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The Audi II

"I'm glad we're on the same page" Susanne said, her voice relaxed. "Let's move on to an existing business soon. As I said, we want to support Zachary and add him to our ambassadorial team here in Norway. We are willing to bet on his potential and sign a three-year contract with him immediately." She smiles.

"Come on," said Emily, leaning into her chair.

"I've done some research to ascertain his potential" continued Susanne, also leaning into his chair. "I've even spoken to Mr. Martin Stein, one of Rosenborg's most experienced scouts. He assured me that even he could not see the limits of Zachary's potential. So, I was very serious when I said that we wanted to bring him into our ambassadorial team." His voice turned serious.

"You know Mr. Martin Stein?" Zachary interrupted, his eyes widening.

"Yes, we're close enough" Susanne replied, beaming. "You can ask her about me when you meet her later. That's if you don't believe me."

"Not that," said Zachary, shaking his head. "Doubting you wasn't my intention. I'm just surprised."

Susanne laughed softly. "Don't worry," he said. "I was just kidding with you there. No need to take it seriously. Anyway, I want to assure you that we have an understanding of your potential." He added, holding Zachary's gaze from across the table.

"So, I'm not going to try to reduce the salary we offer by citing problems like he's young and so on" he continued, turning towards Emily once again. "Since we have decided to invest, we will be fully committed as long as Zachary agrees to meet some commitments over the life of the contract."

"OK, we're happy to hear it," Emily interjected, leaning forward to hold Susanne's gaze. "Can you give us a summary detail about the type of offer you think about and its attached terms first?" He wanted to hear Audi's offer immediately to determine if it was worth Zachary's time.

"We are willing to offer 7.5 million Norwegian Kroner per year to bring Zachary to our team of ambassadors here in Norway soon" Susanne said. "The offer we brought to the table was for three years, and we were willing to pay 4.5 Million in advance—that as soon as we put pen to paper to complete the deal." He stopped, sweeping his gaze over to Emily and Zachary.

Emily reached out from under the table and patted Zachary's arm to calm him down while waiting for the woman to continue. He did not want his client to overreact to the offer even before the Audi team declared the conditions attached to the deal.

"We're just going to ask that Zachary meet three conditions" Susanne continued after failing to get a real reaction from Zachary or Emily. "The first condition is to only drive an Audi brand car as long as he is under contract. Of course, we'll give one vehicle of his choice to him for free as soon as he signs the contract."

"Third, we need to reserve the priority to retain him as our ambassador when the contract term expires."

"What?" Emily cut, frowning. Ordering priority to retain his client means that he will always be tied to Audi even after the contract period expires. Zachary will not get the chance to sign a contract with another car brand in the future because only the Audi team has the power to stop its service. Emily would never agree to it because it would be dangerous for her clients in the long run.

"Are you serious?" Emily investigated, shaking her head. He did not even try to cover up the displeasure in his voice. "This clause will keep us away from the negotiating table" he added, looking at Susanne from across the table.

"Listen first and don't come to any conclusions before I'm done" Susanne said, raising her hand in a calming manner. “We at Audi are already seeing the potential of Zachary and want to offer a long-term contract. But there are still some internal considerations related to our company that we must consider. So, we can't offer him a deal for a period longer than three years at the moment."

"But, we will be willing to match the offers from other car brands and retain Zachary as our ambassador after three years of contract have passed. So, we want Zachary to commit to staying with us if we make such a tempting offer. Let me give you a hypothetical example. For example, say Mercedes Benz offers Zachary 12 million Norwegian Kroner per year after three years of our contract have passed. But then, we managed to match or surpass their offer. We will have the privilege to retain Zachary's service as our ambassador over the Mercedes Benz car brand, which in this case is our competitor."

"As you can see, no potential harm is brought to your clients with this clause" Susanne continued, a confident smile adorning her face. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, right," replied Emily, nodding and writing some notes in her notebook. "This condition does not harm my clients at all. But I have to ask one thing. This deal only applies to car companies. Don't you?"

"Yes, of course," Susanne replied as she nodded. "As long as the brand is not a car— company that is, our competitors, we will not care. We won't care about the other endorsements Zachary has done as long as they don't damage his reputation. ."

"Then, it'll be fine" Emily said and wrote a few more notes in her notebook. "But you haven't considered Zachary's growth potential. What if he becomes the best player in Europe next year? Will you keep it at 7.5 million Norwegian Kroner a year?" He asked in a joking tone.

Susanne laughed at that. "Well," he said, still beaming. "We've considered that. And I can promise that when we are drawing up final contract documents, we will include a clause that will cover the situation brought about by Zachary's potential growth."