We've all had it. You got in touch with your ICP, had a great conversation, and then you get hit with the classic:
"We already have an in-house solution for this."
Most reps, defensibly so, swallow the rejection, thank them for their time, and move on. Seems like the end, right? They already have a solution, after all.
But before you put that phone down, ask yourself three questions:
- Did I tell them about the whole scope of our product, in depth?
- Do I actually know everything about their solution?
- Do they really have a solution, or are they just looking to end the call?
If you can confidently say no to any of these, you still have room to close that deal.
Step 1: find out what they actually have
Before you try to convince them yours is a better fit, find out as much as possible about their solution. (We'll use our own product as the example here, just swap in yours.)
- "Walk me through how your solution works."
This gets you a general synopsis of what their solution actually is. Maybe they've got a note taker like ours that summarises calls automatically. - "Walk me through the process of using it. Your rep puts the phone down after a great call, what happens next?"
This is more specific. Now, instead of just knowing what it is, you know exactly how it's used, and where the friction actually lives. - "Ballpark estimate: out of every 100 calls, how many come back with the notes written into the CRM, without a single missed detail?"
This question can be a killer. If they even hint that the number's lower than what you can offer, that's worth sitting on for a while. If they insist it's flawless every time, take them at their word and move to the next step anyway.
Step 2: pick at the pain
Now you know about their solution, it's tempting to jump straight into your product and why it'll blow their socks off. Don't yet. First, prep them. Ask questions that help them realise your solution won't just be better, it'll be easier. People cling to convenience, and until they feel that their current setup isn't actually convenient, "better" alone won't move them.
- "Who actually built this?"
A simple, human question, and the answer tells you almost everything. "Our engineering team built it" is one kind of answer. "Oh, Dave in ops put something together a couple of years back" is a completely different one. Either way, you've just found out how personally attached the room is to defending it, and how solid the foundation actually is underneath the confidence. - "So what happens when they leave, and the solution needs tweaks or fixing?"
This is the one that usually gets a pause. Most businesses haven't actually thought this through, they're relying on someone still being around when something breaks. That pause is the moment the risk stops being something you're telling them about, and starts being something they're feeling for themselves. - "What would that actually cost the business, in time and resources, if it broke and needed a proper overhaul?"
This puts a real number on the risk. Not what it cost to build, what it would cost to fix, under pressure, without warning.
Step 3: show them the difference
By now, you're not walking in cold. You know exactly what they have, exactly how it's used, and exactly where it's fragile, because they told you themselves. That's the whole advantage. You're not pitching against a guess, you're pitching against the real gaps they've just heard out loud.
This is the part where you resist the urge to oversell. You don't need to talk your product up. Just answer, plainly, the three cracks you already found: here's who's responsible for keeping it running when something goes wrong, here's what happens when the person who built it moves on, and here's what it actually costs you every month, not just once.
You're not trying to beat their solution on features. You're showing them a version of the same idea that doesn't come with the same risk attached.
That's usually enough. Not because your pitch was louder, but because by the time you get there, they've already done half the convincing themselves.