I negotiated a partner's asking price down 62% and kept the relationship strong

Overview

Strong partner deals start at the negotiating table. At Discover I turned a prominent partner's opening payout proposal into a performance-based deal that protected our costs and the relationship at the same time.

The Challenge

A prominent potential partner proposed its optimal payout, and I was at an inflection point: decide whether and how to negotiate that number against what we could actually earn back, without losing a relationship worth keeping for the long term.

My Approach

• Asked the partner for its own traffic and conversion expectations rather than accepting the proposed payout at face value.
• Took those expectations back internally and compared them against the real performance of a similarly sized partner.
• Derived a more realistic view of what the partner's traffic was actually worth to the channel.
• Renegotiated a fair starting test payout, with dependencies and caveats tied to whether the partner's traffic panned out as initially proposed.

The Results

• Agreed a starting payout 62% below the partner's opening proposal, through a performance-based economic case rather than pressure.
• Preserved a prominent partner relationship built to last for the long term.
• Set a test payout with clear performance conditions rather than locking in an unproven rate.

Key Skills