THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

"I'm glad we're on the same page," Susanne said, her voice taking on a relaxed tone. "Let's move on to the business at hand right away. As I was saying, we would like to endorse Zachary and add him to our team of ambassadors here in Norway. We're willing to bet on his potential and sign a three-year contract with him right away." She smiled.

"Go on," Emily said, leaning back into her chair.

"I've already done my research to ascertain his potential," Susanne continued, also leaning back into her seat. "I've even talked to Mr. Martin Stein, one of Rosenborg's most experienced scouts. He assured me that even he couldn't see the limits of Zachary's potential. So, I'm dead serious when I say that we wish to bring him into our team of ambassadors." Her tone had turned solemn.

"You know Mr. Martin Stein?" Zachary chipped in, eyes widening.

"Yes, we're quite close," Susanne replied, beaming. "You can ask him about me when you next meet him. That is if you don't believe me."

"It's not that," Zachary said, shaking his head. "Doubting you was not my intention. I was just surprised."

Susanne chuckled softly. "No worries," she said. "I was only joking with you there. There's no need to take it seriously. Anyway, I wanted to assure you that we have some understanding of your potential." She added, holding Zachary's gaze from across the table.

"So, I'm not going to try to cut down the wages we're offering by citing issues like he's young and so on," she continued, turning towards Emily once more. "Since we have decided to invest, we will commit fully as long as Zachary agrees to fulfill a few commitments during the contract period."

"Okay, we're glad to hear that," Emily chipped in, leaning forward to hold Susanne's gaze. "Could you give us a summarized breakdown of the sort of offer you have in mind and its attached conditions first?" She wanted to hear Audi's offer immediately in order to determine whether it was worth Zachary's time.

"We're willing to offer 7.5 million Norwegian Kroner per year to bring Zachary on to our team of ambassadors here in Norway right away," Susanne stated. "The offer we're bringing to the table is for three years, and we're willing to pay 4.5 Million first—that is as soon we've put pen on paper to finalize the deal." She paused, sweeping her gaze over both Emily and Zachary.

Emily reached out from under the table and tapped Zachary's arm to calm him down while waiting for the lady to continue. She didn't want her client to have an over-the-top reaction to the offer even before the Audi team had stated the conditions attached to the deal.

"We'll only request that Zachary fulfill three conditions," Susanne continued after failing to elicit any marked reaction from Zachary or Emily. "The first condition is to drive only the Audi brand of cars for the entire time he's under contract. Of course, we'll provide one vehicle of his choosing to him for free as soon as he signs the contract."

"Secondly, we need him to participate in some of our promotional activities like our Motor shows where we present the new models of our brand here in Norway. You don't have to worry about scheduling conflicts since we'll only call him for two or three shows each year. A few times, we may call on him to partake in the production of video ads or posters. But we shall pay extra for that. And we won't force him to film any inappropriate content that may harm his reputation just because we've got him under contract."

"Thirdly, we need to reserve the priority to retain him as our ambassador when the contract period ends."

"What?" Emily cut in, frowning. Reserving the priority to retain her client meant that he would always stay tied to Audi even after the contract period had ended. Zachary wouldn't get a chance to sign for any other automobile brands in the future as only the Audi team would have the power to dismiss his services. Emily would never agree to it since it would be harmful to her client in the long run.

"Are you serious?" Emily probed, shaking her head. She didn't even try to mask the displeasure in her voice. "This clause will be what chases us away from the negotiating table," she added, holding Susanne's gaze from across the table.

"First listen and don't come to any conclusions before I finish," Susanne said, raising her arm in a placating gesture. "We at Audi have already gauged Zachary's potential and would have wished to offer him a long-term contract. But there are still some considerations related to the internal working of our company we have to take into account. So, we can't offer him a deal for a period longer than three years at the moment."

"But, we'll be willing to match the offers of any other automobile brands and retain Zachary as our ambassador after the three years of the contract elapse. So, we'll want Zachary to commit himself to remain with us if we make such a lucrative offer. Let me give a hypothetical example. For instance, say Mercedes Benz offers Zachary 12 million Norwegian Kroner per year after the three years of our contract have elapsed. But then, we manage to match or top their offer. We shall have the privilege to retain Zachary's services as our ambassador over the Mercedes Benz car brand, which in this case, is our competitor."

"As you can see, there is no potential harm brought to your client by this clause," Susanne continued, a confident smile outlining her face. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, I do," Emily replied, nodding and scribbling down some notes in her notebook. "The condition is not harmful to my client in any way. But I have to ask one thing, though. This deal would apply solely to automobile companies. Isn't that right?"

"Yes, of course," Susanne replied, nodding. "As long as a brand isn't an automobile company—that is, our competitor, we won't care. We won't care about any other endorsements Zachary gets into as long as they don't put his reputation through the mud."

"Then that should be fine," Emily said and scribbled down a few more notes in her notebook. "But you haven't considered Zachary's growth potential. What if he's to become the best player in Europe next year? Will you still keep him at 7.5 million Norwegian Kroner a year?" She queried in a joking manner.

Susanne chuckled at that. "Well," she said, still beaming. "We've already considered that. And I can promise that when we're drafting the final contract document, we'll include clauses that will cover situations brought about by Zachary's growth potential."