Sales Strategies: How to Outsell Your Competitors Every Time

Unlock the secrets to outselling your competition with these proven strategies.

You may not know that your competitors are calling on your clients and prospective clients unless you look at the sign-in sheet when you visit them. Because so much of what you do is virtual, you do not know who spends time with them. You may believe that your company and your solution will win the client for you, even though they can’t give you an edge.

Worse, you have no idea how your competitor sells compared to how you sell. It is important to know that how you sell is more important than what you sell.

Here at The Sales Blog, we spill a lot of ink on the idea of how you sell as a large variable in your success. You might believe that you and your solution are facing off against your competitor and their solution. But the real competition is about how you sell.

It is likely that you may be selling in a way that opens up an opportunity for your competitor. Every so often, a sales leader will shun the modern sales approach that buyers prefer and insist that their team sell using strategies that are decades old. Sales leaders who are stuck in the past also worry about making significant changes to how their teams sell, even though they have low win rates (something that is now an epidemic).

Comparing Traditional and Modern Sales Approaches

Let’s start with a sales rep who uses a traditional sales approach. The first thing this sales rep will likely start with is rapport building, even though the client is not looking for a new best friend. This sales rep is using this strategy to get comfortable.

The second salesperson suggests an agenda that starts with a set of insights about their industry and the forces, factors, and trends that show up as headwinds, or occasionally, tailwinds.

You may like starting a sales conversation with rapport building, even though it doesn’t create any value for the client. This puts you at a disadvantage when your competitor starts with a conversation that creates value and proves they have a better understanding of their industry and their problems.

It is important to know that even though you like how you sell, your competitor will do what you will not do.

Examining Legacy versus Modern Sales Tactics

Let’s join the first sales rep, the one using a traditional, legacy approach. After deciding they did enough rapport-building, they share information about their company, their clients, and their solution.

The second salesperson avoids sharing information that appears on their website, as none of those topics are important to the client now. Instead, this salesperson suggests that their research indicates that their contacts are likely experiencing one or more specific challenges that prevent them from the results they are seeking. They offer insights on these challenges to help their contacts better understand their problem.

Round two finds the second salesperson winning without any real contest. The first sales rep fails to create value for the client, while their rival stacks up points. In large part, the second salesperson showed they know the client’s problems. You may not like this approach, and you may not recognize it at all. But if your competitor shows up with a better approach, you will struggle to beat them for a deal.

Modern Sales Strategies in Practice

Our first sales rep does what he was taught and trained to do, racing to share the solution. Our first sales rep is confident that his solution is going to win the day and the client. It is unfortunate that the decision-maker knows that there are a lot of solutions that can help them improve their results. The decision-maker worries about how helpful the sales rep will be when working together.

The second salesperson is not in a hurry to share anything about their solution. Instead, they ask a number of high-gain questions that cause their contacts to think about their responses and the implications. This salesperson knows that they have to help the client understand certain things to help them make a good decision. The contact says, “That’s a great question.”

Round Three goes to the second salesperson, who proves they are going to be more helpful in the future, but this salesperson is not done creating value for the client.

Winning the Sales Contest

At this point in the contest, the decision-maker is no longer interested in the first sales rep and is no longer willing to waste time. Because the experience with the second salesperson was so much greater, their competitor is out of the running.

Conclusion: Transforming Your Sales Approach for Success

How you sell is the most important variable when it comes to winning or losing. This includes your sales methodology, your sales approach, and your ability to lead the client. If you have trouble getting second meetings after a first meeting, you have more than enough evidence to know that what you are doing is not working.

If you are tired of hearing clients suggest they went a different direction, namely away from how you sell, and you want to improve your sales results, you will need to replace your current way of selling with one that is far more consultative. You can learn to sell differently here.