Dealing With Competition
Selling Power’s The Challenge of Your Competition provides an interesting back story to a large electronics company and how it was started. I won’t spill the candy on the article, but I thought the closing graphs were insightful (my emphasis):
Everyone learns from the competition. Some people learn how to improve; others learn how to lose gracefully. Some want to be the only kid on the block; others want to be the best kid on the block. If nothing else, your competition will reveal what kind of person you are.
Remember, you cannot hold a person down unless you’re willing to stay down with him. Grow with your competition; allow them to be the absolute best that they can be. And then, be just a little bit better yourself.
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Posted By Derrick Moe | Sales Techniques | |
Like many of you, I’ve been in some pretty small and incestous industries. This post reminded me of the major team presentation my team made several years ago to a big Fortune 100 company. Waiting in the lobby for the scheduled appointment, I happened to see one of our former employees coming in the door with our competitor’s team - they were a little late, frazzled and unsure of which elevator bank to choose. I walked over, said HI to my former colleague, remarked that it looked like she had found a good firm to work for, then wished her well on her team’s pitch. “The elevator bank you need is over there,” I said, “and take a left when you get off at 37. They’re at the end of the hall.”
The look on her face changed from terror, to surprize, to sheer amazement. “This is not how competition is supposed to act,” I could imagine her thinking.
Was my gesture genuine? Sure - I really do want everyone to succeed. And my upbring always emphasized helping others. But was there a bit of strategy in my approach? Also true. I’m not sure if the encounter unnerved her or affected her team’s pitch (not my intention), but I will say that being early enough to scope things out beats rushing in at the last minute any day. Maybe that’s the point - we may have had similar capabilities but we were better prepared for the pitch.
The outcome? My team won the business (in partnership with yet a third competitor)and my former colleague must have found her own way home. When we came down a couple hours later, the lobby was empty.