As a business owner, or even as a sales professional you will be well aware of your competition. You will know exactly what they do, how they do it and why they do it. Even in business plans for start up enterprises, entrepreneurs are well encouraged to spend time researching their competition. But we are never given any guidance on handling business competition. Nor are we ever taught how to act towards the competition.
Handling business competition, or how you handle your own feelings towards your competition is a personal choice. No one can ever tell you how you should feel about your competition, but, it’s good to have reality check from time to time.
You will never escape competition. And in my eyes, that is a very positive thing. Without competition, you will never try to better yourself or better your company’s offerings. You will become far too relaxed and complacent. It is very easy to have emotions of jealousy, anger, hatred, or even fear for your competition and I think many of you will join me in saying that all of these feelings are very normal and should not be ashamed of. It is easy to have these feelings slip in to our minds but it is important to remain positive about our competition and be thankful for what they do and what the offer.
One thing that should never happen when handling business competition is to talk bad of them to others. You should never ‘slag off’ or speak poorly of your competition – especially in your sales pitch or sales presentation. It is so easy when presenting to your prospect to speak poorly of your competition in the hope that they will be put off buying from them instead of you:
“Oh you should not buy from them! They will only rip you off. We have seen it so many times.”
“You don’t want to buy from them if you can help it. Con-artists!”
“Yeah they always charge cheaper prices but that is only because their work is horrendous! The quality is just poor!”
Some of these statements may be similar to what you have used in the past? Or perhaps you have heard them from others? Either way, they are pointless and should never be brought up in a sales presentation.
If you feel that you need to drag down someone else to only raise yourself up then it is safe to say whatever it is you are selling just is inadequate. It’s like a bullies mentality.
The way I see it is this: your competition is there for a reason. They have their own successes and must have done some great work for them to be known by your prospect. So show them the respect they deserve. If you are dealing with a situation where you are up against your competition, remain gracious at all times. Show your competition the respect they deserve.
On the other side of this is the fact that if you show any ill-respect to your prospects choice of previous supplier, or potential supplier you are not going to come across well to your prospect. They could have been serviced by your competition for several years and you are now mocking them for that decision? Or perhaps your prospects cousin is the MD of your competition. You simply never know.
Always err on the side on the side of caution when it comes to talking about your competition. If you cannot say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. I think Thumper said that to his good friend Bambi. Sure – you do not have to shower them with praise, but you should be willing and humble enough to say; “Yes they do good work!” or “I have heard of them before, it sounds like they are doing well!”
So when it comes to handling business competition, don’t be a jealous fool. Remain humble and show respect. Your prospect does not want to hear you slagging anyone off. And if you feel you need to; up your game!
Of course – if you need assistance on your sales pitch then be sure to make contact with the Paragon Sales Solutions team whom will be more than willing and happy to get you the results you deserve.
Paragon Sales Solutions are Leicester’s leading sales consultants, offering:
– Sales Contracts
– Sales Training
– Social Media Management
– B2B Telesales / Telemarketing
We cater for any size business, and what makes us stand out is that we truly care. Our services can be catered for your business and our sales professionals will work tirelessly to ensure your sales targets are met. Be sure to visit our website for more details on how our sales solutions can help your business.