Project Context
You are an Account Executive at Meta managing a strategic retail advertiser that is considering a $4.5M annual expansion across Facebook, Instagram, Reels, and Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns. The deal is in late-stage negotiation, but the sales process has hit adversity: the client paused legal review, their CMO is questioning incremental ROI, and a competing platform has offered aggressive pricing. You have 8 weeks left in the quarter, a lean cross-functional pod of 6 people, and executive pressure to close at least a pilot this quarter.
Key Stakeholders
Internally, your partners include a Client Partner, Measurement Lead, Solutions Engineer, Legal, and Finance. Externally, the client stakeholders are the CMO, Head of Performance Marketing, Procurement Lead, and Legal Counsel. Their priorities conflict: the CMO wants proof of business impact, Procurement wants lower spend and more flexibility, and Meta Finance will not approve non-standard commercial terms without VP review.
Constraints
- Target: close a minimum $1.5M pilot by quarter end, with path to full $4.5M annual agreement next quarter
- Timeline: 8 weeks, with the client board meeting in Week 6
- Budget flexibility: maximum 10% discount equivalent in value, including credits or added support
- Team capacity: 1 AE, 1 Client Partner, 1 Measurement Lead, 1 Solutions Engineer, shared Legal and Finance support
- Dependency: client requires a Meta Conversion Lift or MMM readout before approving expansion
Complications
- The client reports that their last Reels campaign underperformed forecast by 18%, reducing confidence in Meta's recommendation.
- Meta Legal estimates a 3-week turnaround on the client's requested data-use addendum, which could push signature past quarter end.
- The Head of Performance Marketing supports the deal, but Procurement is pushing to split budget across two platforms instead of consolidating with Meta.
Your Task
- Build an 8-week execution plan to recover the deal and reach a quarter-end close.
- Define the trade-offs between closing a smaller pilot now versus holding for the full annual agreement.
- Identify the top risks, owners, and mitigation steps.
- Propose stakeholder-specific actions to handle internal and client-side adversity.
- Define success metrics and a contingency plan if legal approval slips.
