Bashing the competition irritates the hell out of customers. It shows insecurity, weakness and is poor business practice, says James Purvis, a regional sales manager at Okta, a provider of software as a solution (SaaS) business tools. “It’s not your job to speak negatively about your competition. It’s your job to solve the customer’s problems and add value to their business.” Purvis recommends three alternatives to speaking negatively about competitors:
Steer prospects back to value
When a prospect asks, “How do you compare to XYZ company?” most salespeople respond immediately with something negative. Don’t be like everyone else. Point out something they do well (but you do better) and steer the conversation back towards how you will tackle their business problem and add more value.
Bring up the competition early
There is a competitor in every deal. Even if the customer tells you, “we are only looking at you,” there is always that competitor we all hate called “Do Nothing.” Knowing that the competition always exists, bringing it up early can be seen as a sign of respect and can help you weed out the competition sooner. A great best practice is to provide the prospect a list of requirements or success criteria in the beginning of the sales process. This list should highlight areas that differentiate you from the competition and demonstrate what other similar customers required when vetting out a solution.
Leverage customer testimonials
At the end of the day, prospects are going to believe what actual customers say over what you say. In a 2013 LinkedIn study, it was discovered that customer testimonials and case studies are considered the two most effective content marketing tactics. If you have a customer who used your competitor’s product or service before and moved over to you, this is the haymaker. If you don’t have one that came from the competitor, that’s OK. Hearing about how someone similar used your solution to bring value to the business is more influential than anything you could ever tell them. The only time bashing a competitor is OK is when your customer does it.
