Concept
Accusation Audit
An accusation audit is listing the worst things the other side could be thinking about you or your proposal and saying them out loud first, which drains their force before they can be used against you.
Chris Voss developed the accusation audit in hostage negotiation, where the other side often begins from fear and suspicion, and applied it to business in Never Split the Difference. Unspoken accusations, that you are too expensive, that you will not deliver, that you are taking advantage, sit under the conversation and shape every answer. Naming them yourself, plainly and slightly overstated, does two things: it shows you understand their fears, and it removes the surprise, so the objection loses its sting when it comes. What people get wrong is fearing that raising the negative will plant it. It is already there; the audit only decides who says it first.
A real-life example
Before quoting a new client, a consultant opens with: 'You are probably thinking this will cost more than you budgeted and that I will disappear after the kickoff.' The client laughs, admits both, and the conversation turns to how the fee is structured and what the weekly check-in looks like, instead of to a defence.
How to use it
- 1Before an important conversation, write the three harshest things the other side might be thinking about you.
- 2Say the strongest ones early, calmly and without defending yourself: 'You may feel that…'
- 3Follow with a calibrated question that invites them to correct you: 'What have I missed?'