You never just announce it. A laid-off figure arrives with its reason attached — where the movement came from, why it exists, what it depends on — so the homeowner hears a decision made on their behalf. A bare smaller number teaches the opposite lesson: that numbers here are negotiable weather, and the only question is how long to wait for the next drop.
The short answer
The reason: what changed — a scope choice they made, a structure that fits, a program that applies. The source: where the movement legitimately comes from, stated plainly enough to be believed. The conditions: what the figure is attached to — the commitment it answers. Delivered that way, the new number closes a conversation; delivered bare, it opens one — and the new conversation has no floor, because you've just proven the floor moves.
How it runs
Tone carries half the layoff: a figure presented apologetically reads as a confession that the first one was inflated; a figure presented as the result of work — theirs and yours — reads as the process functioning. This is also where the documented incentive language lives: bringing the overall investment down is the Manufacturer's Rebate close's own phrasing, and it works precisely because the commitment came first and the reason is structural, not theatrical. Lay it off like it was earned — because in this system, it has to be.
Spar's rounds put a homeowner across the table while you present — graded against the system. Round 1 is free; the full camp is $29/month. Spar before you knock.