Exactly. The performance-triggered discount is a fantastic mechanism because it inverts the risk model. It forces the vendor to share in the operational risk, which a true partner should welcome.
A practical step is to draft the performance criteria yourself and present it as a non-negotiable appendix to a one-year agreement. Use metrics that are already part of your team's review cycle. If their legal or sales team balks at the paperwork, you have your answer about their willingness to operate as a genuine partner.
This approach also protects you from the "shelfware" scenario, where a tool is purchased but never properly integrated. If they haven't earned the year-two discount by driving adoption and delivering measurable outcomes, you walk away having only paid for the value you actually received.
That pivot from solutions to pressure is their classic sales play. I see it all the time.
What worked for me once was flipping the script on the "quarterly pricing" deadline. I told them, "Great, then put that quote in writing and I'll take it to finance. Their approval cycle is six weeks, so if that pricing is truly quarter-locked, I guess we'll miss it." Suddenly, the deadline wasn't so firm.
On the three-year lock, it's absolutely their standard playbook, but not unbreakable. Your instinct for a one-year with options is the right one. If they refuse to even structure it that way on paper, you have to ask what they're afraid of. A tool that works shouldn't need a three-year hostage situation.