How to Win Against Your Competition

“Michael, I took your class a few months back and I have a question, hoping you can help with. I’m in a situation where my company and 2 other vendors are in a competition for a sale. I’m wondering if you have any advice on how best to engage with the buyer to put us at the front. I don’t really have any intel on other price points, but I do know that our customer support is better as well as our ability to work with them and “mold” our tool moving forward to fit their needs.”

Hi Ryan: Early in my sales career I was taught to find out “what else” they are looking at and to know my competitor’s weak points and expose them. I shifted away from that style a long time ago. I’ve found more success simply focusing on my prospect, what their needs are, what their ideal solution looks like, and presenting them with the best options I see fit based on our conversations. I’ve also adopted a “not worried” attitude as it relates to winning or losing a deal over my competitors – which is really weird if you know me personally… I want to win at everything I do (no one in our house will play monopoly with me at family game night)

Every sale that I approach is from the perspective of sincerely wanting to HELP my prospect. I start with that as my mission. Follow the process you learned in the SalesBuzz training. Seek to help. Find pain points / buying motives, identify their role in the decision-making process, confirm their time frame, what their ideal solution looks like, what happens next when they find their ideal solution, etc.

If you are passed all of that and you are not sure what to do next, sometimes this one simple email has really helped my break the log jam and win the deal:

Hi (Prospects Name): Based on our previous conversations, your situation falls in line with who we help the most at solving/gaining/avoiding/eliminating ____________ (pain point). If you were me, what would you do next in order to earn your business?

Of course, if you have this person down as the “decision-maker” and they are really just an influencer or an information gatherer, that means you skipped a step in the SalesBuzz process. Which means you are trying to close a prospect that doesn’t have the authority to say YES.

What I like about the question above is that if you did make the mistake, or aren’t sure if you made the mistake of not correctly identifying your prospect’s role in the decision-making process, their response to that email will often times expose who they really are and more importantly, will layout the steps that have to happen in order for you to move forward and win the deal.

And if they decided not to go with you in the end?

Thank them for their time and ask if they would be kind enough to share with you what you could have done differently to earn their business. If they respond, see if there is information that will help you next time.

More importantly, move on to the next lead to see if you can help them.