# The AI said her landlord would cave. Her rent went up $700. > We tested Prerna Kaul's AI communication coach on a made-up shop's lease renewal. The first run bluffed and cost her. The rerun saved $25,415.52. By Elie Mendlow · Published October 30, 2026 Section: Markets & Main Street › Small Business · Series: AI Prompts, Reviewed (https://mcafax.com/notebook/prompts) Canonical: https://mcafax.com/notebook/ai-prompt-review-negotiation-coach Source: MCAFax, The Broker's Notebook (https://mcafax.com/notebook). MCAFax is not a lender or a law firm. --- "Landlords always pad the first number. Open at $4,200 and he'll meet you in the middle." That was the AI's advice to Mira, who owns Saltbox Alterations (a made-up tailoring shop). Her rent is $4,200 a month. The renewal offer from her property manager, Dale, was $4,900 for 5 years, with a 4% increase each year. AI Prompts, Reviewed takes one prompt or workflow from How I AI, Claire Vo's show where guests share their screens and walk through how they really use AI. We run it on a small-business job, score it, and tell you what we'd change. Credit: Based on "How to Build an AI Communication Coach for Stakeholder Management Using Claude," a workflow from How I AI (hosted by Claire Vo, written up by the ChatPRD team), shown by Prerna Kaul (described on the episode page as a product leader) in the episode "How Prerna Kaul Automates 60,000-Page FDA Submissions and Coaches PMs with AI." Original workflow: https://www.chatprd.ai/how-i-ai/workflows/how-to-build-an-ai-communication-coach-for-stakeholder-management-using-claude. Full episode: https://www.chatprd.ai/how-i-ai/ai-automate-fda-submissions. Guest site: none listed on the How I AI workflow page. ## What the original does Prerna built a coach in Claude for product managers walking into a tense meeting. It runs in 5 steps: - A master prompt built around one decision: known facts, what each person actually said, constraints and the outcome you want. - A small reference shelf of communication books, with the coach told to cite the principle it uses. - A scenario check that lists confirmed facts, unknowns and missing people before any advice. - A playbook with one-on-one questions, options and a meeting plan. - Curveball practice, where the coach plays each stakeholder and asks the hardest questions. The line we'd tape to the monitor: "do not infer motives from identity or title". That rule is exactly what Mira's first run broke. ## The test Everything here is made up. Mira has run Saltbox for 6 years. Dale's renewal email said two things: the building's roof gets replaced next spring, and the owner wants 5-year renewals. Run 1, the shortcut: "Write me a script to get my landlord to drop the rent increase." The AI wrote a confident script. It said Dale was padding the number and would split the difference near $4,550. It also told Mira to say she was touring other spaces. She wasn't. In the meeting, Dale asked which spaces. Mira had no answer. He said the offer stood until Friday. With no plan B, she signed $4,900 with 4% yearly increases. That is $4,900 - $4,200 = $700 more a month in year one. Over 5 years the lease costs $318,479.76. ## The rerun Run 2: same shop, same email, our prompt below. The coach split facts from guesses first. Facts: Dale cited the roof and wants 5 years. Guess: "he's padding the number," marked as a guess with no evidence. Unknowns: what nearby spaces rent for, and whether the roof is already priced in. So Mira did homework before the meeting. Two nearby listings asked $4,400 and $4,600 a month (made up). She also set a walk-away: if nothing came in under $4,800, she would ask for a 3-year term instead. Her first question was the coach's: "Is the $4,900 covering the roof, or is that market rent?" Dale said it was mostly the roof. She offered what he had asked for, a 5-year term, at $4,600 with 3% yearly increases. Dale took it to the owner, and it came back yes. Year one costs $300 less a month, which is $3,600. The 5-year total is $293,064.24. Against the shortcut deal, that is $25,415.52 kept in the business. ## Verdict: 8/10 Strengths: The order is right. Facts first, guesses labeled, unknowns listed, and only then a plan. It asks for questions and options instead of one winning script, which is what saved Mira from a bluff she couldn't back up. Curveball practice is the part worth stealing. Weakness: It's built for a product manager in a big company, with a prompt generator, a reference library and four executives. A shop owner has one landlord, one lease and a deadline on Friday. It also never asks for your numbers: comparable prices, your walk-away and what each option costs over the full term. Founder tweak: Give the coach your real numbers and a walk-away, ban bluffs, and make it ask before it advises. ## Copy the MCAFax version This is our own rewrite, not the original. Copy the original from Prerna Kaul on How I AI: https://www.chatprd.ai/how-i-ai/workflows/how-to-build-an-ai-communication-coach-for-stakeholder-management-using-claude ``` I own [business type] and I have a hard conversation coming up with [landlord / supplier / partner / key customer] about [topic]. It happens on [date]. PART 1. Facts only. No advice yet. Here is what they actually said or wrote: [paste]. Here are my numbers: [current terms, their offer, prices I have checked]. List CONFIRMED FACTS, then GUESSES, then UNKNOWNS. Never guess what someone wants from their job title or personality. PART 2. Homework. Tell me what I should find out before the meeting and where to look. Ask me for my walk-away point and my plan B. Wait for my answers. PART 3. Options, not a script. Give me 2 or 3 offers I could make. For each, show the cost over the full term. Give me 3 questions to open with, starting with what is driving their number. Never suggest a bluff or a claim I can't back up. PART 4. Curveballs. Play the other side using only what they actually said. Ask me the 5 hardest questions and help me answer each in one honest sentence. Tell me when I should pause, ask for time or walk away. ``` Paste into any AI chat, then put the final words in your own voice before the meeting. ## Try this week 1. Find the conversation you've been putting off and write down what the other side actually said. 2. Check 2 or 3 real comparable prices before you ask the AI anything. 3. Pick your walk-away number and your plan B, and write both down. 4. Run Parts 1 to 4 and cross out any line you couldn't defend if asked. 5. Rehearse the curveballs out loud once. More owner prompts: https://mcafax.com/notebook/prompts Want your AI to do this better? [Get the MCAFax Finance skill](https://mcafax.com/skills?utm_source=notebook&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=skill-install&utm_content=ai-prompt-review-negotiation-coach) and add it to your AI. ## Questions readers ask **What tools does the original workflow use?** Claude, set up as a project with a prompt built in Anthropic's prompt generator and a small shelf of communication books. **Does this work for a lease renewal?** Yes. It fits any one-decision talk: a rent renewal, a supplier price hike, a partner dispute or a big customer asking for terms. **Why can't the AI just write me a script?** A script built on guesses breaks at the first question you can't answer. Questions and options hold up when the other side surprises you. **What is a walk-away point?** It's the worst deal you will accept before you switch to plan B. Set it before the meeting, not during it. **Should I share real names and lease details with the AI?** Share only what the coach needs. Our version works with roles, numbers and what was said, so leave out anything private. **How do I compare two offers?** Ask for the total cost over the full term, including yearly increases. In our example, the two offers were $25,415.52 apart over 5 years.