40% Off or Walk Away: Closing a USD 2M Luxury Deal in China

40% Off or Walk Away: How Holding the Line Closed a Luxury Deal in China

How It Started

When I was tasked to grow our right-size box closing solution across Asia, China was always going to be the defining market. A project came in, a serious one, with three globally recognised systems integrators competing for it.

I proposed the same package to all three. Same solution, same terms, same price. No favourites. Two months later, one integrator won. Then the negotiation started.

The 40% Ask

The winning integrator came back asking for a 40% reduction. The customer needed a lower price, they said. Faster delivery too. Forty percent, on a first-of-its-kind right-size box closing solution in the market.

I'd been doing this long enough to know when that kind of ask would stick. This one wouldn't. The customer understood what the solution was worth. I held my position.

The integrator didn't accept that. They started looking for alternatives: equivalent solutions, different suppliers, anything they could take back to the client. That search took six months.

Six Months of Looking

It's one thing to believe your solution is the right one. It's another when a motivated buyer, under real commercial pressure, spends half a year trying to replace you and comes back empty.

The client was a globally recognised luxury goods brand. They knew what they'd evaluated. They knew the quality and value of this specific solution, and they wouldn't move. After six months, the integrator came back. Nine months had passed since they won the contract. The project was now urgent.

We negotiated again. We held our position.

New Year's Eve 2023. I was on holiday in Japan when my phone rang. The Country Director. The contract had been signed. A USD 2 million deal that started with three competing integrators, survived a 40% discount demand, and outlasted six months of the integrator searching for a replacement, closed in the final hours of the year.

Know the value of what you're selling, and hold it. When a customer has already decided your solution is the right one, no commercial pressure will change that, as long as you don't change it for them. APACEdge brings 30 years of APAC field experience to complex industrial deals, from first proposal to signed contract. Get in touch and let's talk about your next opportunity.

Common Questions

How did a USD 2 million luxury deal in China close after a 40% discount demand?

Three globally recognised systems integrators were offered the same package at the same price, and one won. It then asked for a 40% reduction and faster delivery. Francis held his position, and the integrator spent six months searching for alternatives. Nine months after winning, it came back with the project urgent, the position held again, and the contract was signed on New Year's Eve 2023.

Why did APACEdge refuse the 40% discount?

The solution was a first-of-its-kind right-size box closing solution, and the customer, a globally recognised luxury goods brand, understood what it was worth. After evaluating alternatives for six months, the integrator found nothing to replace it.

What does APACEdge bring to complex industrial deals?

30 years of APAC field experience, from first proposal to signed contract.