Sales Speaker Says Forget The Competition

Writen by Dr. Gary S. Goodman

Have you ever heard the sports saying, "You have to run your own race"?

I interpret it this way, and I believe it pertains even more to selling.

(1) You can't focus on two things at once.

(2) You can only control your performance.

(3) The grass is greener on the other side, and from a distance our competitors look like giants, instead of the ants they probably are.

(4) Competitive advantages like a lower price are misleading and usually temporary.

(5) When they make you concentrate on them, they've won!

Our greatest fear, as salespeople and as businesspeople is that we are, fundamentally the same as our competitors, but this is patently false.

Even if you sell a commodity, such as steel or coal, or computer memory, there are dozens of things that distinguish you from your competition. These include your delivery and financing terms, your personality, your customer service attitudes, capabilities, and practices, your reputation, your experience with similar clients, your expertise, your availability, and even your good cheer and humor.

I could go on.

Although prospects like to tease us and to grind down our prices by shopping the competition, they still want to deal with us.

If we even come close on price, if they have sense they'll grab the deal because they know we're far and away the best choice available.

Keep that in mind, instead of worrying about your competition!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://www.Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, "The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable," published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations from Santa Monica to South Africa. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com

For information about coaching, consulting, training, books, videos and audios, please go to http://www.customersatisfaction.com