Comparing Yourself to Your Competition

It is always good to know what your competition are doing. It is also good to know their strengths and their weaknesses. It helps make strategic decisions.

However, it is never a good idea to start talking to your customer about it. Mentioning your competition in front of your customer will open up a line of conversation you don’t want to follow. If the customer brings up your competition always try and steer the conversation back to your product, its features, benefits and value.

Remember you are not going to win the sale by bad mouthing your competition. You are going to win the sale by ensuring the customer understands the value your products and service provide. Emphasize what you offer.

Study your competition only to gain insights into what you can improve in yourself. Like athletes who keep eye on fellow athletes. If they see something their fellow athlete is doing better, they try to improve that in themselves. Exercise harder, eat right, train and train till you get it right. Let the competition be your inspiration to improve yourself. Come race day, you are going to in on how quick you were off the starting black and how fast you ran. In the end it will be your muscles, your lungs, your arms and your legs that win you the race.

Similarly, in sales, it is eventually your reading of the customer, how best you can match your product to customer’s needs and how much you can convince the customer that your product is the best value. Focus on yourself to win sales!