Level 18 min
One ask
David asks only for a discount and accepts the first fair trade you offer, such as a longer contract or a reference call.
- Discount only
- Accepts a fair trade
Sales roleplay scenarioNegotiation role play: “Take 20% off and we sign this week”
The deal is agreed, and procurement wants one more thing before the signature. In this negotiation role play, David, an AI procurement director, asks for a discount and longer payment terms in the last week of your quarter. Practice finding which ask matters to him, pricing every concession and closing on terms you can approve.
DavidAI procurement director
Mood · AI character
Take 20% off, give us 90-day terms, and we sign this week.
I want this signed this week too. The price covers all six plants and the rollout your quality team planned after the pilot. What’s behind the 20%?
Savings. Every contract I sign has to show some.
Scored live
- Holds the price under pressure
- Finds what matters most to him
- Gets something for every concession
- Negotiates the whole package
- Closes on written terms
AI coachYou held the price without arguing for it. Now find out which of his two asks carries more weight.
The situation
The deal is won. Procurement still wants its share.
Context
You sell quality management software to food manufacturers, and this deal is yours to close. After a three-month pilot at one plant, the quality director chose your platform for all six of her company’s plants. Your proposal: $180,000 a year on a one-year contract, payment in 30 days. Scope and rollout are agreed. The contract goes through David, the procurement director. It is the last week of your quarter, and he asked for twenty minutes.
What you know
- Procurement asked another vendor for a quote last month.
- Your quarter closes on Friday, and David knows it.
- You can approve up to 8% off yourself. Anything more goes to your VP of sales.
- Your finance team accepts 60-day terms on any deal, and 90 days only on a multi-year contract.
Your goal
- Find out which of his two asks matters more to him, and why.
- Give nothing without getting something back: contract length, a reference, a start date.
- End with the terms summarized and a signing date, inside your approval limit.
The AI character
Meet David. Negotiating is his whole job.
- His role
- Procurement director. Every software contract above $50,000 goes through him, and his results are measured as savings against the first quote.
- His company
- A mid-size food manufacturer with six plants and a CFO who wants to hold on to cash this year.
- What he cares about
- Savings he can report
- Paying suppliers later
- No surprises at renewal
- What he won’t say first
- The 90-day terms are his CFO’s rule for every new supplier this year.
- The quality director has already said no to the other vendor.
- He wants the contract signed before his CFO’s budget review next week.
- How he reacts
- A concession with nothing asked backHe takes it and moves to his next ask.
- An “if you…, then we…” offerHe counters, but he stays at the table.
- Your quarter end given as a reasonHe says next quarter works fine for him.
- Starting mood
Cool and businesslike. Polite, brief and in no hurry to show his priorities.
What is scored
Five criteria. Each one scored on your offers and questions.
In a negotiation, what you gave and what you got back are both on the record. Each criterion is scored from your offers and questions, quoted with timestamped comments, so a concession that bought nothing appears in your own words. If you have a negotiation playbook and discount rules, they can become the criteria.
- 01
Holds the price under pressure
What good looks likeAnswers the 20% and the deadline with what the price covers, not with a smaller number.
Common missOffers a smaller discount in the first reply.
- 02
Finds what matters most to him
What good looks likeAsks which ask matters more and why, and learns that the payment terms come from his CFO.
Common missNegotiates the discount and the terms as if they weighed the same.
- 03
Gets something for every concession
What good looks likeTies each give to a get: longer payment terms for a longer contract, part of the discount for a reference call.
Common missGives ground and hopes for goodwill in return.
- 04
Negotiates the whole package
What good looks likePuts price, payment terms, contract length and the reference call on the table together and keeps the total inside the approval limit.
Common missSettles one point at a time and runs out of things to trade.
- 05
Closes on written terms
What good looks likeSums up every agreed term, names who signs and when, and sends the summary the same day.
Common missEnds with “Let me check with my manager and get back to you.”
How the conversation can go
From “20% off” to a three-year contract signed on Thursday.
David · AI procurement director
Take 20% off, give us 90-day terms, and we sign this week.
You
I want this signed this week too. The price covers all six plants and the rollout your quality team planned after the pilot. Before we change anything, which matters more to your side: the 20% or the 90 days?
AI coach · Holds the price under pressureYou held the price, tied it to their own rollout plan and said nothing about your quarter.
David · AI procurement director
Both. But the 90 days aren’t mine. Our CFO wants them from every new supplier this year.
AI coach · Finds what matters most to himNow you know the ask he can’t drop. It is worth the most to him, so it is the one to trade, not to give.
You
Then let’s make 90 days work. Finance can do it on a three-year agreement. On a one-year contract, we stay at 60.
David · AI procurement director
Three years is a real commitment. If I give you three years, I need the 20%.
AI coach · Gets something for every concessionThe terms moved only in exchange for a longer contract. He is testing whether the discount comes free.
You
20% isn’t possible. Here is what I can do: three years, 90-day terms, 8% off every year, and your quality director joins one reference call for us in the spring. If that works, can your CFO sign on Thursday?
David · AI procurement director
Send me that in writing today, and Thursday works.
You
You’ll have it within the hour: three-year term, 90-day payment, 8% off the annual fee, one reference call in the spring, signature on Thursday.
AI coach · Closes on written termsEvery term is summarized, the signer and the date are named, and the discount stayed inside your limit.
Sales negotiation · 5 criteria84/ 100
Every concession bought something, but contract length and terms were settled before the discount came up, so the reference call was your last card. Put the whole package on the table at once, then run it again.
Difficulty
Three versions of David. From one ask to a quarter-end squeeze.
Level 210 min
Two asks
He wants 20% off and 90-day terms, and tells you about his CFO’s cash rule as soon as you ask which one matters more.
- Discount and terms
- Shares his priorities
Level 312 min
Quarter-end squeeze
The default version. David uses your quarter end against you, keeps the CFO’s rule to himself until the right question and says he is happy to wait until next quarter.
- Your deadline, his leverage
- Hidden priority
- Can wait a quarter
Related scenarios
Practice the conversations around it.
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Your buyer likes the product, holds a cheaper competing quote and says the price is too high. Keep the value and agree on a next step.
Difficulty: IntermediateDuration: 8 min
Kenji · AI IT director
SalesB2B software
MEDDIC discovery call
A first call with an IT director who is comparing three vendors. Map the metrics, the economic buyer and the decision process before the demo.
Difficulty: AdvancedDuration: 12 min
Procurement is often the last conversation before a signature. In AI sales practice from first call to signed contract, reps also rehearse discovery, price pushback and the close with AI buyers built from their own deals.
Browse all sales, service and leadership scenariosFAQ
About this scenario.
How do you hold your price when procurement asks for a discount?
Don’t answer a number with a smaller number. Restate what the price covers, ask which of their asks matters most and why, and move only in exchange for something: a longer contract, a reference, an earlier start. Keep price, terms and length on the table together so you don’t run out of things to trade, and close by putting the agreed terms in writing.
Can we run this negotiation role play without AI?
Yes. Three people and a sealed note are enough. The note holds David’s secrets: his CFO’s 90-day rule, the vendor his quality director already turned down and next week’s budget review, and whoever plays him reveals each one only when a question earns it. The seller works from the proposal and an 8% limit. The third person keeps a two-column sheet: what was given, and what came back for it. Every line with an empty second column is a lost point. The sample dialogue is one route to a signature, not a script.
How does the AI score a negotiation?
From what was offered and asked. The score for holding the price rests on the rep’s first reply to “20% off,” the score for trades on each give and what came back for it, and a concession with nothing attached is quoted as it was said. How the rep sounds is not part of it: there is no voice or emotion analysis. David’s mood belongs to the character and moves with what the rep offers and asks.
Can we use our own price list and discount rules?
Yes. In the scenario builder, replace our $180,000 proposal and 8% limit with your price list, the discount each level of your team can approve and the payment terms your finance team accepts. Add the procurement roles your reps actually face, and score the call against the negotiation method your team already uses.
Procurement will ask for more. Decide what you’ll ask back.
Book a short demo to sit across from David yourself, or tell us which terms procurement pushes hardest on in your deals.