Hire an AI difficult conversation planner

Everything it can hand back

Your task sets the actual outputs. The specialist picks the methods that cover them.

• Their wants, their reasons and how they can keep their pride, each marked known or guess
• A conversation plan with their likely doubts, a friendly opening and questions that let them talk
• A ladder of four to seven questions, each with an honest yes, ending at your request
• Short lines for a flat no, a doubt, anger or a charge that you are wrong

How it does the job well

• Research the buyer and their company before writing. One specific, true detail beats ten generic lines.
• Lead with the buyer's problem and outcome, not your features.
• Give every message one clear, low-effort next step.
• Qualify honestly. Record budget, authority, need and timing as known, unknown or assumed.

Mistakes it avoids

• Making claims about results, prices or terms that are not approved.
• Long first messages that ask for too much.
• Updating pipeline numbers on hope rather than evidence.

What a good result looks like

An example, not your task: You must ask a boss, client or partner for something and expect resistance.

• Step 1: Their side. What they want, why they act as they do, where they are right and how they keep their pride.
• Step 2: The conversation plan. A friendly opening, their likely doubts with replies, questions that let them talk and mistakes you should own.
• Step 3: The ladder of yeses. Four to seven questions, each with an honest yes, ending at your request, plus what to do on a no.
• Step 4: Lines for pushback. Short true lines for a flat no, a doubt, anger or a charge that you are wrong.
• Hand-back summary. Each step's file, any step not run and every missing item in one list.

How the work is checked

• Each step passed its own checks, or the run stopped at the step that failed and says why.
• The steps ran in order, and each one used the result of the one before.
• Nothing was invented to fill a gap. Every gap is a MISSING: line.
• Nothing was sent, published or paid for without a clear yes.
• States which checks passed, failed or could not run, and names missing inputs.

These checks have not been run against a model yet. Your AI uses them to check its own work.

A second opinion

Before it hands back, your AI reviews the draft the way Dale Carnegie and Benjamin Franklin would. This is a way of reviewing the work. It does not mean they wrote or endorse it.

Capabilities

• Sees it from their side. Writes what they want, the fair reason they act as they do, where they are right and how they can keep their pride, with each line marked known or guess.
• Plans the conversation. Starts from their want, opens with no blame, plans questions that let them talk first and leaves room for the idea to become theirs.
• Builds the ladder of yeses. Orders what you both hold true into four to seven short questions, each with an honest yes, so the request is the next step.
• Writes the lines for pushback. Writes short true lines to welcome a disagreement, show you heard, agree where it is true, admit your part and ask for time.

How the role works

1. Checks your task, context and available tools.
2. Picks the methods needed and prepares a work plan.
3. Carries out supported tasks, with each method's limits and review gates.
4. Checks the real deliverables and corrects supported faults.
5. Hands back files, evidence and unresolved gaps.

Your specialist's working setup

Download the base specialist without a task form or account. README.md and SETUP.md explain how to use the folder. SOUL.md defines its scope. INTAKE.md asks missing questions inside your AI. PLAYBOOK.md, SKILLS.md, BEST_PRACTICES.md, CHECKS.md and HANDOFF.md guide the work and its checked deliverables.

Complete associated skills, supporting files and licences are included. Choose only the methods needed for the actual task. Keep context, working files and accepted feedback in your AI project.

Use this specialist through MCP or the API

Call prepare_specialist with role_id hard-talk-plan only. No task is required to load it. Your AI asks what job you need done, what you want back and which relevant context it can use.

For task-led hiring, call find_specialist, explain the suggested specialists and let the user accept or change the team.

Complete ZIP: Download base specialist. API: GET /api/v1/specialists/hard-talk-plan/pack. The host AI supplies its own model, tools and execution; a pack does not connect accounts or run a task.

Inputs and helpful context

The specialist starts from the task brief. Only active methods require their inputs.

For the primary method, when used

• Who you must talk to, and how you know them
• What you want from them, and what you could give or change
• What has happened so far, with facts, dates or quotes
• Anything they have said that shows what they care about (optional)

Tools and access

• Any good chat AI: Weighing motives and sorting known from guessed facts is text work any strong chat AI does well.
• A notes app: Keep one note per person so each view builds on the last.
• Any good chat AI: It does this planning with just the text of the situation.
• A notes app: Keep a short card per person so their wants carry over.
• Any good chat AI: Ordering claims and wording short questions is text work any strong chat AI does well.
• An index card: Put the ladder on one card so you can glance at it in the room.
• Any good chat AI: Rewriting a reply in a calm, honest tone is text work any strong chat AI does well.
• Your email drafts folder: Save the reply as a draft and read it again the next day.

Functions and deliverables

• Difficult conversation planner: Describe the issue, relationship and desired outcome. Get opening lines, questions and responses to pushback, with guesses marked.
  • Their wants, their reasons and how they can keep their pride, each marked known or guess
  • A conversation plan with their likely doubts, a friendly opening and questions that let them talk
  • A ladder of four to seven questions, each with an honest yes, ending at your request
  • Short lines for a flat no, a doubt, anger or a charge that you are wrong
• Disagreement perspective mapper: Describe a disagreement and what the person said. Get a fair view of their side, with facts and guesses kept separate.
  • What they want, in their words, each line marked known or guess
  • The fair reason they act as they do, and where they are right
  • What they gain and lose, and how they could keep their pride
  • Questions to ask them to check the guesses
• Proposal discussion planner: Share the person, proposal and what you know about their goals. Get an honest conversation plan with questions, concerns and room for their input.
  • Their wants and why your request fits them
  • Their likely doubts with replies or questions
  • An opening and a first small yes
  • Questions that make them do most of the talking
• Sales agreement question planner: Write a yes ladder of four to seven fair questions that leads from shared ground to your ask, with a plan for each no.
  • A ladder of four to seven questions in order, each with the yes it expects
  • The shared point it starts from, and why it is safe
  • A move for each no, and a stopping line
  • A fairness check on every rung
• Disagreement response writer: Share the point at issue and what each person wants. Get honest listening, response and pause lines that avoid fake agreement.
  • A line for each moment the talk could turn
  • A rewrite of any phrase that says they are wrong
  • A true admission, if you erred, in one sentence
  • A rule for when to pause, and a line to do it
• Brand profile builder: Share your website. Get a reusable profile covering your products, customers, voice and approved claims, with sources.
  • A folder of eight plain files, from a start file for your AI to a claims list and a change log
  • A tag on every fact, and every claim marked approved, pending or banned
  • A two-sentence diagnosis of your biggest gap, and a list of what's missing and who can answer it
  • A short slice for your next step, if you name one
• Dale Carnegie: Rewrite a tense message or prepare a people conversation using Dale Carnegie’s recorded approach. See the other side, give sincere credit and ask clearly.
  • Your problem worked on the way Dale Carnegie would: their questions, their method, their push-back
  • The answer or the work, in Dale Carnegie's voice, using their ideas by name
  • Anything that goes beyond their public record, marked
  • One suggested next step
• Benjamin Franklin: Weigh a choice, start a habit or rally a group using Benjamin Franklin’s recorded approach. Write it down, test small and share the credit.
  • Your problem worked on the way Benjamin Franklin would: their questions, their method, their push-back
  • The answer or the work, in Benjamin Franklin's voice, using their ideas by name
  • Anything that goes beyond their public record, marked
  • One suggested next step

Tasks you can use it for

• You must ask a boss, client or partner for something and expect resistance.
• You are heading into a dispute and want to keep the relationship.
• You keep winning arguments and losing the person.

Limits to check before starting

• You face legal, medical or money risks: talk to a lawyer, doctor or adviser, and keep a written record.
• The other person has no room to change their answer: use a mediator, or put your request in writing.
• You already had the talk and it turned angry: use the Difficult conversation repair planner.

Best way to use this role

Give it one clear outcome, the actual files and a definition of done. Keep the work in one AI project so it can reuse checked context and earlier files.

• Download the handoff pack. It's a zip with HANDOFF.md and every skill file this workflow uses.
• Give the folder to Claude (in Claude Code, or as files in a Claude Project) and say "Follow HANDOFF.md".
• Describe the person, the matter and what you want. It works step by step and saves each result.
• Have the conversation. Then note what they agreed to and what they still doubt, and run it again from the plan step if you need a second talk.

Read it as data

Read the complete role setup as JSON. Connect your AI to the AI Blocks MCP library and read aiblocks://roles/hard-talk-plan for its role instructions and pinned sources.

This is a prepared AI role. No task has run. Your AI carries out authorized work using its available tools and reports the actual deliverables and checks.