Selling To Your Strengths

Need to compete harder against your competitors? One way to do that is to start looking at what you have that they don’t. Start selling to your strengths rather than over coming theirs. Sounds simple but so often even great sales people find them selves worrying about what they don’t have rather than looking at what their advantages are.

Selling to your strengths will help you close more business sooner, no matter if your product is number one in its segment or not. Solving your customer’s needs Is really the goal.

What are your Strengths?

– Size – Large or Small Can be an Advantage if Positioned Correctly

– Options – Whether add on or built in can become a strength if they have value to your customers  

– Breadth of Product or Specialization. Either can be used against a competitor to your benefit.  If what you do is laser focused and your main competency has a wider array of products then play to the dedication and specialty.

– Warranty –

– Support – Longer, Faster, Better, needs fixed less often? All of which are an edge and can be used in selling to your strengths.

-Price – Know your advantage – if it’s up front buy price then great, if it costs less to sell, use or maintain your offers then sell on that metric.  

Which of your advantages give you the widest separation on your competitors?

_ Perhaps they are programs, demo’s proof of concept or trial offers to help get your foot in the door or into a new part of an existing customer’s business.

Are you adding value to the relationship?

Yes, the products and services we sell have to be of quality and meet the customer’s needs. The one thing beyond all of that that you are in control of when selling to your strengths is your own activates.   

Are you proactively reaching out to your customers, staying in touch, communicating things that will benefit them and their business?   So often sales people think turning a quote quickly is the most important thing they can do.  And yes, responsiveness matters, but when selling against others keeping yourself top of mind, learning and understanding your customers’ needs. Then communicating solid information that is useful to them in a timely matter is essential.   

Look for Places Your Product Complements others they are already using.

A lot of times the best way to grow a customer is to make that beach head sale and get the door open.  This is where selling to your strengths takes a blend of both art and skill. If your product can be complementary to a competitor’s then use that as an opening.

Here’s a real-world example. Say you sell tires for heavy machinery. You are not number one in the overall market but you do have some very real advantages. Currently your prospect is using the leading brand’s tires on all of the wheels. Your tires however are actually not only the top-rated ones for that class of machine on the “non-Drive” wheels. They cost less up front, have a longer usable work life, and you have a series of locations covering the area your client works in, meaning you can get them there faster when needed.  

Sure, you could take an all or nothing approach, try to totally displace the competition or you could seed a few sets in their fleet to prove that they really do work as promised. Now you have an inactive account buying from you again.  That’s a win. You stay engaged with the client, get some great supports and accolades from their machinery guys along the way and if you do it right you just took 50% of you competitor’s business.

You may never get the rest, but you changed the game, won more business, and in that case started selling to your strengths rather than letting the market share leader turn in a halfhearted effort.

That my friends is how market share percentages gets shifted. In this case 2 tires at a time.

Begin Selling to Your Strengths

Whenever you’re ready… here are 5 ways I can help you grow your sales:

1. Register for and watch my free webinar on Opportunity Management.

It will give you three things you can use today to begin transforming your business and close sales faster . Learn how to identify your best opportunities. Know Who the Decision makers are, and what their buying criteria is . — Click Here

2. Subscribe to my “Weekly Sales Leader Newsletter” – Click Here

3. Join the Bowties and Business Facebook Group to connect with other Sales Professionals and business owners that are focused on growing their careers, businesses, and sales too.

It’s our new Facebook community where top performers learn to Accelerate Sales, Compete Harder, and Exit Time Wasters. — Click Here

4. Join our Sales Coaching and Opportunity Management Program and be a Case Study

I’ve put together a new coaching case study group. Not only is it live training and coaching led by me and my team but It’s based on the exact program we have been using with corporate clients and our teams. If you’d like to work with me on growing your business to a new level… just send me a message with the words “Case Study”. — Click Here

5. Work with me and my team privately

If you run a team or own a business and would like to talk about how to transform their performance or how we can help to grow your business… just send me a message with the word “Team”.  Tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together. It’s easy just follow the link to set up a 30 minute call and get I’ll you all the details — Book a Meeting with Tim!