You’re Not Suitable for Sales: Part 3

I don’t bad mouth my competition.

A lot of sales people believe that it is their duty to point out the bad things about their competition to their customers. They will focus on all their weaknesses and make them part of their sales pitch.

This is a very bad practice and should not be condoned. Sales managers should make it a point to review the sales pitch and take any mention of the competition out of their sales pitch. A strong company with a strong product does not need to rely on another’s weakness to make their sale.

Instead focus on your own strengths. What is it that you bring to the table? What is your feature that you would like to highlight? What value would the customer get using your product?

By including the competitor in your sales pitch, you are devoting valuable time which could be spent promoting your own products. It even allows for some seeds of doubt to be planted into the minds of your customers and they may be prompted to gather information on your competition because you mentioned them.

One of my professors in a Marketing class was mentioning the case of a new resort that opened up. They were located next to an already functioning resort and the mistake they made was that all of their brochures mentioned their address as “right next to” and mentioned the first resort’s name. They were in fact advertising their competition for free.

Don’t make the same mistake. Even if the customer brings up your competition you can bow out by saying that you respect your competition but are not there to discuss them. You are there to find value for your customer in your own products. There are advantages you offer that no one else does. Steer the conversation towards your products, your services.

Time is money. Do not waste it talking about your competitors.