T3Tony

Regional Sales MAnager

How to address the question "Who are your biggest competitors and what makes you different"

This question always comes up during the discovery phase and has always been a tougher one to address. I know we always want to educate the customer through the buying process but has anyone had a customer move forward with another provider once you've provided this information to the prospect?

How do you address the question?

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16 comments

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Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

“We have no true competition because our solution does a, b, and c”

T3Tony

Valued Contributor

Regional Sales MAnager

@PachacutiI like that!!!!

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

Just never go down the road of bashing. Just list out the pros of your company and if you have the right to use a case study example of a takeover, then do it.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

I like what Belal Batrawy has said about mentioning competitors as social bidding to get your prospects to open up.

They'll figure out who they are with a few keystrokes in Google, no point in trying to hide that. In terms of differentiating yourself, well, you should probably talk about what makes you different..

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Simple. I like it.

1nbatopshotfan

Politicker

Sales

If you regularly compete with a few competitors and don’t mention them directly it looks like you’re not knowledgeable about your space or, you’re hiding something.

Mention the two that you compete with most frequently and then point out their perceived strengths and why actually you’re better/different. Always attack perceived strengths.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It helps if your company ranks highly on analyst reports. That enables you to pop up a chart and then speak to why your company earned the ranking.

Learn your customer stories and the reasons why they selected your company over a competitor or to replace a competitor. You shouldn’t even need yo be anything but positive in your communication about the differentiation either - focus on what separates you and why that’s a positive.

DevSomeBiz

Valued Contributor

Senior B2B Sales Guy.

I send them the websites of our competition and the testimonials of the people we saved from them.

T3Tony

Valued Contributor

Regional Sales MAnager

@DevSomeBizNever tried this... Interested if they have ever reached out to the testimonial customers you provided and what the response was like?

DevSomeBiz

Valued Contributor

Senior B2B Sales Guy.

Many times - I will set up the call myself. Close percentage goes up exponentially.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

I list the competitors, and then tell them why we are better......

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Show a gartner graph with you on the top, say we sometimes get compared to them by b/c of xyz we dont see them as true competitors

ADK

Opinionated

VC Associate

I wouldn't name drop competition and "why they are bad" but argue that all of these different solutions exist because they each have a focus area and a certain vision they think that focus area is "more important". Iterate what's the focus area of your solution and why it is important now and also in the future strategically

SticksAreUnbelievable

Valued Contributor

ADR (Account Development Rep) Sales Representative

I try to get to the bottom of why they are asking that question. Knowing if they have had a competitor in the home already really helps my close.

I have a few canned responses about longevity of the business, umbrella of protection buying from the manufacturer, our innovations and how our sales process is more friendly, but what I always land on is they get “me”.

No other company has me. I am a concierge for their project from the point of sale through the installation and beyond. I care, I have you entered in my contacts already, and will always answer my phone when you call. (Insert joke about kids and evening chaos so they don’t call me after 7.)

SticksAreUnbelievable

Valued Contributor

ADR (Account Development Rep) Sales Representative

Engaging

ChumpChange

Politicker

Channel Manager

Acknowledge, pivot, pitch, and align.

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T3Tony

How to address the question "Who are your biggest competitors and what makes you different"

16 comments

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