Why Your Competitor is Winning More Deals (Hint: It’s Not About the Product)

You’ve built a strong product. Your pricing is competitive. You’re targeting the same customers as your closest rival. On paper, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be closing just as many (if not more) deals than they are. But somehow, quarter after quarter, their logo wall grows faster than yours. So what’s going on? Here’s the uncomfortable truth many leaders avoid:

It’s not the product. It’s the people.

While you’re still cycling through LinkedIn Easy Apply candidates, your competitor made a strategic move six months ago. They hired with precision. They recruited sales professionals with a proven track record. They brought in a customer success leader who doesn’t just retain clients; they expand accounts methodically and consistently.

Talent is the competitive advantage.

Not your product roadmap. Not your latest funding round. Not your marketing stack. It’s the team. We’ve seen it first-hand across the maritime and logistics technology space. The most successful SaaS scaleups in this sector are no longer treating recruitment as a reactive, back-office function. They’re treating it as a frontline growth strategy. Because that’s exactly what it is.

Why? Maritime sales cycles are long and nuanced. You can’t brute-force your way to a closed deal with a flashy demo and a well-designed pitch deck. Enterprise buyers move at their own pace, and trust is everything. That trust? It’s built by seasoned professionals who understand the terrain. Reps who have navigated these waters before, who know the stakeholders, the objections, and the timelines. And who knows how to win, even in complex, competitive environments.

Real Revenue Happens After the Deal

Then there’s post-sale, the often-overlooked battlefield where true revenue is won. Average customer success managers aim to reduce churn. Exceptional ones drive expansion, influence renewals, and help secure multi-year contracts.

If your current go-to-market strategy doesn’t include proactively identifying and securing the top 5% of commercial talent, then be honest with yourself:

• You’re leaving growth on the table.
• And you’re silently accepting second place.

We Don’t Accept That; And Neither Should You

At Executive Integrity, we’re not in the business of sending CVs. We build high-performance commercial teams across sales, customer success, partnerships, and revenue operations. We specialise in identifying and engaging the one candidate your competitor doesn’t want you talking to, the one who’s already making an impact elsewhere. Whether you’re expanding across Europe, the US, or Asia, we help you attract, assess, and secure the elite professionals who drive growth.

Because here’s the reality: even the best product in the world can’t compensate for average execution. But great talent? They can sell anything (and they do!). So if you’re tired of watching your competitors win deals you know should be yours, let’s change that.

Let’s build the team that makes winning inevitable. Get in touch today.