Just over 10 years ago, I was a Regional Sales Manager for a high-tech company in a competitive market. There were 5 major players in this market and each of us incorporated different technology in our capital equipment.<\/p>\n
The Internet was a fledgling concept in the business world at the time. We needed to know what our competition was developing since they all had different technology. We had admin people call in to our competitors, pretend that they were prospects and request information packets. Our competitors obliged. We then passed the information around to the team and filed it in a huge lateral file for future reference.<\/p>\n
Outside of trade shows, that was the only method for learning how the competition was positioning themselves in the market.<\/p>\n
Today is different. I talked to a hands-on President the other day about one of his salespeople. They compete in a market that features a relatively new technology and competitors are coming online frequently.<\/p>\n
The President’s comment is one we are encountering often. The salesperson does not take the time to research a competitor before going into a sales call. His salesperson knew the company he was up against (give him props for that bit of qualifying) but had not researched them in any way.<\/p>\n
The President was beside himself and rightly so. Selling in a competitive market requires a salesperson to know their competition’s strengths, value proposition and pricing model. Failure to do so will neutralize the opportunity to thoroughly qualify the prospect.<\/p>\n
Let me give you one of our favorite interview question patterns when sourcing for a sales position in a highly competitive market:<\/p>\n
Who is your toughest competitor?
\nWhat makes them so tough?
\nHow do you beat them when you are both competing for the same prospect? <\/p><\/blockquote>\nAvoid salespeople who cannot speak strategically, tactically or experientially on this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"