• What We Do
    ○
    • Sales Technology Consulting Services
      ○
      • Sales Technology Consulting Services
      • Stakeholder Analysis & Sales Technology Audit
      • Sales Technology Selection Strategy
      • Sales Technology Vendor Moderation
      • Sales Technology Adoption Program
      • Sales Technology ROI
      • Multiyear Sales Technology Strategy
    • Research/Advisory
      ○
      • About Clear View Reports
        ○
        • Outbound Prospecting / Agent Assisted
        • Sales Enablement / Content Management
        • Sales Skills Development and Reinforcement
        • Sales Technology and Training Selector
  • Sales Tech Selection Resources
    ○
    • Certified Sales Technology Landscape
    • Tools and Guides
      ○
      • Sales Tech Stack Selection Tool
      • Sales Technology Buying Roadmap
      • Sales Technology ROI Guide
    • Sales Training
      ○
      • Sales Training Solutions
      • Certified Sales Training Landscape
  • Learning Center
    ○
    • Sales Technology Blog
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars
  • About
    ○
    • Contact Us
    • Our Story
    • News & Press
  • Sales Technology Selection Tool
  • Book a Discovery Call
Vendor NeutralVendor Neutral
  • What We Do
    • Consulting
      • Stakeholder Analysis & Sales Technology Audit
      • Sales Technology Selection Strategy
      • Sales Technology Vendor Moderation
      • Sales Technology Adoption Program
      • Sales Technology ROI Framework
      • Multiyear Sales Technology Strategy
    • Research/Advisory
      • Certified Sales Technology Profiles
      • Certified Sales Training Reports
      • Analyst Research
        • Outbound Prospecting / Agent Assisted
        • Sales Enablement / Content Management
        • Sales Skills Development and Reinforcement
      • Sales Technology and Training Selection Tool
  • Sales Tech Selection Resources
    • Sales Technology Solutions
    • Tools and Guides
      • Sales Tech Stack Selection Tool
      • Sales Technology Buying Roadmap
      • Sales Tech ROI Guide
    • Certified Sales Technology Landscape
    • Sales Training
      • Sales Training Solutions
      • Sales Training Selection Tool
      • Certified Sales Training Landscape
  • Learning Center
    • Sales Tech Blog
    • Podcasts
    • Webinars
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • Our Story
    • News & Press

Sales Tech and Innovation Blog .

Industry Experts and Thought Leaders

Buying Sales Technology and Training is hard. We’re here to help with curated content from leading experts, thought leaders, and analysts.

Scroll Down

Lessons from the Trenches: The 3 Most Common Ways We’ve Seen Competitive Deals Won & Lost

Competition is fierce. What separates winners from losers? We often think of quality, price, functionality and other factors related to a product that makes or breaks a deal. However, how customers perceive the salesperson has just as much, and sometimes more, to do with what vendor they choose. Selling style and making a personal connection to clients is just as important as the quality of the product you are selling. We narrowed down three top behaviors that can win or lose a competitive deal. How are you perceived by clients and prospects?

1. Do Not Avoid Competitors

Red flags immediately go up when you walk in bashing your competitors. You don’t have to bring them up, but don’t avoid them like the plague either. If a prospect mentions a competitor, be honest about them. Prospects will know immediately if you are trying to discredit a competitor, and you’ll just end up raising their curiosity.

Instead, acknowledge your competitor’s strengths. Reframe your solution’s strengths as a way that better addresses the prospect’s specific pain points.  Have a goal of earning the prospect’s trust, helping them view you as a reliable resource, instead of a smooth-tongued salesperson. Here are a few examples of how to do this.

  • Differentiate your product without discrediting the competition. You might say something like this: “Company X has a great product. Many clients that have evaluated both solutions find that our product makes accomplishing [insert pain point] much easier because it offers this unique functionality.” Stick to the benefits of your product, not the inefficiencies of your competitor’s solution.   
  • Don’t give the impression you are stealing them away. If you are working with a prospect that is already a client of your competition, just getting the opportunity to show a demo can be a challenge. Try saying something like this: “I’m not looking for a commitment today. I’d just like the opportunity to show how we’ve provided added value to our current customers in your industry.”
  • Ask what they like about your competitor. Sales is all about getting to know the customer’s likes, dislikes, passions and pain points. If they tell you they are considering your competitor or are already a customer, ask “What do you like best about working with them?” This approach shows an attractive humble attitude, displays personal interest and helps you gather critical data on what’s important to your prospect. Most likely, they will share something they don’t like in addition to the things they do like. 

2. Bond with Your Prospects

The more you put in, the more you get out. Focus on long-term relationships instead of simply checking off boxes in your CRM. Sales reps must connect with individuals beyond trying to sell the product. Move the conversation forward by going deep with your prospects.  Forming a genuine bond should be your goal. That’s not something you can fake. To bond with a prospect, you must be a good listener. Understand what’s important to them. Focus on having conversations, not giving sales pitches. Additionally, try these tips to build a long-lasting bond.

  • Solicit feedback. Being a good listener often means soliciting opinions. Many prospects may be reluctant to share too much. Ask viewpoint questions to find out exactly where you can add value.
  • Uncover their personal interests. Bonding happens over similar interests and shared experiences. Without getting overly familiar, make note of comments made about family, pets, vacations, hobbies and other personal interests. Social media offers a great opportunity to gain insights on personal interests without having to even ask. 
  • Add value immediately. Find ways to add value before the prospect signs up. This might be offering free advice for a problem, helping them make business connections or simply passing along a link to a blog they might enjoy. Learn more about effectively using content to add value for your prospects and customers in this webinar from Vendor Neutral. Your good deeds will leave a favorable impression, and whet the prospect’s appetite for the value you will add in the future. 

3. Seal the Deal by Partnering

Many SaaS companies are choosing to partner with their industry peers. While this approach may not work for all, it can have big payoffs for companies that share customer bases. This is especially true of one partner is newer to the market. Partnering with a well-known brand allows you to grow your customer base quickly. It is a way to gain value without using your own dollars, and access other sources of revenue through your partner.  Partnering is not a one-size-fits-all, though. You can customize a plan that benefits both SaaS companies and their common customers. Here are three common partner arrangements.

  • Referral arrangements involve simply passing leads between SaaS companies in return for commission payments. Two companies might share the same customer base and provide value in two distinctive ways. Referring each other is mutually beneficial. 
  • Technical partners integrate their technology, adding value to their mutual customers. Sharing information and working toward a common goal allows them to connect their tools to products and services their customers might already be using, turning your competitor into a valued partner. 
  • Support partners have an arrangement that clients really don’t see. The partnership really just involves the SaaS companies, although they might blend this model with a referral arrangement when it makes sense. The partnership mainly focuses on co-marketing resources, shared training and development tools, and certifications. 

Gain more insight into behavioral traits that might be sinking your deals in this recent Vendor Neutral blog, “4 Big Frustrations Enterprise Buyers Have With Sales Reps and Sales Processes.” 

September 4, 2020 Dan Cilley
  • Sales Tech Procurement for 2023: Trends and Strategy
    Sales Technology Procurement 2023: trends and strategy If there's one thing that's certain as we head into 2023, it's that little is. In a shock departure from...
  • How Company Culture Drives Sales Tech Stack Adoption
    How company culture drives sales tech stack impact and adoption Culture is the heart around which the lifeblood of the company courses. Research by Deloitte has...
  • Sales Technology and Organizational Resilience through sales tech strategy
    Enhance Organizational Resilience through Sales Tech Strategy Excellence After months of the sales tech sector being spent in a state of nervous apprehension, the good news...
  • AR and VR Feature Image
    AR and VR - harness innovation in the digital world for real-world impact on your organization Science fiction has often been the precursor to scientific reality Science...
  • CRM: the rights and wrongs and how to make them work for you
    CRMs: the rights and wrongs and how to make them work for you… A run-down of the problems we see as typical in CRM usage and...
  • Customer Experience powered Digital Transformation: why you need it, how to do it
    Customer Experience powered Digital Transformation: why you need it, how to do it The customer is king, right? Most organizations would say so. But how many...
  • 3 stage sales saas procurement test
    3 Stage Sales SaaS Procurement Readiness Test: Take It Now Things we know: SaaS companies are big and getting bigger. The fastest-growing SaaS companies grow their teams...
  • SAAS Mismanagement and the Unseen Impacts - Sarah Carey
    Employee Spotlight - Sarah Carey - Unseen Impacts of SaaS Mismanagement Attaining utopia with sales technology ... ...ecosystems isn’t an easy feat, whether it be trying to align...
  • SaaS Sustainability and Digital Waste: deal with it now, or face difficult questions about why you didn’t The carbon footprint of our gadgets, the internet and...
  • Triage Sales Tech Stress and Eliminate it
    Triage Sales Tech Stress and Eliminate It Insight, impact, growth: three times Vendor Neutral triaged organizations’ sales tech stress, and eliminated it. Cloud adoption grew by a...
  • 3 Red Flags to Failing Sales SAAS Ecosystems
    SaaS applications make up 70% of total company software use: if Sales SaaS fails to deliver, then so too does your business. But how do you...
  • Implement A Systems Approach
    Grow Revenue And Enhance The Customer Experience Through Digital Culture Transformation Digital transformation is not a new concept. Digital initiatives have been on the rise in...
  • We’re in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution. Is your manufacturing business implementing digital transformation in the most effective way?
    Are You Ready for Industry 4.0? The Digital Transformation of Manufacturing According to many in the manufacturing industry, we are currently in the middle of the...
  • Top ERP Transformations That Support buyers
    Top ERP Transformations That Support Buyers B2B companies are currently up to their necks in "digital transformation." They're moving at a rapid clip to enhance the...
  • Increase-eCommerce-Adoption-by-including-your-Sales-Team
    eCommerce Adoption and Your Sales Team Internal Resistance Any type of change within an organization is likely to see some resistance. It’s not that change is necessarily...
Vendor Neutral Empowering Business Enabling Growth Logo with Tag line
  • 888-411-8908
  • info@vendorneutral.com
  • Book a Discovery Call
Instagram Linkedin Twitter Rss

Consulting

  • Stakeholder Analysis & Sales Technology Audit

Research

  • Certified Sales Technology Profiles
  • Certified Sales Training Reports
  • Clear View Reports

Information

  • About Us
  • News and Press
  • Contact Us

Sales Technology

  • Sales Technology Solutions
  • Sales Technology Selection Tools
  • Sales Technology Consulting Services
Sign up for our newsletter
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Copyright © 2022 Vendor Neutral LLC. All Rights Reserved