The most surefire way to beat the competition

 “When did you really win this deal Justin?” My question caught my good friend off-guard. We were celebrating his most recent customer win over lunch in Seattle. In just a few weeks, Justin had flown to Atlanta, met with a bigtime CEO, and nabbed a new partnership from his main competitor. What a win!

From phone call to closing the deal

It all started when the Atlanta CEO acquired one of Justin’s best customers. The two were chatting, and the Atlanta CEO revealed that he needed help with a big problem. He didn’t trust his current partner anymore and was desperate to find a replacement. 

What did Justin’s customer tell the CEO? “You need to talk to Justin.  If he says he can do it, he can do it.  He always delivers if he says he can do it.”

As soon as he got the call, Justin scheduled his flight. He and the CEO discussed the opportunity in person – turns out, it was 10x the business he did with his former customer.  They talked openly about the opportunity and in no time, Justin signed the deal.

Nice job Justin!

I was so excited for my friend. He’s a razor sharp entrepreneur with insane people smarts.  What I admire most about Justin is his humility. He could be sitting next to you and you’d never guess he owns several companies - all built from an idea to help somebody else and fueled by grit.

But now wasn’t a time to be humble. So I asked him, “When did you really win this deal Justin?”

He looked at me confused. But after a minute he proudly smiled and said: “Every time I kept my word with my customer.” 

The win starts with the hard work

Think about the big wins in your life:

• When did you win the game? When you dedicated time to practice and chose to persist.
• When did you land the promotion? When you nailed those hard projects and solved problems.

Doing something big always takes commitment and hard work. For Justin, his years of actions and honesty with one customer won him a deal his main competitor couldn’t keep.

(Oh and by the way, Justin’s competitor is a massive company who believes they have the market covered and loves to tell everyone how smart they are.  We’ve all met “that guy”.)

We ended our lunch laughing, thinking about his competitor who must be wondering where the heck this unknown guy came from.  You and I know who Justin is – he’s just the kid who won’t give up-- and he’s the person every potential customer with a big opportunity wants to call when they have a problem.

Are your suppliers doing the hard work for you? Check out our Competitive Edge Checklist to see if they’re working hard enough to build your trust and solve your problems.