Don’t knock your competition.
When you hear your competition falling down on the job providing poor service, isn’t it tempting to want to tell everyone on your prospect list? Most sales people agree that you don’t knock your competition but somehow sales people keep doing it and even get dragged into it by the unsatisfied customer.
Think about it when a sales person told you about their competitors’ poor service. You’re thinking, “Hey, I’ve done business with those guys, and they aren’t as bad as this sales person is saying.” When you start talking negatively about your competitors, the prospect immediately starts to think about the positive attributes of your competitor.
So how should you react when a prospect brings up the competition in a negative light? Use the power of reverse psychology to get them emotionally involved in their negative thoughts about your competition. Instead of piling on with more bad comments, go the other direction. Say something like, “That’s surprising, I usually hear good things about them. What was it about their service that you didn’t like?” Get the prospect to elaborate and you will deepen their ill will towards your competition.
The key is to act curious and skeptical. Curious about your prospect’s experience with your competition, and skeptical that your competition was really all that bad. Just have a conversation and take the high road. If your prospect had a bad experience, they’ll naturally want to elaborate, it’s just human nature.
