Managing Customer Comparisons During Sales Conversations

A prospect tells you: "We’re also looking at [Competitor]." Most reps make one of two mistakes: - They panic and start discounting before the customer even asks. - They attack the competitor, thinking that will win trust. The best reps? They guide the conversation...without badmouthing or getting defensive. Here’s how we teach folks to do it at Sales Assembly: 1) Find the gap. Instead of “We’re better because…” ask: “What made you start looking in the first place? What’s missing today?” This gets them to focus on their pain, not a feature battle. 2) Understand their criteria. Instead of “Why are you considering them?” ask: “What’s most important to you in a solution?” You want them defining success in your playing field. 3) Focus on fit, not features. Instead of “We’re better at X,” ask: “What’s been standing out to you in each option so far?” If they highlight something critical you do better, that’s your opening. 4) Help them think ahead. Instead of “They don’t do [X] like we do,” say: “A lot of teams in your space have prioritized [X] because it impacts [Y]. How are you thinking about that?” This frames the conversation around outcomes - not a feature war. 5) Guide the decision process. Instead of “Who’s your front-runner?” ask: “What’s your process for narrowing down options?” If they don’t have a clear decision path, they’re likely to stall. 6) Make the decision feel easy. Instead of “How can we win this deal?” ask: “If you had to make a decision today, what would give you confidence?” This surfaces final concerns...so you can remove them. The goal isn’t to beat competitors. It’s to help buyers feel confident that choosing you is the right move.

A client's sales team was hitting 90% of their quota The CEO wanted to fire them all I was confused until I looked at the data: Their top competitor was growing 2X faster with: - 40% fewer reps - 30% higher prices - A product with fewer features How was this possible? We interviewed 20 customers who chose the competitor over my client The answer wasn't in their sales tactics, tech stack, or talent It was in the questions they asked My client's sales conversations followed a predictable pattern: - Talk about their product - Ask about "pain points" - Match features to problems - Present proposal Their competitor did something radically different: They asked questions nobody else was asking Questions like: What would solving this problem allow you to do that you can't do today? How would your customers experience the difference if this improved? What's the cost of maintaining the status quo for another 12 months? These questions shifted the entire conversation from features to business outcomes We completely rebuilt their approach: - Developed an architecture unique to each target industry - Created a framework to move beyond immediate problems - Built "Insight Triggers" that introduced unexpected perspectives - Implemented weekly "Question Labs" to refine and improve approaches The results? - Win rates against this competitor increased from 30% to 50% - Average deal size grew by 40% - Sales cycle shortened by 20% The truth about sales differentiation: In a world where products are increasingly similar, your questions are your biggest differentiator. The most valuable competitive advantage isn't what you know—it's what you help your prospects discover about themselves. Quota isn't the ceiling, it's the floor Your sales team's biggest blind spot isn't competitor knowledge It's customer knowledge Are your sales conversations revealing needs—or creating them? P.S. If you need help with your sales, send me a message

Shock horror. 😱 Your buyers are comparing you to your competitors before they ever speak to you. So the question is: do you help them make that comparison, or do you do what most people do? Close your eyes and pretend it isn't happening. Or carry on publishing content telling everyone how brilliant you are. Here's the thing. They're going to compare their options anyway. Your approach versus someone else's. Hiring an expert versus doing it themselves. A consultant versus a coach or agency. Your price, process and results versus the next person's. They're not doing it to catch you out. They're doing it because they're about to spend proper money on something they're still trying to get their head around. Comparison is how they work out whether they're backing the right person. So help them work it out. If you're not sure where to start, try these five: 1. Your approach versus another approach 2. Hiring an expert versus doing it yourself 3. A consultant versus a coach versus an agency 4. A fixed project versus ongoing support 5. Your service versus a cheaper alternative For each one, answer honestly: What is genuinely different? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Who is each option best suited to? What will each cost in time, money and effort? When would you point someone towards the other option? And yes, that last one matters. Be straight when your service isn't the right fit. Comparison content shouldn't be a badly disguised advert for why you're the obvious choice. It should give buyers the full picture so they can make a decent decision. Do that well and you're no longer just another name on their shortlist. You become the person who helped them see the whole road before they set off. Charlie - Clarity Over Noise

"We're looking at alternatives" is the most expensive phrase in customer success. Your strongest renewal weapon isn't ROI data or new features. It's status quo bias. The same psychological force that makes us buy the same toothpaste for decades, frequent the same coffee shop, and stay in questionable relationships is the secret to retaining your SaaS customers. Here's why this matters in B2B: When your customer is considering alternatives, they're fighting a powerful psychological force that wants them to stay put. This creates an incumbent advantage you can leverage. Status quo bias exists for four specific reasons: 1️⃣ Preference stability- We intrinsically value what we're already using simply because we're using it 2️⃣ Change costs- We instinctively understand that switching solutions means disruption, retraining, and adaptation costs 3️⃣ Decision paralysis- Too many similar alternatives make confident selection nearly impossible 4️⃣ Anticipated regret- We fear future blame if a new selection proves worse than what we had Here's the strategic asymmetry: Sales must overcome these four forces to win a new customer. They must create enough urgency and certainty to justify the pain of change. But in customer success, we can align with these same forces. Instead of fighting psychological gravity, we can harness it. The essential questions shift: ❌ Sales must answer: "Why change? Why now?" ✅ CS must reinforce: "Why stay? Why not yet?" This isn't just theoretical. In practice, this means: • Emphasizing transition costs during renewal discussions • Highlighting the embedded knowledge your customer has built in your solution • Documenting the specific workflows that would be disrupte • Comparing the "perceived future perfect" of alternatives with the "known quantity" of your solution Your renewal strategy must capitalize on your customers' natural inertia while continuously improving their current state. The most successful CS leaders I know don't just sell value—they make the status quo increasingly comfortable while making alternatives appear increasingly risky. What's your most effective strategy for leveraging status quo bias in retention conversations?

If your pitch needs a competitor takedown to land, it isn’t a pitch, it’s a red flag. Predatory sales tactics might win attention, but they don’t win trust. As AEs, our job isn’t to talk down competitors; it’s to stand up a clear path from the buyer’s PROBLEM & PAIN to a measurable OUTCOME. How I keep myself honest: Lead with the problem. “Here’s what I heard and why it hurts.” Quantify impact. Time lost, pipeline risk, churn exposure, put numbers to it. Map to outcomes. “If we solve X, you get Y by Z date.” Show your work. Proof > promises (customer stories, metrics, live workflow). Invite comparison. “Here’s where we fit—and where we’re not the right choice.” Respect the buyer. Respect the market. Compete on clarity, not fear. The strongest close is when the customer says, “This solves my problem,” not “You scared me into a decision.” What’s one predatory tactic you’ve seen, and how did you turn it into a value conversation? #sales #b2bsales #accountexecutive #salesethics #salesskills #salesleadership #respectthebuyer

“Let your competitors go first.” That advice cost us deals until we reversed it. We were selling a high-ticket service. And someone told me: “Don’t rush. Let the other companies go in first. Then you’ll know what they said, what they priced, how to position.” Sounded smart. But in reality, it was backwards. Because by the time you show up, the buyer is already shaped. They’ve heard the pitches. They’ve formed opinions. They’re comparing, not learning. You’re not leading anymore. You’re reacting. So, we changed one thing. We made it a rule: Get there first. Not to pitch, to educate. Truly understand their issues, concerns, and problems. We’d sit down and walk the customer through: Here’s your problem. Here’s what matters. Here are the risks. Here are the trade-offs. And then we’d do something most salespeople won’t do, we taught them what to ask the next companies. What questions matter? Where people and companies usually cut corners. What to watch for. And what followed the suit was phenomenal: We didn’t lose deals to competitors anymore. Not because we were cheaper. Because we set the standard. By the time others showed up, the buyer already knew how to evaluate them. The buyers were loaded with specific questions to ask And we helped them do it. That’s when I realized: Winning has very little to do with being better at selling. It has everything to do with being first to shape the conversation. Are you showing up to compete or to define how the buyer thinks?

Elite sellers don't defend their price. Not because their price was too high. Because they reframe what the buyer compares it against. The pricing conversation is where most deals get won or lost. Not on the features call. Not in the demo. Right there. When the buyer says: "Can you do better on price?" Most reps defend. They reframe what the buyer compares it against. It's called anchor and contrast framing. ⚓ Behavioral science that changes how buyers perceive value. Here's what most reps do: Buyer: "That's more than we budgeted." Rep: "Let me talk to my manager." You just anchored DISCOUNT as the expectation. Here's what elite sellers to help their buyers understand their risks and true costs: 1️⃣ Set the anchor early. Before price comes up, talk about the cost of the problem. "Most teams lose $400K annually in wasted sales hours." Now when you say $120K, their brain contrasts it against $400K in losses. 2️⃣ Frame the comparison. Buyer: "That's more than we budgeted." Seller: "Let's look at $120K versus what happens if this problem continues another year. Which cost is actually higher?" You're not defending. You're reframing the comparison. 3️⃣ Use contrast to show the gap. "Companies spend 6 months solving this internally. They invest $200K in team time. Our $120K gets you live in 45 days." Their brain does the math: $200K + 6 months vs. $120K + 45 days. Real example: Rep I coached. $180K proposal. Heavy pushback. 🟡 Old way: "Let me remove services to hit your number." 🟢 New way: "Let's compare $180K versus the $600K you're losing in churn. Which protects more revenue?" Closed at full price. Three weeks. The pricing conversation isn't about the lowest number. It's about leading the conversation with value and risk comparisons to help your buyer know what numbers to compare against. Year-end pricing conversations coming up? Before the call, write down: → Cost of their problem (your anchor) → Cost of waiting (your contrast)   → What they get vs. the alternative Let their brain do the math. Most reps defend. Elite sellers reframe. Save this for your next pricing conversation. 🔖 Want more frameworks to help you win deals? Join my Multipliers newsletter where I share tools like this weekly: https://lnkd.in/g2xQeJ4U 📌 Follow Holly Moe for insights that create an outsized sales advantage.

Client: "𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 40% 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳." [Most salespeople panic. I didn’t.] I asked: "𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨?" Their answer changed everything:
 "𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 $25𝘒, 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘴 $35𝘒." I nodded. "𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵. 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨?" Then I walked them through:
 ✅ 3 critical features in our base (a $20K add-on for them)
 ✅ Superior implementation support ($15K value)
 ✅ A 24-month TCO showing we were actually 22% LESS expensive Their exact words?
 "𝘐'𝘮 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘨 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘳. 𝘞𝘦'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯." They signed the next day—at full price. This happens in nearly every price objection:
 💰 Price objections aren’t about price
 🍏🍊 Apples-to-oranges comparisons derail deals
 📉 Discounting is often a failure to articulate value The one question that changes pricing conversations? 
"𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘 𝙘𝙖𝙥𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜?" What’s your best response when a prospect says you’re too expensive? Drop it in the comments! 👇 #salesstrategy #salessuccess #salescoaching #salestips #salestraining #business #B2B #businesstips #entrepreneur #success

You’re on a negotiation call and the prospect says: “Well, your competitor is cheaper.” A lot of newer sellers immediately panic and jump straight to discounting. Slow down and just ask some questions first. I remember being in this exact situation and asking: - Who are you comparing us to? - What are they offering? - Are you okay with having less? Turns out it wasn’t even close to the same level of product… so of course it was cheaper. Not every comparison is apples to apples. If you take the time to understand what they’re actually evaluating, it becomes much easier to justify your pricing and push back the right way instead of instantly racing to discount.