By Troy Harrison – Sales Navigator
I had an interesting conversation last week. I was talking to a prospective client and toward the end of the conversation, he said, “You should know that I’m talking to one of your competitors, too. Would you like to know who it is?” I think my response surprised him.
I said, “You’re welcome to tell me if you like, but it won’t change my behavior. My offerings are dependent on my clients, not my competitors.” He was surprised by this, and I understand why. In sales, we are constantly having our competitors being used as leverage against us by customers who want to gain better pricing, terms, etc., and a potential service provider that won’t play that game is anathema to many people. But, why did I say that? Therein lies a window into my philosophy, as well as some hard questions you might want to ask yourself.
I find that too many companies focus inordinately on their competition, rather than their customers. That manifests itself in any number of ways; here are some of the most common:
Pricing: When a sales manager demands to know “who we’re up against” before issuing pricing, you have a problem. I’ve seen that in a number of my clients, and I always ask the same question: “Why?” Dithering over pricing based on your competition is one of the dumbest, and least customer-friendly, things you can do. You know what your costs are. You also know what your acceptable profit margin is. You also know, or should know, what the common market pricing for your services is. So, why not offer a deal you are comfortable with? If your pricing is dependent upon having fewer competitors for the business, aren’t you incenting your customers to bring in multiple vendors?