Are YOU selling YOUR competitor’s product by mistake? (Issue 19, Vol 04)

Doubtless you put a lot of effort into selling your services (or products), just like everyone else out there. You’re no stranger to the concept of having a “unique selling proposition” and you’ve probably presented yours at many networking events, in the form of some sort of “elevator pitch”.

These are all concepts with which you and I are very familiar.

And there’s the problem – perhaps a little too familiar.

I was fortunate enough to exchange last week’s changeable British spring weather for the warmth (well, ‘heat’ actually) of Dubai. I was working with a client, examining their selling process, including the content and delivery of their sales messages.

The examination produced lots of interesting material, some of which I’ll come back to in future editions of CDCD. The big issue I’d like to focus on this week is:
“Why doesn’t your customer buy from you?”
And in case you’re wondering this is a subtly different question to:
“Why do you fail to sell?”

There are two reasons your customer might not buy from you:
1) Because he or she doesn’t have a need for what you’re selling (or you’ve failed to develop it – see later)
2) Because he or she is going to buy from your competition

So what?
Well, the “so what” is that I see many sales messages that do a great job of selling the service or product at a conceptual level, but too few of them go on to explain why the customer ought to buy the service or product from that particular supplier.

So what has the sales rep done?
The sales rep has done a great job in educating the customer as to why he or she needs “xyz product”, but has failed to convincingly explain why their company is the one to supply the solution.
So what’s the result?

The newly educated customer roams the market for what he or she perceives as the best deal.
How does this affect you?

If you’re a well known brand with lots of ‘traction’, like Virgin, Coca Cola, or Tesco, then the impact probably won’t be that great, as your brand will supply the ‘pulling power’ that leads to the customer eventually buying.
If you’re not a well known brand then (a) you have to work harder at getting people to trust you and (b) you actually have to sell YOURSELF as THE one and only supplier in town.

It’s this second point that’s commonly missed, particularly (in my experience) by “hot shot” sales people moving from sales positions with the “big brands” to positions with lesser known rivals. They continue to do an excellent job of selling the concept, but lacking the pulling power of a strong brand behind them, they fail to close the deal (and there’s every chance the customer buys elsewhere). Their sales (loss?) report says something along the lines of, “…customer not ready to buy”.
Nonsense. The customer was absolutely ready to buy. And the sales rep succeeded in selling the idea – but failed in selling his or her company as the best supplier.

You’re not a charity working on your competitor’s behalf. Leave them to sell themselves and you get on with the job of selling the company you know best.

Being able to take on board the points raised in this issue rests on your understanding of how important Effective Communication skills are in the battle to win more business. Have you considered a Effective Communication course to help you improve these vital skills?

This post was first published as one of Chris Davidson’s “Competitive Difference” emails. You can subscribe to Chris Davidson’s “Competitive Difference” (CDCD) Via the Active Presence website.

You can also contact Active Presence Directly.