Marketing Nous

B2B Sales Training & Performance Improvement

Sales Training Brisbane Sydney Melbourne
  • Home
  • About
    • Testimonials
    • Clients
    • Outsourced Sales Management
  • Training
    • Sales Training
      • Sales Coaching
    • Presentation Skills Training
      • Presentation Skills Coaching
    • Management Training
    • Time Management Training
  • Speaker
  • Sales Resources
    • Guides and ebooks
      • The Assassin Analogy
        • The Assassin Analogy for Technical Staff
        • The Assassin Analogy for Professionals
      • The Sales Training Illusion
      • Sales Performance Improvement Framework
      • Being a Great Sales Coach
      • The Persuasion Principle
      • The Triple C Strategy
    • Sales Articles
  • Sales Blog
  • Contact

Use a competitive value analysis to win more sales

Oct 2, 2014 By Stuart Ayling Leave a Comment

sales competitive analysis

Smart sellers engage with prospects only after they have developed a thorough understanding of how they stack up against common competitors.

To be confident and win more business you must clearly understand how your services or products compare to competitors.

This competitive analysis should be done from the client’s perspective. Be objective. Don’t limit your findings.

Some people fall in love with what they are selling

This can be a trap for technical staff who are absorbed by how good (or how complex) their product or service is.

They can get so mesmerized by what they are offering they create a ‘halo effect’ in their mind around their products or services.

A Halo Effect is when you allow positive factors to cover up, or obscure, potentially detrimental attributes of your solution. Essentially you create a halo that prevents you from seeing any shortcomings of your product or service.

This can stop you from being critical and making a realistic assessment of what your client will see and think when they review your offer.

Compare your competitors like your prospects do

One method of undertaking a competitive analysis is to use a weighted comparison. (Download the free Weighted Competitive Value Chart template.)

In this chart you list the key features and related benefits (‘potential’ benefits in the SOX™ question methodology). Then you assign an Importance Factor (from 1 to 10) against each key feature/benefit.

The subjective part of this analysis is to make a judgement about your main competitors and give each competitor a Performance Weighting for each key feature/benefit (1 being ‘weak’ to 10 being ‘strong’).

When the Importance Factor is multiplied by the relative Performance Weighting the resulting variables can be ranked to give an indication of which competitor might stack up most favourably from the clients perspective.

Analysis helps you create strong selling statements

Whilst this analysis may be seen to be somewhat academic, the real benefit for you is you can start to create your key selling statements that will either:

  • Establish or reinforce your market leadership; or
  • Clearly explain any obvious differences to minimise any detrimental impact of potentially stronger competitors.

This competitive analysis will also give you extra confidence if (or when) you are asked by prospects to explain or compare your products or services against others on the market.

Use the Weighted Competitive Value Chart to be fully prepared for your sales conversations.

Leave a comment below to let me know how you assess competitors.

 

You might also like:

  • Selling B2B services: 4 steps to convert warm leads into paying clients
    Selling B2B services: 4 steps to convert warm leads into paying…
  • Avoid this missing link to create a powerful client retention strategy
    Avoid this missing link to create a powerful client retention…
  • How to increase sales by managing the Sales Improvement Ecosystem
    How to increase sales by managing the Sales Improvement Ecosystem

Filed Under: Competitors, Prospecting, Sales conversations, Sales planning, The Assassin Analogy

About Stuart Ayling

Stuart Ayling is Chief Sales Strategist at Marketing Nous. With many years of sales and marketing experience under his belt he's on a crusade to help expertise-based businesses develop their sales capabilities and achieve their goals. Subscribe to his blog to get the latest resources.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to the blog for the latest resources, and get a copy of ‘7 Steps to Create a High Performance Sales Team’

Recommended for Sales Leaders

Watch the presentation full size and download the key point worksheet

Recently on the blog

  • How to say ‘No’ to clients and still have them buy

    How to say ‘No’ to clients and still have them buy

    May 18, 2020
  • Recruiting a sales person? Stop, until you have done these three things

    Recruiting a sales person? Stop, until you have done these three things

    Nov 28, 2019
  • Understanding the emotional experience of clients

    Understanding the emotional experience of clients

    Aug 1, 2019
  • What does your sales team really need to learn?

    What does your sales team really need to learn?

    Apr 29, 2019
  • Resilience for sales people: How to help your sales team be more resilient

    Resilience for sales people: How to help your sales team be more resilient

    Nov 21, 2018

As featured in Sales & Marketing Management magazine cover story

download sales training guide

Overview of client feedback

Sales figures have increased by 20% on last year to date!! The team also continue to pick up new customers.
Sharyn Moran, General Manager

Our sales results have increased since incorporating Stuart’s sessions into our sales conference and this has been during a downturn in the market.
Justin Zakaras, National Sales and Marketing Manager

The content of the sessions was customised to suit our customer interactions, with a lot of preparation on the part of Stuart.
Dr. Sunil Kadri, Head of Sales and Business Development


Read complete testimonials ...

Thank you so much for a brilliant session on Thursday. I think the format and content was ideal.
Rennie Colston, Sales Director

We had a very positive result from involving Stuart in our Managers Conference last year.
Russell Varley, Human Resources

The training got us thinking more strategically about how the business is structured. It has really built our capabilities as a management team.
Mia Graham, General Manager


Read complete testimonials ...

Stuart was patient, flexible and knowledgeable. He took the time to truly understand our business.
Helen Zwicker, Executive Officer

The best thing is that I now have a road map of specific marketing activities that can be implemented with confidence.
Donna Cazzolato, General Manager Sales and Marketing

The participants immediately felt engaged as Stuart demonstrated his understanding of our needs and challenges.
Frederic Vanhove, Principal Engineer, Pacific Delivery


Read complete testimonials ...

With only one day we had a lot of material to cover and Stuart created a positive learning environment for all involved.
Kylie Kinsella, Sales Manager Australia & NZ

Bad ideas are expensive in business however with Stuart Ayling, it was money very well spent.
John B. Lonergan, Sales Manager


Read complete testimonials ...

By the next week, sales of this product had doubled from 10% of all new sales to 20%. The extremely cost effective session with Stuart paid for itself within the first week.
Maria Triggs, General Manager

We have already seen a new client on board as a result of the two-day workshop.
Mark Mahoney, Managing Director


Read complete testimonials ...

Stuart put the sales training across in a way they could accept as a part of our service offering with out them feeling like “salesmen”.
Gary McDonald, Managing Director

We were impressed by the approach of Stuart and the simplicity of the program without the hype generally associated with these courses.
Dirk Kuiper, General Manager


Read complete testimonials ...

Verified by Sucuri as a safe site

Read the latest on the blog

  • How to say ‘No’ to clients and still have them buy May 18, 2020
  • Recruiting a sales person? Stop, until you have done these three things Nov 28, 2019
  • Understanding the emotional experience of clients Aug 1, 2019
  • What does your sales team really need to learn? Apr 29, 2019
  • Resilience for sales people: How to help your sales team be more resilient Nov 21, 2018

About Marketing Nous

Marketing Nous was established in 2000 by Stuart Ayling, Director and Chief Sales Strategist. Stuart works  with expertise-based businesses to develop customised sales training and … Read More >>

Looking for something else?

Stay in touch!

Marketing Nous Pty Ltd
PO Box 5320
Daisy Hill QLD 4127 Australia

Tel: 0407 588 468

Email: info [at] marketingnous.com.au
or request further information

Connect with Stuart Ayling on these social media channels …

Copyright © 2021 · Marketing Nous Pty Ltd · All rights reserved · Tel: +61 407 588 468