The Blatant Truth Weblog

Best Practices on Sales: Three Ways to Gain on the Competition

While the economy certainly has taken its toll on almost all of us, smart salespeople are using these recessionary times to deliver a higher level of service to gain on their competition. There is definitely a shakedown of sorts currently underway in many industries. Complacent companies and their representatives are finding it difficult to stay afloat using worn out strategies that no longer work. Up-and-coming businesses and forward-thinking sales professionals are seizing the opportunity to capture increased market share through a “more, faster, better” approach that attracts customers even during this extended downturn.

The silver lining of this recession is that fast-thinking, savvy, and smart salespeople are getting the opportunity to grow their businesses by gaining on their slow-moving, bloated, and unfocused competition. More than ever, prospects and clients are demanding service and value and will quickly shift loyalties away from those who don’t deliver – even if they’ve been tried and true vendors. Here’s what you need to do to gain on the competition and position yourself for increased success as the “green shoots” that signal the end of the recession begin to appear.

Be More Service Driven
Customers are less tolerant of poor service than ever before. They know that times are tough and expect salespeople to work for a sale. Those that don’t can be easily replaced by another individual or company willing and able to offer quality service.

By focusing on providing personalized, proactive service, you’ll not only win customers, you’ll also retain them and develop a reputation that will generate even more customers that come through referral. When possible, learn what service strategies that your competition is using, and then expand on those to create the maximum service-driven approach to growing and keeping your customer base.

Be Faster and First in Your Category
Does it take a week for your competition to generate a proposal, or a month to deliver an order? Can you improve upon their times? If so, it might be your ticket to taking customers away from your competition. If you are the first to offer a new product, on the cutting-edge of new technology, or just faster than the other players in the market, make it known. Speed and timeliness are qualities that customers particularly appreciate in this current market.

Be a Better Resource
Customers stick with valued advisors and resources even in difficult economies. Position yourself as an expert and offer the value-added service of being the go-to person when your customers need insight and information.

The economy is beginning to show signs of a recovery, and the time is right for salespeople to ramp up their efforts to attract new business. By using these three techniques, you’ll discover the right mix you need to not only gain on your competition but pass them on the road to sales success.