One of the excuses I hate to hear the most is, "We're happy with our current vendor". I realize that sometimes, your customer may truly be happy, but most of the time, I feel that it's just the quickest way to get rid of you, the salesperson.
Any good salesperson has to be ready with an answer to that question that will turn that customer's view on it's head. I would say that one of the biggest pieces of knowledge you need to have is where your product/service is superior to your competition in a very specific way that matters to the client.
Let me give you a quick story that happened to us last week that I think is a decent illustration of the customer having very little idea what they were talking about.
In a meeting with a new prospect, we sat down with them and you could tell they were counting the seconds until they could kick us out. After asking some questions about their "current vendor" and finding the holes, I came back at them with where our product/service is superior.
Nothing seemed to be sticking until we said, "We QC every single sheet that comes through our shop and make sure it's correct before we send it out, saving you wasted prints and lost money." That kind of took them back and they said, 'Oh...our vendor doesn't do that for us and we need that'.
Now, it was a bit of luck to hit on that issue with them but, very quickly, their demeanor went from closed down, thinking they knew all there was, to being very open and willing to listen to ways to do business better. That one thing opened the door for us to steal an account.
Whenever you're going into a competitive account, make sure to know your competition, where you differ and most importantly which differences your client will care most about. And remember, it's not about comparing features and benefits alone. Make your strengths relevant to the customer; relevant to their business and you will win it.
Happy hunting,
Jared Willis
Comments