a software or SaaS negotiation is worth the effort.

The framework:

1. Saying “No” to something means you are saying “Yes” to something else (there is always a reason for the No, and that reason is what you are saying Yes to).
2. Express your “Yes,” then deploy your “No.”
3. Propose a “Yes.”

An example in software/SaaS negotiations:

1. “Your company is not making a real long-term commitment to our technology,” that was your internal “Yes” (the reason you have to say “No”).
2. “So we cannot give you the discount you asked for,” that was your “No.”
3. “However, if we can work on a long-term commitment, then we can get there on the discount you are looking for. What is more important to your company?” that is the proposed “Yes.”

Why it works.

The “Yes, No, Yes” structure lets you hold your position without blowing up the relationship. You acknowledge a legitimate interest, decline clearly, and immediately hand the other side a path forward, so your “no” reads as principled rather than personal. Accommodating (saying Yes when you should say No), attacking (saying No in an ineffective way), and avoiding (saying nothing) are all poor ways of dealing with issues. Use this in your next software or SaaS negotiation.

For the broader playbook on the customer side of every deal, see Contract or Policy? When Software Companies Should Use Each, and on the human dimension see SaaS Contract Negotiations Are Not All About the Software.

Buy “The Power of a Positive No” on Amazon

Disclaimer: This post is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not legal advice.