National Sales Center

Competitive Selling Strategies And Techniques

I once called on the VP of Sales for a foreign telecommunications company. In fact, it was my very first International sales call. I could not help but to think this VP had the easiest job in the world. He never had to be concerned about competitive selling because at the time, there was only one telecommunications provider in that country. Those of us that don’t represent a monopoly can’t overlook the need for solid competitive selling strategies.

Competitive selling is a good thing because it keeps commissions high and Product Development on their toes. Therefore, I always enjoyed a competitive selling environment, so long as I crushed my competition. Here is some competitive selling advice for you.

Competitive Selling And Being First

When you are in a competitive selling scenario, you want to be the first competitor to meet your prospect. Often, multiple sales calls are required and the first meeting is about building rapport and fact-finding. That said, I still have a few other items on my agenda. I want to lay “land minds” waiting for my competition to step on so they’ll go home packing early.

This “land mind” sales technique in competitive selling is all about knowing your competition’s strengths and weaknesses. I never recommend bashing the competition but there are powerful subtle sales techniques you can use to get your point across. Let’s see how this works in a competitive selling battle.

I know my customer service is better than the competition because my service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. My competition’s customer service is only available five days a week. During my fact-finding, I want to uncover a reason my prospect needs or may need in the future, customer service on weekends.

Once I uncover that need, I proudly report that I have customer service availability on weekends. With my consultant hat on, I then caution my prospect to insure any competitor they may be considering today has customer service availability on weekends. Can you say, “Land Mind”!

Competitive Selling And Being Last

You want to be first to meet your prospect but you also want to be the last to present your product solution or proposal. This timing is a key competitive selling strategy. This is when you can best leverage your strengths and take advantage of your competitor’s weaknesses. Besides, you can’t close a prospect that still needs to hear from your competitors. By presenting last, you are in a great position to succeed in competitive selling.

Competitive selling is about using sales skills to demonstrate that your product offers the most benefits for your sales prospect. Focus on your strengths, your competitor’s weaknesses and most importantly, your prospect’s needs.

My sales training is centered on competitive selling. The rep that uses the best skills is the rep that will get more than their fair share of the orders. I urge you to invest in your career and develop the sales techniques that will help you succeed in competitive selling.

Go make a fortune!

Nick

Tags: sales strategies, sales techniques