5 Tips for Talking About Your Competition

In the sales game, competition is everywhere. But talking about your competition the right way can be tricky.

On one hand, as a seller, you have a natural tendency to want to defend, differentiate, and elevate your solution in the mind of your customers.

On the other hand, you need to do it all in a way that comes off as authentic and credible instead of arrogant and petty. After all, the way we talk about our competitors not only influences the way our buyers see our solutions and the buying experience, but also our personal and corporate brand.

Here are five tips for talking about your competition:

1. Do discovery before responding

Just like when customers raise objections around price or features, competitive threats often bait us into launching into a competitive positioning monologue. But before you dive in, think of the competitive objection as a gift and consder asking the customer about the nature of their competitive question can help you frame your response appropriately.

For example, if your customer asks why you’re different than another vendor they’re considering (or even use today), you might ask about the customer’s experience or point of view on that vendor so far.

• What have they seen or heard so far that they’ve liked (or didn’t like)?
• Is there a particular part of the solution they’re looking for competitive clarity on?
• Are there risks or challenges with their current solution that they’re hoping to avoid?

You might be surprised by what you learn, not only about your competition, but your customers’ perception of them. All of which can help frame how you choose to respond.

 

2. Don’t bash. Be diplomatic

As much as you might think of your competitors as your enemy, the reality is, even your most notorious competitors have customers who love them. Your competition is worthy of your respect and bashing them diminishes your sense of professionalism. Don’t forget, your customer may have used or selected them in the past or might even know someone who works there. When it comes to talking about competitors, taking the high road is always the best call.

For example, if your customer asks, “You both seem to have good solutions. Why should we choose you?” it can be tempting to point out everything your competitor does wrong.

A bad response would be something like, “Oh, their solution is slow, hard to implement, and their support is terrible.” That kind of reply comes across as unprofessional, dismissive, and even risky.

A better approach is to stay diplomatic and turn the question into an opportunity to understand the customer’s priorities (see point #1). You might respond with, “They’ve definitely been around for a number of years and have a lot going for them. It really depends on what’s most important to you in a solution. You mentioned that speed of deployment and input into the vendor’s roadmap were important to you. Is that where you’d like to understand how we’re different?”

 

3. Speak in the voice of your customers

When responding to competitive threats, it’s important to speak with authenticity and credibility. But as I talk about in Chapter 6 of  Sell The Way You Buy (Page 176: How to Architect Your Discovery Conversations for Maximum Success), if you’re new to sales, new to your company, young, or otherwise less experienced, chances are you have little personal credibility with your customers. That’s why saying things like “What I’ve found is… ” or “I think…” carry little weight (I call this the “I-phrasing” trap). Unless you’re Taylor Swift or Bill Gates, no one cares what YOU think!

On the other hand, your customers, third-party analysts, and the collective experience of your organization carry much more weight and credibility. This means, when responding to competitive questions, it’s much more powerful to invoke those sources of credibility in your talk track.

For example:

• “Customers that evaluated both solutions and ultimately chose us said it was because…”
• “A number of customers who recently made the switch from them to us told us it was because…”
• “Gartner just released their latest magic quadrant report for our space and what they called out was…”
• “If you look at public reviews of both products on sites like G2 and TrustRadius, one of the trends you’ll notice is…”

Helpful video: How to speak with credibility when you have none

 

4. Use it as a qualification opportunity

The truth is, your solution won’t be a good fit for every customer and it’s perfectly reasonable (and indeed helpful for both parties) to use a competitive question as an opportunity to further qualify the deal. In these instances you can highlight good reasons why a customer might choose one solution over the other and put the question back to the customer.

Related post: Sell More by Losing Faster

For example, when faced with a competitive question about price you might respond by saying,  “If you look at both us and Competitor X, you’ll find we’re likely more expensive. But that’s because they’re focused on serving the needs of smaller customers with a more limited feature set. At first glance, that makes their solution quicker to implement with less maintenance. On the flip side,  our solution is more comprehensive which means it’s ideal for smaller customers who plan to grow quickly. In fact, the type of fast-growing customers who evaluated both solutions and ended up choosing us tell us they’re ultimately happier because they avoided the pain and cost of switching platforms. Of course, we know that approach isn’t for everyone. Curious…how fast were you planning on growing?”

5. Be honest

Competitive conversations are ideal places to build all-important trust and credibility with your customer. So if you genuinely feel the customer would be better off going with a different solution or provider, don’t be afraid to tell them! After all, that may not be the last time you deal with that customer (either at your current company or a future one) and their memory of how you treated them will long transcend a single sales opportunity. Not to mention, selling your solution to bad-fit customers will ultimately have a negative impact on your organization’s reputation, handcuff your customer support team, and even lead your product roadmap in the wrong direction!

 

Competitive questions are a fact of life in the world of modern selling. But be mindful of how you respond to them. They represent tremendous opportunities to qualify your customers, deepen your knowledge of the market, and elevate your personal and professional brand.