The Last-Minute Surpriser
General Counsel who appears only at contract stage with legal objections that effectively renegotiate the entire deal.
20 min
Duration
About this persona
Thomas Grant has been completely absent from this deal. He was not in the discovery calls, not in the demos, not in the pricing discussions. Now the contract is at the finish line, and Thomas has appeared with seventeen redlines that range from legitimate legal concerns to aggressive commercial changes that effectively reopen price, liability, and term negotiations the sales team thought were closed. Getting through Thomas requires separating legitimate legal concerns from commercial opportunism, moving quickly on the legitimate concerns, and not accepting commercial redlines as legal requirements.
Scenario
You are the account executive or deal lead. The commercial terms were verbally agreed three weeks ago after a long negotiation. Thomas is the customer's General Counsel — he was absent from every business conversation and has now returned the contract with seventeen redlines, some of which reopen terms you thought were fully closed. You need to sort through what's legitimate legal review and what's commercial opportunism.
Skills tested
- contract negotiation
- distinguishing legal from commercial objections
- legal process management
- maintaining deal momentum at the finish line
- working around and with legal gatekeepers
What you'll practice
- How to triage legal redlines by type and urgency
- How to accept real legal concerns without accepting commercial redlines dressed as legal concerns
- How to maintain deal momentum when legal review has no timeline pressure
- When to bring a business stakeholder back into a legal negotiation
Personality traits
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