Competition in sales I
5 impulses for a confident approach
Competition in sales I
5 impulses for a confident approach
Five ideas for dealing with competition in sales
How do we as a sales team deal with our competitors? Many sales teams ignore this question for too long because they are concerned with something else: how can we work out a joint solution with the prospect that benefits both sides equally? Sales professionals are constantly working on making the answer to this question more and more concrete. It's not an easy job. After all, so many success factors play a role in a successful deal that it is easy to lose track. It is all the more painful when the competition unexpectedly intervenes. Then the prospect disqualifies you in the bidding process because (from their point of view) you are missing a must-have feature. Or he switches to the competitor's solution at the last moment despite all your efforts. Perhaps you are only a few points short of being one step ahead in the relationship. Such situations can be avoided if you consider the competition as a success factor in the sales process right from the start.
Ignoring the competition in sales? That takes its revenge
The B2B sales process is a complex thing: many factors have to be right for the effort to be worthwhile and for a deal to be closed in the end. Once they have identified added value, sales professionals need to win over champions on the customer side in order to secure the supply of information and benefit from internal advocacy. At the same time, they need to keep an eye on the prospect's decision-making criteria in order to discuss problematic contractual conditions at an early stage. The sales team needs a good insight into the mindset of the interested company. Are there opposing currents that could ultimately prevent a contract from being concluded in favor of other projects? Even if these success factors interact in the sales process, sooner or later the sales team may run into the open knife of the competition.
According to the MEDDICC method, there is also internal competition for budget and resources, which sales professionals keep an eye on. If the added value offered does not succeed in building up a relevant need, the budget owner can end up turning off the tap in order to pursue projects that seem more urgent to him instead. However, if everything goes well only for an alternative bidder to win the contract in the end, little is gained. Sales teams should therefore actively engage with external competitors: Always remain respectful and open, strengthen your own position and seize opportunities where they arise. With these five tips, you can put the success factor in sales on your side.
No bad word, never
"Where do you see the strengths and weaknesses of our offering compared to the alternatives on the market?" The prospect's answer to this question can be extremely revealing. It is not only interesting to see whether your strengths match your messaging in the perception of the other party. The prerequisite is, of course, that your offer actually has these convincing strengths. But it also depends on where the contact sees the competition as having an advantage. You now have to face up to this - and your counterpart will observe your reaction closely. What certainly doesn't help is when the salesperson verbally bashes the competition. Why should your counterpart believe that the seemingly strong feature from the competition is not relevant in practice? After all, from his point of view, you want to sell your product first and foremost. Blanket badmouthing will therefore get you nowhere. Worse still, you are wasting valuable energy that you could be using to present your offer in the right light.
Remain honest and understanding
You have asked the question about the prospect's perception of your profile compared to the competition. Now you need to deal with the answer in a constructive way! Regardless of the phase of the sales process, there are always effective strategies for this. If the other party has recognized a supposed weakness in your offer, there are two possibilities. Firstly, you have not yet succeeded in convincingly communicating the quality of your solution. Or secondly - and of course you have to accept this - the competitor's sales team is actually ahead of the game. In both cases, what counts first and foremost is dealing honestly and understandingly with the other party's opinion. There is nothing wrong with admitting limited weaknesses in the offer and thus agreeing with the expertise of the contact person. But at the same time, you should look back at the big picture. After all, if you win in the overall standings, it's no problem for you to give the competition a stage win.
Maintain profile
We are us - and yes, our product is different from that of the competition. Even if several providers are in the same niche with their product or service, there are different philosophies. Different approaches ultimately lead to different solutions. However, each one can still offer undisputed added value in its own right. Nothing new so far. But this will help you in your sales role: create as concrete a reference to the use case as possible in your argumentation. Even if the competitor's sales team gets a round of applause with a fancy feature, in the end it's the overall package that counts. It is precisely in this overall evaluation that you have to land at the top of the podium. So there's no point in desperately trying to emulate the competition in just this one aspect. Instead: What makes your offer special and why exactly is this the game changer for this prospect? Sharpening your profile is the name of the game!
Be prepared
Information is king! This applies to all important factors in the sales process. You should therefore also keep your eyes open from the outset when it comes to the competition. After all, the competition is made up of real sales professionals. They are just as determined as your team to make the most of their opportunities. In plain language, this means that the competition will place the individual features of their offer in the context of the prospect's use case. This allows the competitor's sales team to emphasize its strengths. In doing so, they can influence the decision criteria of the prospect to your disadvantage. Sales professionals therefore know the strengths and weaknesses of competing solutions. This enables them to anticipate the competition's arguments and proactively invalidate them using trap setting.
In an example scenario, your competitor offers the prospect to switch to their software as a comprehensive platform solution. Your specialized software for precisely the niche you want to occupy will therefore be indirectly accused of having major interface problems. You can counter this by actively pointing out that your offer does not require a complete reorganization of the software infrastructure, but rather fits perfectly into the existing environment (with your flexible implementation team behind you!).
Elegantly letting the other side's actions come to nothing without actively appearing: If you can do this, you have one of the major success factors in sales on your side.
Open, self-confident and attentive:
This is the modern way of dealing with
competition in sales
Competition is a critical success factor that is inseparable from the sales business. This is why the leading sales methodology MEDDICC integrates dealing with competitors firmly into the entire sales cycle. Whether at the beginning of the sales process using discussion guidelines and objection handling or later in the decision-making process: what always counts is open and confident behavior. Show interest and use the information you gain productively. Because that's exactly what our impulses are all about: presenting your own strengths so convincingly that you don't have to say a bad word about the competition.
