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Sales competition can be tough to handle, but it doesn’t have to be. There are many ways that salespeople can defeat the competition and come out on top. In this blog post, Gary Kurtis of Salestips101.com will take a look at five ways to knock out competition in sales. They range from taking the competition head-on, to avoiding it altogether! |
Leverage your competitive advantages
Research your competition so you then can fully understand your competitive differentiators and advantages. Then rather than emphasizing the advantages or downing the competition, simply ask great questions intended to “pull” your customer in your direction. Get them to identify the most important criteria in their decision making process (the solution must do the following). Then it becomes much easier to review “industry standards” vs. how your company goes well beyond those standards. Said differently like lawyers present the evidence so your customer can make an easy decision.
Leverage your best referral sources
No company will provide bad referrals so why not go back to that “most important criteria in their decision making process” and provide customers who will enthusiastically discuss how well your company addresses that criteria. The customer will gain a comfort level that others with similar needs are happy customers!
“Your price is too high”
Do not ever ever ever just lower your price as a knee jerk reaction. There are many reasons for a price difference so sell value but only if you’ve previously been successful getting your customer to see the value. A few quick tips are to compare proposals as often they are not “apples to apples”. Then if your customer sees the added value have them realize that many months and years from now they will have long forgotten about the price difference, but they will remember every day what they are using. It’s a great method to put the price difference into perspective and I know from personal experience that it works.
Target Different Markets
Here’s a simple solution, if you are not having success in a specific market then target a different market. For example: if you sell to one demographic and there is competition in your area, try selling to another demographic. That way you will not have competition and will come out on top!
Avoid Competition
The best way to beat the competition is to not have any! In my career I’ve been able to renew many contracts for the same client without any competition. In every case they were so happy with their service they didn’t feel a need to change and would gladly tell the competition that they have no interest. Another example of avoiding the competition is to not bring them up. I’m always amazed that most salespeople are trained as part of the sales cycle to ask who the customer is also looking at. I’ve seen many instances where the reaction is an unwanted “We hadn’t thought about looking but since you brought it up it’s not a bad idea.” A much better way to gather this information is to simply ask “Could you please explain your approval process.” If part of the process is to look at competition they will let you know.
Conclusion
In this blog post, we covered five ways to knock out competition in sales. Competition can be tough, but it does not have to be. There are many ways to win against the competition. Some of them are taking them head-on or avoiding competition altogether! What you do is up to you–make sure that you are doing everything in your power to come out on top!
About Gary Kurtis
Gary Kurtis is a sales expert and the founder of salestips101.com, where he provides sales advice and training for small businesses. When Gary’s not helping business owners increase their sales revenue, you can find him spending time with his wife and two young grandchildren or promoting his favorite charity, the ALS Hope Foundation.
If you want to reach out to Gary Kurtis (Field 1 Post Trusted Sales Partner), please contact him by clicking here.
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If you would like more information about this topic or have questions about any of our services, please be sure to contact us. We would love to help.
About Gary Kurtis
Gary Kurtis is a sales expert and the founder of salestips101.com, where he provides sales advice and training for small businesses. When Gary’s not helping business owners increase their sales revenue, you can find him spending time with his wife and two young grandchildren or promoting his favorite charity, the ALS Hope Foundation.
If you want to reach out to Gary Kurtis (Field 1 Post Trusted Sales Partner), please contact him by clicking here.
Need More Information?
If you’re looking to promote your business online, digital marketing is the way to go! Contact us today to learn more about our digital marketing services and how we can help your business grow.
If you would like more information about this topic or have questions about any of our services, please be sure to contact us. We would love to help.
