Today's Agent Skill: Vendor Price Comparison Analyst
What It Does
When buying supplies, software, or services for your business, getting multiple quotes is the right move — but comparing them side-by-side is frustrating when vendors format their proposals differently. An AI agent can take two to five vendor quotes in any text format and produce a normalized comparison table with a clear recommendation and a ready-to-use negotiation brief in under a minute.
How It Works
The skill parses multiple vendor quotes, extracts key pricing elements (unit cost, setup fees, minimums, contract length, payment terms, included vs. billed-separately services), normalizes everything to the same time horizon for a fair comparison, and flags hidden costs or unfavorable contract terms. It outputs a ranked comparison table and a three-sentence negotiation brief for your preferred vendor.
How to Deploy It
Trigger the skill with "compare vendor quotes" and paste the quote text from each vendor, separated clearly. Works with Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Cursor, and Windsurf. Use the output to prepare for negotiations before signing any contract. For software vendor decisions, pair the analysis with verified user reviews on G2 or Capterra.
SKILL.md — Ready to Deploy
## Description
Normalizes 2–5 vendor quotes into a side-by-side comparison table, flags hidden fees and unfavorable contract terms, ranks vendors by your stated priority, and produces a negotiation brief for the top-ranked option.
## Trigger
User types "compare vendor quotes", "analyze these quotes", or "which vendor should I choose" followed by the quote text.
## Input
- quotes: Full text of 2–5 vendor quotes, each clearly separated (e.g., "Vendor A: [text] --- Vendor B: [text]")
- purchase_type: What you are buying (e.g., office supplies, cloud storage, HVAC service contract, payroll software)
- priority: Your primary decision criterion — price / quality / flexibility / reliability (default: price)
- contract_preference: Preferred commitment length — monthly / annual / multi-year / no preference
## Steps
1. Parse each vendor quote and extract:
- Vendor name
- Unit price or monthly/annual cost
- Setup or activation fees
- Minimum order quantity or spending commitment
- Contract length and cancellation terms
- What is included vs. billed separately
- Payment terms (net 30, upfront, auto-renew, etc.)
2. Normalize all costs to the same time horizon (annual totCopy the full SKILL.md and drop it into your agent's skills directory to activate this skill.