Decrease licenses after Signing? Help, FAM

Detailed BG on the deal is here.


Summary of Commercial Negotiations:

  • This is a chain of 63 schools with 50k students, Last year -
  • October/ Started with a quote of around 10k students (grades 9,10 only) for all 63 schools. Price quoted was $2.25/student. TCV = $23k
  • October/ They came back saying that this pilot would only be for 20 schools now (grades 9,10 only) with 4300 students. Prices quoted by me was $2.5/student. TCV= $10750
  • November 2023 / They came back with budget constraints. Said they've selected different set of 21 schools (grades 9 and 10 only) for this pilot, which has 2600 students. Price quoted = $2.5/student = $6500.
  • Order form was signed for above price. We'd given them couple of relaxations:
  • 4 admin licenses for Nov and Dec to design curriculum (free of cost), and
  • Agreed to them making payment in January'24 (our standard is Net30 post signing OF)
  • **Yesterday / Got an email saying they've designed their curriculum using licenses we provided. But they'd further need to reduce the student count for paid pilot to 1000 students. :@. CS slyly forwarded it to me.



We usually only do sitewide deals (full school/district signing up all at once). Because we are just starting to penetrate into international markets, and because this is a good logo from brand perspective, I got approval for doing this kind of a paid pilot deal for year 1.


I feel if I bow down, I will set wrong precedence. Though it's a paid pilot, they're going back on their word on an already signed order form, the relaxation of the payment terms provided, as well as the Free 4 admin licenses for Nov and Dec.


I've already been given commission on original $6500 deal last quarter. If I agree, my commish would further go down basis a $3000 deal now. It's less about the clawback on commission, more about not having a good gut feeling about this.


My idea was to upsell this deal end of this year from paid pilot to full-blown district-wide deal.


What do i do?

https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/quizwhiz-closed-a-deal-for-7k-to-instructiontech
๐Ÿฐ War Stories
๐Ÿ‘‘ Sales Strategy
๐Ÿ“ˆ Closing
9
poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
9
โ˜•๏ธ
You signed a legally binding contract. Tough shit, yโ€™all.
jefe
Arsonist
5
๐Ÿ
Exactly. It sounds like you've been more than flexible.

They've waffled a bunch of times. They'll waffle even further if you allow this. No more waffling
QWhiz
Tycoon
3
Founding AE / ex-SDR
I too am not in favour of bowing down to their desires anymore. But this is a paid pilot, in a country like Peru, and what Iโ€™m aiming for lon-term is to get into all 63 schools. Should that change my opinion?
Sunbunny31
Arsonist
3
Sr Sales Executive ๐Ÿฐ
No. What are you training them to think? That a deal isnโ€™t a deal, contracts donโ€™t matter, and they can do whatever they want. They may be counting on your interest to land all their business as part of their tactic, or they really are that disorganized.

Youโ€™re going to need to stand firm here. It took you a few passes to get to where you are. They had ample opportunity before signing to get this right. The answer is no.
pirate
Big Shot
2
Account Executive
I would summarize all the times that you have helped them. And then start asking for stuff in return... and if that pays off then consider letting them off. I think sometimes international markets...well. Customers might not pay. They might not recommend you. Is that how people do business in Peru? Or in that territory...
CuriousFox
WR Officer
1
๐ŸฆŠ
PBC might I say I love your use of "y'all" ๐Ÿ’ฏ
poweredbycaffeine
WR Lieutenant
1
โ˜•๏ธ
I speak sweeter than a cup of tea.
saaskicker
Tycoon
6
Enterprise AE
List all the concessions you've made and then say your request "is problematic for (MyCompany). take yourself out of it and make it about the (Company) policies. As soon as you flip the language to be non-personal the conversation will be easier to digest.
jefe
Arsonist
4
๐Ÿ
Good advice.
Revenue_Rambo
Politicker
4
Director, Revenue Enablement
Negotiation 101โ€ฆ they will keep coming back for concessions until you say no.
unclespacejam
Politicker
2
ur dadโ€™s brother
Been in this situation before when k was still pretty green. If you let this slide, they will do it to you again. I promise you that. They have negotiated and even signed a goddamn contract in bad faith.

Be prepared to walk away.

Tell them to:
A) Go fuck themselves, and read the contract
B) Suck a fat one, and read the contract
pirate
Big Shot
1
Account Executive
I wonder if you can ask them to do a lot of stuff in return: customer success stories, public references on websites, podcasts, LinkedIn posts praising how good your company is and ring in 10 other schools and recommend you. And when they do all this, then you can try and work something internally for them?
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