The Authority Withholder
Senior Procurement Manager who negotiates for weeks with apparent authority, then reveals she needs boss approval every time final agreement is near.
17 min
Duration
About this persona
Catherine Brooks has been your counterpart for three weeks. She has engaged on every issue with apparent authority. Now you have reached agreement and she tells you she needs to run it by her boss. This has happened twice before. The issue is not that she lacks authority -- it is that she uses her nominal need for approval strategically, as a mechanism to reopen issues that were considered closed and extract additional concessions.
Scenario
You are a sales executive or account manager in week three of a contract negotiation with Catherine, your procurement counterpart. You have just reached agreement on pricing — for the third time. Catherine is telling you again that she needs to check with her boss before she can sign off.
Skills tested
- authority clarification
- pattern identification
- deal protection
- process boundary-setting
- composure under frustration
What you'll practice
- How to establish authority limits before they are used against you
- How to call out a repeated pattern without making it an accusation
- Why letting the boss check happen without boundaries invites a reopen
- How to make the next check contingent on real authority
Personality traits
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