Often, the difference between you and your competitor can be obvious to your prospects. The key lies in asking a lot of questions, and not confusing surface pain indicators, or symptoms, with the actual cause of the pain.
Recently a client of mine was meeting with a prospect. As usual, he was asking a number of questions about what they were looking for, including all the technical details. At one point, they stopped him and said, "We're actually a little bit uneasy."
"Why is that?" he asked them.
"Nobody else is asking us these questions!"
When we get into a situation where someone acknowledges something like that, it's a prime opportunity to push just a little harder.
"I'm curious, you're saying nobody's asking those questions?"
"That's right."
"Well, how are they going to give you an accurate price if they didn't ask for any of the technical details?"
Of course, that may vary slightly based on your industry. But when we do that, it comes back to uncovering pain as a motivation. We need to make sure we don't take symptoms as the actual pain, but go beyond the surface.
When somebody shares that what you're doing is different your competition, don't take it at face value. Ask them, "Is that different in a good way, or different in a bad way?"
What can happen at times is that all of a sudden, they disqualify everyone else they've talked to instantaneously. I've seen it happen!
Larger organizations will frequently think they need to go out and get multiple quotes. And if your competition is all offering to come in and do a presentation, and you come in and ask all the right questions, you've immediately set yourself apart.
So make sure you ask questions, don't rush to present, and don't confuse the symptom with the actual cause of their pain.
