Know thy enemies as thee know thyself
How do you go above and beyond to really know your competitors and develop strategies for winning more business?
- Your customers are a great resource. It is extremely likely that many of your customers know more about your competition than you do. That is because they have likely conducted business with our competitors in the past. They may be intentionally doing a split of business for fear of putting all of their eggs in one basket. You can learn from their experience by scheduling a routine meeting with them. In the course of your conversation with them, mention a competitor or two that you suspect or know they are doing business with and see if they have a reaction. If not, simply ask: "I know you did business with X Company in the past. Tell me about that experience."
- Keep a file on each of your main competitors. Chances are you will come across pieces of marketing collateral here and there or possibly gain some insight about your competitors. But keeping every piece of information in a file allows you to go back and see the big picture marketing approach they are using and what benefits or value propositions they are really selling to prospects.
- Once you know your competitors relative strengths and weaknesses as well as your own you can tailor your sales messaging prospect by prospect. In this manner you can be sure to leverage our strengths against competitors weaknesses AND avoid walking face first into a competitors biggest strengths in comparison to our relative weaknesses.
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