I’ve just spent the week in front of the computer before an avalanche of customer engagements coming up and the brain is a little tired from all that thinking… not good… too much thinking. However, that’s not stopping me putting some thought into another sound bite before the weekend. This one reminds me of the time when I lived in South Africa…

Never knock the competition… just build on their strengths.

Gone are the days, well I hope they are gone… gone are the days when we have the keen sales professional knocking the competition; it’s no longer the done thing. Hopefully you may have stopped the knocking, but how many of you praise your competition? This is the bit that reminds me of my time in South Africa.

When I first went on safari in South Africa I was told that if I came across a lion then I had to make sure I showed no fear. Show fear and the lion would attack, but show no fear then the lion would think twice about attacking. Fortunately, I did not have to put this theory to the test, but I was also told the backup plan. If you have to run… it’s not as though you have to be able to out run the lion… you just have to be able to out run the person next to you… and as I’m several pounds the wrong side of the scales is this why everyone wanted to go on safari with me!

So, back to the sound bite… never knock the competition, just build on their strengths… First of all, if you do knock the competition then you are in fact telling your prospect they are an idiot. They choose to look at the competition and so by knocking the competition you may as well cut out the small talk and step right in and tell them what a bunch of idiots they are for making that choice… not good. Make them feel good about their decision and so tell them they have made a good choice to look at the competitor in question. Tell them the competitor will do a good job for them and on top of what they can do you can offer more… the ‘and’ word is important as it builds on any positive thoughts the prospect may have about the competitor and links them to you.

Praising the competition… insanity or brilliance? If you do it, then you show you have no fear of the competition and you make your prospect feel good about their choice, whereas knocking the competition is just the opposite…. it shows you are afraid and you make the prospect feel bad.

You could of course remain neutral and not say anything, but then who wants to go on safari with someone who is afraid of lions!

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