Dealing with Sales Objections: Competitors
Dealing with Sales Objections: Competitors
The first rule of selling is knowledge, so much so that:
Our own level of knowledge often merely mirrors our selling ability.
Most of us know our own products.
Some of us know our products and our customers.
And a very few of us know our own products, our customers and our competitors
So let me start by saying that to be truly effective when dealing with competitor objections, the more knowledge a salesperson processes particularly in terms of that very same competitor, the better the chance that they can effectively handle the objection and get the sale.
A second important consideration is that salesperson can usually easily categorise the objection in terms of the price.
A competitor that is offering a lower priced product
This is the more common of the two and actually the easier of the two objections to deal with. The first thing to remember is prospects are value sensitive rather than price sensitive, So here the salesperson needs to reassure the prospect in terms of the perceived value of the product, see my post on “Dealing with Sales Objections: Price” on how to do this.
A competitor that is offering a higher priced product
Provided this is a genuine objection on behalf of the prospect, it is often more difficult to overcome, in effect it’s the first one flipped on its head, you now are the one offering the more competitively priced product.
There are two reasons why this is more difficult, to consider paying extra in the first place means that he presently attaches a lot perceived value to the competitor product, meaning that you are also probably going up against a skilled salesperson.
So here you will need to, and in this order
1. Increasing the prospect’s perceived value of your product (again see, “Dealing with Sales Objections: Price”) and
2. Lowering the perceived value of the competitors offering.
Going on the attack
There is little doubt that attacking your competitor’s offering has risks and most sales training and sales trainers will advise against doing it. However, one of the reasons that I got into sales training business in the first place is that a lot of sales training I attended during my early sales career proved to me that many sales trainers don’t really know what they are talking about.
This happens to be a case in point, because attacking your competitors is both a healthy and necessary sales skill, in no way comes across negative, provided of course you have the tools to do it effectively. Unfortunately, most salespeople who attempt it don’t and this is what leads to the bad press.
Taking the prospect through your product and demonstrating its benefits remains the most important piece in terms of leading and time spent during the dialogue , reducing the overall perceived value of the competitor’s offering is also sound strategy when it comes to dealing with the objection.
As I said at the start, a salesperson needs to have in debt knowledge of the competitor and products and this is truly critical if the seller is going to attempt to critique their offering.
Start by talking about competitor strengths and then highlight any weaknesses using hard facts; third party evidence, speaking in non-emotional type language.
It’s important that the prospect hears you constructively criticise rather than be personal so always attack the relevance of the solution to the prospects needs, rather than the person, the company or their reputation.
Dealing with Sales Objections Competitors - To learn more about this author, visit Niall Devitt's Website.
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Competitor related objections often prove to be some of the more difficult objections that salespeople have to deal with. This is borne out by the fact that a lot of sales trainers continue to preach wishy-washy sales advice that merely skims the surface, rather than deal with the issues involved.
The first rule of selling is knowledge, so much so that:
Our own level of knowledge often merely mirrors our selling ability.
Most of us know our own products.
Some of us know our products and our customers.
And a very few of us know our own products, our customers and our competitors
So let me start by saying that to be truly effective when dealing with competitor objections, the more knowledge a salesperson processes particularly in terms of that very same competitor, the better the chance that they can effectively handle the objection and get the sale.
A second important consideration is that salesperson can usually easily categorise the objection in terms of the price.
A competitor that is offering a lower priced product
This is the more common of the two and actually the easier of the two objections to deal with. The first thing to remember is prospects are value sensitive rather than price sensitive, So here the salesperson needs to reassure the prospect in terms of the perceived value of the product, see my post on “Dealing with Sales Objections: Price” on how to do this.
A competitor that is offering a higher priced product
Provided this is a genuine objection on behalf of the prospect, it is often more difficult to overcome, in effect it’s the first one flipped on its head, you now are the one offering the more competitively priced product.
There are two reasons why this is more difficult, to consider paying extra in the first place means that he presently attaches a lot perceived value to the competitor product, meaning that you are also probably going up against a skilled salesperson.
So here you will need to, and in this order
1. Increasing the prospect’s perceived value of your product (again see, “Dealing with Sales Objections: Price”) and
2. Lowering the perceived value of the competitors offering.
Going on the attack
There is little doubt that attacking your competitor’s offering has risks and most sales training and sales trainers will advise against doing it. However, one of the reasons that I got into sales training business in the first place is that a lot of sales training I attended during my early sales career proved to me that many sales trainers don’t really know what they are talking about.
This happens to be a case in point, because attacking your competitors is both a healthy and necessary sales skill, in no way comes across negative, provided of course you have the tools to do it effectively. Unfortunately, most salespeople who attempt it don’t and this is what leads to the bad press.
Taking the prospect through your product and demonstrating its benefits remains the most important piece in terms of leading and time spent during the dialogue , reducing the overall perceived value of the competitor’s offering is also sound strategy when it comes to dealing with the objection.
As I said at the start, a salesperson needs to have in debt knowledge of the competitor and products and this is truly critical if the seller is going to attempt to critique their offering.
Start by talking about competitor strengths and then highlight any weaknesses using hard facts; third party evidence, speaking in non-emotional type language.
It’s important that the prospect hears you constructively criticise rather than be personal so always attack the relevance of the solution to the prospects needs, rather than the person, the company or their reputation.
Dealing with Sales Objections Competitors - To learn more about this author, visit Niall Devitt's Website.
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I found the site content to be extremely useful though I would have preferred some more specific informations.However, I could use the site contents as a guide fro fourther research on sales. good job :)
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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