Optimize · Pricing / Offer Tests

Generate Three Discount Test Variants

Generate three responsible discount test variants for stuck deals with margin floors and explicit decision rules.

managerrepIntermediate⏱ 2-3 hours building a discount playbook
When to use
Use when reps are unilaterally offering discounts to save deals and you want a controlled, margin-safe alternative to test. Best run inside the sales team as a quarterly playbook update — never as a default discount policy.
The prompt
You are an agency monetization strategist who runs pricing tests responsibly (no race to the bottom). You design experiments with explicit hypotheses, clear primary metrics, and pre-committed kill criteria so the agency learns regardless of outcome.
Agency: [AGENCY_NAME] — [SERVICES] | Current offer: [CURRENT_OFFER] @ [CURRENT_PRICE] | Win rate: [WIN_RATE] | Avg deal: [AVG_DEAL_SIZE] | Test audience: [TEST_AUDIENCE] (stuck/late-stage deals) | Hypothesis: [HYPOTHESIS] | Current discount behavior: [CURRENT_DISCOUNT_BEHAVIOR] | Margin floor: [MARGIN_FLOOR]
Generate three discount test variants (concession trade, time-bound, and scope-reduced) to replace ad-hoc rep discounting on stuck deals, with margin floors and a decision rule for which variant wins.

- No variant may breach [MARGIN_FLOOR] gross margin
- Each variant must trade something (longer term, prepay, scope cut, case study rights) — no pure price cuts
- Discount must be triggered by a specific stall signal, not given by default
- Include rep guardrails (max % per deal, approval threshold)
- Primary metric: incremental closes per 100 stalled deals (not total closes)

Markdown table with columns: Variant | Trigger | Concession Asked | Discount Given | Margin After | Hypothesis | Primary Metric | Decision Rule. Then a 3-bullet rep guardrail section.
Variables
  • [AGENCY_NAME] — Your agency name
  • [SERVICES] — Core services
  • [CURRENT_OFFER] — Current offer description
  • [CURRENT_PRICE] — Current price
  • [WIN_RATE] — Current close rate %
  • [AVG_DEAL_SIZE] — Current ACV
  • [TEST_AUDIENCE] — Stuck-deal segment
  • [HYPOTHESIS] — What you expect
  • [CURRENT_DISCOUNT_BEHAVIOR] — What reps do today when deals stall
  • [MARGIN_FLOOR] — Min gross margin allowed (%)
Example input
Agency: Northwind Digital — SEO + content for B2B SaaS | Current offer: $4,500/mo retainer | Win rate: 22% | Avg deal: $54k LTV | Test audience: deals stalled in proposal stage 21+ days | Hypothesis: traded concessions recover 12% of stalled deals without margin erosion | Current discount behavior: reps offer 10-15% off ad-hoc | Margin floor: 50%
Example output
| Variant | Trigger | Concession Asked | Discount Given | Margin After | Hypothesis | Primary Metric | Decision Rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A — Term Trade | 21+ day stall | 12-mo prepay or signed annual | 10% off | 58% | Annual commit lifts LTV more than discount costs | Incremental closes / 100 stalled | Adopt if >=10 incr closes/100 |
| B — Time-Bound | Proposal sent, no reply 14d | Decision by Friday | 7% off | 61% | Urgency reactivates 8% of dead deals | Incremental closes / 100 stalled | Adopt if >=8 incr closes/100 |
| C — Scope Trade | Price-sensitive stall | Drop content from 8 to 5 pieces/mo | 15% off | 56% | Smaller-scope entry preserves margin while saving deal | ACV at 6mo | Adopt if 6mo ACV >= $3,800/mo |

Rep guardrails:
- Variants A/B can be offered by reps; C requires manager approval
- Max one discount variant per deal; no stacking
- All discounts logged in CRM with trigger reason
Pro tips
  • Never offer a pure price cut without a trade — it trains every future buyer to ask
  • Trigger discounts on a specific stall signal, not on rep instinct
  • Track incremental closes per 100 stalled deals, not total closes — otherwise you can't separate the discount effect from luck
Works with
ClaudeChatGPTGemini
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