How to Beat the Competition | Sales Strategies

How can you differentiate yourself and beat the competition?

I’ve noticed how common it is for us as sellers in today’s marketplace to assert that we’re different from our competition or provide better products than our competition. Yet, we start acting exactly the same way as our competition in the sales cycle.

In fact, we even sometimes demand an apples-to-apples comparison of our products when the customer is making a decision. This reminds me of that parenting strategy: do as I say, not as I do. However, it didn’t work on you as a kid or your kids, and it’s not working with your customer.

Beat the Competition by Creating An Apples-to-Oranges Comparison Throughout the Sales Process

When customers look at an apples-to-apples comparison and they see you behaving like everyone else they’re talking to, they say to themselves, “Hey, you’re all the same. So now, all I have to differentiate between you is price.” What just happened? You have commoditized yourself as a seller. We don’t want that!

So, I urge you to force an apples-to-oranges comparison throughout the sales process and, of course, in the way you’re talking about your products. Get the customer thinking, “This is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. This salesperson is behaving differently from everybody else.”

When you do that, you elevate the conversation away from price and are able to talk about different value. In particular, ask yourself these questions:

• What could I be doing that the competition isn’t doing?
• What questions could I be asking that the competition is afraid to ask?
• Who could I bring into the sales cycle that competitors refuse to bring in?
• What people could you be engaging with that competitors won’t engage with?

Create success this year by willing to do what your competition isn’t willing to do and by illustrating that apples-to-oranges comparison. I discuss this more in my new book, Right on the Money: New Principles for Bold Growth!