Today, right now I need you to RETHINK who your competition is!
Competition = anything or anyone vying for your prospect’s resources
Let me tell you a story from long long ago, in a sales opportunity far far way (and long lost). I was working on, what felt like, a hugely important deal to my inside sales career. It wasn’t the biggest – yet it was one I really wanted to land with a brand new account.
I had done all the right things, spoken with all the right people, when in came to the project I was ON TOP of everything!
So how did I lose? I didn’t understand anything about the organization outside what I was working on.
I didn’t lose to someone selling the same thing I was. My traditional competition didn’t beat me… instead of buying what I was selling – the budget money was reallocated to hiring a new engineer.
One more time: the budget money was reallocated
Here are some other, more recent reasons some salespeople I work with have lost deals, that have nothing to do with what traditionally has been thought of as your competition (ie: other companies selling the same stuff).
- Someone in another C suite position convinced everyone it wasn’t the right time to make “this kind of investment.”
- Worry over how the change would impact their customers.
- A completely unrelated piece of equipment that was delayed due to supply chain, was unexpectedly delivered.
“How can I ever know about that kind of thing?”
We certainly can’t know everything – we can do a few things:
- speak with people one political level above where we typically sell: talk about tone – direction – goals.
- ask about departmental priorities, not that impact what you sell – all of them, to understand more about what is going on.
- make sure you discuss what happens if they do nothing; in relationship to what you’re selling.
That will give you more insight into anything or anyone vying for the same resources.