How to Outsell a Competitor Who Slashes Their Price to Win

Back in March 2003, in my e-Zine, I featured an article entitled, Selling Against Goliath. In the article I offered some coaching to smaller companies who regularly compete against the big guys. The article was very well received, in fact it was reprinted in many sales publications. However a number of my subscribers and clients have come back to me with a question: I'm the Goliath. How do I compete against the smaller, more agile David out there who drastically discounts to win business? Red Alert. First of all, once you learn that one of your competitors in a deal has "bought" business in the past at a price you could not (or would not) meet, your alert status should immediately shift to orange (if not red). Remember, early in evaluation cycles prospects may say that price is a consideration, but not first on their list. Later on, once they have ignored or devalued any unique capabilities that your product or service can provide--to the point where they "can see no measurable difference between your offering and your competitor's,"--price gets elevated to the number one consideration. We've all seen it happen. By that point its generally too late to remedy the situation. You're trapped. So recognizing potential situations early on where a buyer will buy on price must become second nature. Here are some recommendations that will point you in the right direction: