Everybody Has Competition

I often hear salespeople brag, “We don’t really have any competition.” They believe their product or service is so superior to everyone else’s that they’re truly in a category of one.

This is a dangerous mindset, because it’s patently false. No matter what you sell, you have competitors. And ignoring that reality will cost you sales.

Your competition includes:
• Products and services people perceive to be similar to yours.
• Alternative ways your prospect could achieve their goal.
• Anything else your prospect could spend their limited budget on.
• The option of doing nothing.

Online dating services compete not just with each other, but also with speed dating services and professional matchmakers. They in turn compete with bars and nightclubs. Who compete with hundreds of other recreational activities a person can engage in. And all of them compete with staying home alone watching a movie on the couch.

If you own a pizza place, your competition isn’t merely every other pizza joint in town, but every other restaurant in town, plus the option of cooking at home, plus the option of skipping a meal altogether.

What does this mean for you?

It means if you want to boost your sales, you need to recognize that buyers aren’t going to come flocking to you just because you happen to think you have a “unique” product or service.

You need to make the case for why your prospect should want or need what you’re selling in the first place. And then you have to persuade them that your product or service is better for them than any other option they could buy instead.

In other words, you have to market and you have to sell. Because every day, that’s what your competition is doing.