Go after your competitors

There are two distinct ways to think about competitive selling: displacing the weakest partner your prospect does business with, and addressing buyer inertia. Often, your buyer wants to sit back and change nothing. Your buyer doing nothing differently is your competitor.

Either way, competitive selling is like objection handling; you can’t afford to sit back and do nothing. You* need to introduce a conversation that yields strategic insights proactively.

The approach is the same as with objection handling: ask direct questions that compel the buyer to tell you the truth. You need facts – and lots of them – to wage a strategic battle.

Today, practice the following questions that will spur you on to address the competitive landscape with your prospects:

1. How does my value prop compare to others you’re considering? (How does it compare to who you’re currently buying?)

2. What are you seeing from my competitors that you find to be attractive, given your objectives?

3. What do I need to prove to motivate you to take action and buy us?

There are lots of other questions you can create that will get you into a competitive selling discussion, and they all revolve around proving the comparative strength of your value.

In this animated TED Talk Short (yeah, animated…short)…you’ll expand your appreciation for competitive selling through the lens of how retailers play the game.

Ever wonder why there are four gas stations on the corner and then miles until the next cluster? Spend four minutes with this clip, and you’ll understand.

More importantly, you’ll gain valuable insight into how to think about your competitors.