There are three constants in life...
1. Death
2. Taxes
3. Your Competitors Getting Into Your Deals
Selling against the competition is a major part of B2B Tech Sales, especially when selling to larger brands with multiple Stakeholders and a "policy" requiring them to review at least three vendors before making a final selection and moving into the procurement process.
Some industries are more competitive than others. I've spent the last several years selling for startups in the highly saturated and highly competitive CRM/Helpdesk category of software. This meant that competing against Salesforce, Microsoft, Oracle, ServiceNow, Zendesk, and a very long list of others was part of almost every deal cycle.
You get used to it after a while and start assuming your fiercest competitors will always be there in the shadows waiting to steal your livelihood and job security.
Again, it's all part of being a player in the game of Sales.
Many of you reading this sell for a Category King.
Kudos to you. But many of us, especially in the world of early-stage startups, have not yet reached the coveted category leader spot.
Let's be honest, even if you work for a Category King, your Prospects are still going to evaluate a few options.
So in this edition of SP, I'm going to share my mindset and the operating process I use to stay competitive in my deals to improve my odds of kicking the competition's ass and winning Vendor of Choice.
#1 Do what you say you're going to do
This one may seem pretty obvious, but you'd be surprised how many sellers (who work for your competitors) don't follow through on their promises. Unlike you, they're not true Sales Players, they don't set realistic timelines, they don't follow up when they say they will, and they promise a customer reference, and then don't follow through. This one's an easy one. Get in the habit of doing what you say you'll do and it will go a long way in building trust with your Buyers.
#2 Be human
Companies are full of people and people buy from people they like and trust. Over the past few years, I've been intentional about being Jesse when I'm with Prospects and customers. In my calls with Buyers, I use self-deprecating humor. I talk about myself, my interests and hobbies, my family, the Podcast, etc. A few years ago, I was in a seriously competitive deal cycle to win a large ($500K+/yr) software project. My Champion later shared their evaluation criteria sheet with all the notes on my company and the 8 other competitors they'd evaluated for the project. On the doc there was a note from one of the Stakeholders that said: "Jesse is the kind of person we'd want to have a beer with." I ultimately won the deal and this brand later became our largest customer by Total Contract Value (TCV). The lesson here is be human, be you.
#3 Plant FUD, but don't badmouth your competition
You must avoid talking shit about your competitors. I know it's tempting they suck, right? It's a bad look and you run the risk of irritating your Prospects. You'll end up looking like a total 🤡. That said, I'm all for planting FUD (Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt). You do this by being an expert on what makes you different from the competition so you can use questions and suggestions to lead your Buyer to the conclusion about how bad your competitors suck. I need to do a whole pod episode on how to do this effectively.
#4 Act with urgency
Your Prospects will appreciate speed and urgency. You've probably heard the saying "Time Kills All Deals." It's true. Follow up quickly after each meeting. I try to follow up within an hour after a discovery, demo, or proposal review call. I'm working on a deal right now and my Champion mentioned the other day that our competitor took two months to follow up with their team after a demo. Boy, am I glad to hear that's who I'm competing with on this one!
#5 Prepare and make things easy for Prospects
This is another one that sounds pretty obvious, but it's always surprising to hear about the lack of preparation on the part of Sellers at my competitors. A simple example of making things easy is proposing meeting times in your Prospect's time zone. Approach your deals with this mindset and you'll start to see opportunities to make the process of buying from you easier. These things compound and will put you on the path to victory.
#6 Learn to adopt a consulting mindset
This one took me a little too long to develop but to consistently win deals, you have to stop being a "Salesperson" and embrace a new identity as a Consultant or Advisor to your Buyers. This means approaching deals as a project to be managed and not a deal to be closed, a subtle but important mindset shift. You'll do this by owning the process, managing next steps and milestones in the project and working to build relationships with all Stakeholders in the project. A super effective way to execute this is with a Mutual Action Plan. I've linked my basic template for this, but if you'd like coaching on how and when to implement this to strengthen your deals (and internal reputation as an A+ Sales Player) grab some time to hear more about my 1:1 coaching.
#7 Spend extra cycles enabling your Prospects to sell internally
One of the best ways to push your competitors out of your deals is to spend just a little extra time on Buyer Enablement. This can take many forms, but a few of my favorites are creating a business case that shows ROI, cost savings, and Time to Value (TTV) for your solution. I'm also a big nerd for creating resources like narrative slide decks, implementation plans, proposals, and offers they can't refuse. Again, if you want help and examples of how to design these resources and assets, let's talk about coaching. Lastly, giving Buyers access to customer references and your internal Execs (a.k.a. peering) will make it easier for your Prospects to sell internally and this will go a long way in standing out from the competition.
Final thoughts
I had a CRO who used to say, "Being right is not enough." In other words, you can do everything I've shared above and still lose the deal to a competitor. Sometimes you can run a perfect sales cycle and still lose the deal for factors out of your control.
However, in my experience following the steps above, should significantly improve your ability to beat the competition and win more deals.
Onward and upward.
-JMW
