War-game a discount policy before sales quotes it

War-game a discount policy before sales quotes a floor that becomes the new list price and finance learns about it in the forecast miss.

Discount policies fail when approval ladders are theater, when "one-time" credits recur every renewal, when competitor match language has no proof standard, and when packaging exceptions quietly rewrite the SKU map. A rate card in a slide is not evidence that the policy survives a careful deal desk review.

Name the policy under fire

State the list price baseline, the maximum discount by segment, the approval owners, the evidence required for competitor match, and the sunset rules for credits. Attach sample quotes, margin floors, and the exception log from the last two quarters. If sales, finance, and CS each think they own discretionary discounts, stop and reconcile first.

Write the decision you will make if the war game finds nothing new, and the revise criteria if average selling price, margin, or churn crosses a named line.

Who should attack it

Finance. Margin and cash timing under realistic mix, not the optimistic average.
Sales leadership. Whether the ladder is usable in a live negotiation without shadow deals.
Customer and procurement. How the public or leaked floor will be quoted back.
Competitor. How match language will be gamed with soft "proof."
Skeptic. The claim that looks strongest and is least sourced.

Same pack for every seat. Hidden "we will make it up on expansion" notes for sales only create fake agreement.

Run the passes

Feed Pingpong the policy draft, sample quotes, and margin floors. First pass steelmans the policy. Later passes attack from finance, sales, customer, and competitor seats. Final pass turns surviving objections into tighter approval thresholds, clearer evidence rules, or a delayed publish. Delete dual-counted expansion and invented win rates.

Force a day-after narrative: what happens if a large account leaks the deepest discount, if CS uses the same floor as a save offer, or if a reseller quotes below your public packaging. If those stories are stronger than your guardrails, fix the package before enablement. Separate discount policy from a packaging or list-price rewrite. If the memo blurs them, run those war games as separate moves.