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Successful salespeople are often experts at differentiating
themselves from the competition. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s
vital because if the prospect has no way of differentiating
between sales people, they’ll default to their tried and true
method, price. Poor and mediocre salespeople are the ones that
cut their price and try to low ball a deal. Successful sales
professionals avoid the situation and when circumstances place
them in that battle, they usually walk away. So as a rule of
thumb, if the competition is doing it, do something else.
This rule applies outside of sales as well. There is never a
shortage of people who will rush to knock off a good idea. When
an innovator proves that their idea is successful, there is a
rush of hangers-on that look to do it faster or cheaper. The
better the idea, the more emulators there will be. However, true
innovators always thrive because while the copycats swarm, they
are moving on to the next big thing. The sales profession has
largely been recycling itself for 50 years. The sales strategies
and tactics of half a century ago were so innovative and
successful that it has spawned half a century of copycats. The
problem is the well is starting to run dry, everyone is doing
the same thing. Sales rules have become clichés: always be
closing, handle objections, don’t take no for an answer, feature
and benefit, etc. While there is value in all these things they
have become overused and largely irrelevant. Sales people “make
these moves” because they’ve been t old to, not because they
understand the intention behind them. In many cases, that has
warped the strategy into something underhanded or manipulative.
Don’t get caught in the swarm of copycats, be unique, be an
innovator.
So what does this really mean? The problem is that can vary
greatly by individual. For starters, learn traditional sales
strategies but don’t wholeheartedly adopt them. Understand the
intention behind the tactics and be critical of things that
simply no longer apply. It’s not that they weren’t good ideas at
the time, its just that too many emulators have ruined their
usefulness. Then focus on your company and industry and some of
the things you have the power to change. What are the
deficiencies in the market and can you make that a strategic
advantage in the sales process? What are other salespeople
saying and doing that could be a turn off for prospects and
clients? How can you behave to differentiate yourself from the
swarm of emulative salespeople? If you find good answers to some
of these questions, you’re sales will rise. People don’t grow
tired of innovators, they look to them for guidance. If the
competition is doing it, stop doing it, act differently and show
your clients and prospects that you’re the innovator they want
to work with.
© Sandler Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
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