Changing Our Approach— Prospecting Competitive Accounts
					Here are some ideas in approaching competitive accounts: • Genuinely approach the relationship with a problem solving attitude. It's the client and you trying to find better solutions for his company. Don't approach accounts with the attitude that you are going to sell or have something to gain. • Always Be There-but not always when it's time to sell or handle a problem. Find out what's important to your potential client. When you come across information that they may be interested in, share it with them. This will demonstrate that you're worth the investment. • Separate Yourself-from every other company that calls on the account. Did you ever stop to think that the reason that the contact doesn't want to change is because they see no difference in your product and why it would be worth the possible switch. • Make changing vendors painless for the potential customer. Sometimes customers feel that making a change will be a hassle. Demonstrate how you can eliminate or reduce the fear of this. • Don't use high pressure sales tactics and closing techniques. They don't work, and may possibly alienate your company from being considered for any future business. Realize that most sales are closed because you have positioned yourself for the business. • Understand brand loyalty-Are there some accounts that you've pre-determined to be brand loyal and therefore unlikely to change? Only 6% of all buyers are truly brand loyal. Another 43% prefer not to change, but will consider change if we approach the situation in a manner that will not rock their sense of security. Which leaves half of the group not only open to change, but striving for it. If we limit ourselves to our paradigms about competitive accounts, chances are we will continue to grow at the same pace. If we want to gain market share, we need to go beyond our walls and look for creative ways to set ourselves apart first.
			You’ve called the contact person at this company many times before. The story is the same, but you decide to give it another try. “We really don't need a new supplier.” “We're happy with who we're using now." "We haven't decided yet." So now what do you do? Your choice at this point is to either file it away and hope for positive feedback on your next call, or try a different approach. If we decide the latter, what new results can we really expect? We have to learn to think differently about competitive accounts. Most of us at one point or another face the challenge of convincing a potential customer that he or she would benefit from our service. Often times salespeople will focus on product quality as the element that will set them apart and give them the competitive edge. Let's face it. How much better is your quality than your best competition in the eyes of your potential customer? If we're truly going to convince companies that they should consider our products and services, then they have to see us as different from everyone else. We need to get beyond product quality.

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