Ten MORE Common Sales Mistakes

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  zeus446604/13/08 Report as spam
  1

  About Knowing the Competition

  Well i can say that this is a good review, however, i would like to note the following regarding the competition issue. I don't think that any salesman should take a long time researching the competitions position, It is first the marketing department's job to inform the salesman. Even so, I think that the most important is to focus on the customer's needs, they will give you a very good idea about what is happening especially when you reach a stage of a good consultant or a partner. Moreover, When you concentrate on the competition, you will have a tendency to compare yourself with the competitor even when you are making a sale, thus you will help the competitor to become the reference in your sector. I will say it in another way, if you are going out with your girlfriend you never compare yourself to other guys, you should know what you have and concentrate on it. Sales is a war of perceptions not of competition.
  Don't lose your focus, your only focus should be the customer, however you should know the minimum, and this minimum can be given from your marketing department.

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  Geoffrey James, Sales Machine04/14/08 Report as spam
  2

  Marketing and Focus

  You make a really good point about not defining yourself in terms of the competition.
  
  However, passing the "competitive research" buck to the marketing group is only meaningful if the marketing group is actually capable of providing valid competitive information. In many, many cases, the marketing group consists of people who have never sold, in which case they can't possibly have any idea about what competitive information would be useful and what would be useless.
  
  Any fool can do a product comparison chart. It takes sales experience to understand whether a competitor's weak track record in terms of late delivery is usable in a sales situation.