How to Turn a Competitor’s Account into Your Own

Prospects who are currently buying from the competition are a potentially lucrative market base for your product or service. At least you know the need is there – and so do they – so you are not starting from ground zero. In addition, such accounts represent a potential source of repeat sales over an extended period.

Often, salespeople approach these prospects with a strong verbal and nonverbal message that says, “I want to get your business.”

A message that only shows self-concern is likely to put the prospect off. It may even make the prospect feel more entrenched with the current supplier. Instead of voicing your need for the account, try to remember the basic principle of selling: People do things for their reasons, not yours. Now focus your energies on discovering what you can do for the prospect.

First make a list of the high priority prospects you want to lure away from the competition. Establish a separate file for each one. Collect every bit of information you can find relating to that particular prospect’s world. Collect their sales literature, annual reports, tear sheets of their ads, articles about them or their personnel published in the news media. Read the trade journals of their industry. Highlight and tear out anything you can find that relates to them.

Include in this file information about your competition, too – their strengths and weaknesses, facts about their products, services and personnel. Keep a log of the calls you make on the prospects, making notes of the questions you asked and their answers. Most important, list the concerns and problems they have in achieving their goals, whether or not it relates to what you want to sell.

Now do some creative brainstorming. Review all this information, ponder it. List all the things you can do that would indicate to the prospect your knowledge about his world, your interest in him and especially your ability to help him achieve his goals.

The ideas you share with a prospect don’t have to be directly related to what you sell. Present your ideas in person or send a note saying, “Mr. Prospect, I thought of you when I read this article.” Don’t pitch for your product. Don’t even mention your product or include a brochure, just your business card. If you are part of a sales team, these brainstorming sessions can be excellent topics for sales meetings. When several minds get together, powerful creative energy results. Steer discussions away from ideas on how to push your products or services. Concentrate totally on how you can show interest in the prospects’ areas of concerns and how you can use your expertise to help them. It’s a safe bet your competitor isn’t showing this kind of interest and willingness to serve.

The next time a prospect tells you they are satisfied with their present vendor, don’t be too hasty to write them off. No one is ever really satisfied. No one ever has everything going so well in his or her world that he or she wouldn’t gladly trade it for something better. By offering greater satisfaction, you become the added value over and above the product.

And, oh yes, be careful not to take your regular customers for granted. Your competitors are likely reading this article!