How to close the deal when your client has a “better” offer from a competitor

Before I start telling you my story, ask yourself if you have ever been in a situation where you had to pitch your company even though a competitor had already made a better offer. I bet you have been. Did you close the deal? How did you handle the situation?

About three weeks ago, I visited a potential customer for the final negotiation at his place. After one hour of presentation, discussion, value proposition and so on, I offered him a really good deal. He then proceeded to take out an offer from a competitor of mine. The offer included more features for a better price. For a second I did not know how to continue.

In sales, this situation happens quite often and differentiates the real professional from the wannabe sales person. These moments make the difference between being the undisputed best within your sales team or coming up second or third place at the end of the month. And there is one easy way to determine if it makes sense to continue.

Ask yourself: Is the prospect still listening to me?

If yes. Why does he spend his precious time and money listening to you if he already knows that this is not the offer he will choose? Simple answer: There is something that you can offer that he wants to have. Otherwise he would have made his decision and sent you home already.

So how you can convince the prospect now? First rule: Never compete on price. It will hurt your credibility or make you offer a deal that is not lucrative for you. And never try to make your competitor look bad. Being negative towards others, includes you being negative in the moment and will lead to negative vibes towards you.

Rather use any of these four proven strategies:

1. Build trust via strong references: Show him real clients that successfully work with your solution. The more specific they are to his industry the more trust will be built towards your solution.

2. Match his needs better: Even though your product might offer less features in total, it might cover use cases that are vital to the client’s business. Listen closely to the client’s needs and try to match them with your solution.

3. Compete on service: Quicker implementation, higher support availability, other extra services that you can offer. Show him that you are the better partner because you offer a better customer experience. In most cases that also justifies higher prices.

4. Your personality: Making business is about trust. If you are an honest and trustworthy character, people will prefer doing business with you. Even though this is old school thinking, business still works like this. So be honest, sincere and authentic!

In my case it was a combination of better service terms and strong reference clients that made the client sign the deal with me, even though my solution cost more and missed a couple features. I did not give up nor did I get discouraged by the competing offer. The client was still listening to me and I knew I still had my chance to close the deal. So if you find yourself in an equivalent situation, try to remember these strategies and don’t let your dreams be dreams. 😉