Deal go south because you use their competitor................FML

Scenario:


-There is a very well known (but shall remain unnamed) Revenue Intelligence tool out there

-My company uses their competitor (IDK why, I don't care why, I just work here and its what we use)

-My deal with Company X is going south because we use their competition


How do you handle this?

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4
salesnerd
WR Officer
6
Head of Growth
This seems like some Grade A bullshit and I would call it out. 

Are you sure it's because you're using their competitor? Because that shouldn't impact whether they use your solution. I would ask that point-blank if you think the deal is dead. Maybe that will allow you to salvage the deal out of pure embarrassment. 
CoorsKing
WR Officer
2
Retired King of the Coors Knights
I unfortunately run into this all the time. My company runs on AWS, and I sell to the Fortune 100, which obviously includes several large retailers who refuse to do business with us under any circumstances because Amazon is their mortal enemy. It sucks.
salesnerd
WR Officer
2
Head of Growth
That's the issue with the fact that Amazon competes with every single business...
CaneWolf
Politicker
0
Call me what you want, just sign the damn contract
I dealt with this as well. The company ended up spinning up on Azure as well after I left. I know that changed the landscape in a positive way for some sellers.

Any chance you could bring that idea to anybody? Microsoft seems to actively be bringing deals to companies that are willing to work with them on Azure.
CoorsKing
WR Officer
0
Retired King of the Coors Knights
Well we kinda compete with MSFT so not sure they would be bringing me any deals any time soon ;) but using Azure alongside AWS would definitely open some doors on its own. Our company is actively looking at moving to a multi-cloud model, not sure which one they have selected yet though. 
CadenceCombat
Tycoon
1
Account Executive
I would talk to your manager to try to get support and advice on how to overcome this objection.

Is there something you can pinpoint... like an integration with the rest of your tech stack that made it necessary for you guys to use their competitor as a way to save face?

Can you convince management to set up a meeting with their sales rep towards the end of the contract to give them a shot at beating out their competitor to smooth things over, maybe?
swerve
WR Lieutenant
1
Account Executive
Find out who the Gong or Chorus, I mean uh, "company X" AE is for your company and get them connected to your RVP for a 30 minute meeting. My VP would take the meeting in a heartbeat to help close it out. Plus they might learn something new from said company.

The best way to do this is straight through your buyers. "Hey ____, had a random thought for you...I'm not sure why we used your competitor but maybe there's something your AE could teach my boss. Why don't you connect us and I'll get them in touch with my leadership?"

Edit: Grammar
Savagedoge
Tycoon
0
Account Executive
I second @salesnerd here. This is BS. If the fact that y'all using their competitor is stopping them from a good deal with y'all, that's a no deal there. 
NorthernSalesGuru
Politicker
0
Manager, Outbound Sales
That just seems weak. Also depending on the size of deal may be worth investigating what the reasons for deciding on the competitor were so you can perhaps reason with the prospect that the company made decisions based on a solution fit at the time
7

When do you go around an unresponsive or unreliable prospect

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