When I sold Oracle Financials to Swindon Borough Council, everything appeared to be perfectly lined up

We had an ally in Finance whose personal ambition was to get “Oracle” on his CV, his ticket out of Local Government

This internal sponsor, reported to the Finance Director, the economic buyer, and the sponsor was feeding us valuable insight on what our bid should look like

At the time, Oracle’s biggest competitor was Ingres, a database platform and sitting on top of it was Radius, an accounting system

(I still drive past the old Radius Business Park on my way to Heathrow and remember exactly how this deal unfolded)

We submitted our bid

Our sponsor told us we were cheaper than Radius, and that this decision should sail straight through the Finance Director’s office

But within 24 hours, almost eerily soon after we discussed the pricing internally in the Oracle office

Then our sponsor in the customer called me up that Radius had suddenly dropped their number to £1,000 below ours

Radius was now cheaper than us

That’s when I knew something was off

Someone inside Oracle had to be feeding Radius our numbers

We talked about it as a team and had a good idea who the spy was

So we devised a simple but effective plan

In earshot of the suspected culprit, we loudly agreed we wouldn’t drop our price

Meanwhile, quietly, we prepared and submitted a lower bid, making sure the spy never got wind of it

We won the deal

We also reported the breach to Oracle leadership

And, about a month later, the suspected spy resigned and reappeared, no surprise to any of us, working for Radius

Conclusion
This experience taught me that sales isn’t only about strategy, pricing, or relationships, it’s about protecting the integrity of the deal

Vigilance matters

Trust matters

And sometimes, the biggest competition comes from where you least expect it