How can sales reps adapt to a highly competitive market?

Selling is no longer about walking in with a shiny product that makes customers swoon. Selling is now about what you can offer the customer above the shiny product. Customers want a sales experience that justifies the time and effort they are putting into the sale. For this reason sales people need to understand the entire market they are working in, not just the customer. What is effecting the market, what is effecting the account and what is effecting the customer. Then they are in a position to provide the sales experience and product offering that will truly make the customer swoon. Sales people should no longer be asking what keeps a customer up at night. They should be able to tell customers what should keep them up at night.

This simple framework has served me well- 1. Who is my customer? 2. What are their challenges? 3. How can I help them? This helps me determine the problem I wish to solve, the current state, and my desired outcomes. Clarity of purpose makes it easier, and more enjoyable, to attract and retain the right customers.

Rather than promoting product features, always center your sales efforts around identifying and addressing the specific problems your solution can solve and the positive impact it can have on your customers' objectives. In a fiercely competitive market, relying solely on features will not distinguish you from your rivals. Your success hinges on your ability to clearly and simply convey how your solution meets customer needs and how it outshines the competition. Ensure that your narrative is not only articulate but also straightforward. Remember, people prefer to buy from individuals they trust. You not only help solve your customers' problems but also establish trust and credibility, fostering long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.

Go see customers face to face. Even with all of todays technology nothing beats face to face sales. Build a relationship, get to know who is really in charge at an organization. People buy from people they know.

Constantly upgrade your skills and align with the new technologies. In my opinion reading should be a habit, be it books, industry magazines, blogs, editorials or newspapers. This gives an edge to sales people to be more engaged with your customers. Enroll into short courses like in LinkedIn which offers knowledge on the go. It is very important to find a coach or mentor for yourself

It's about having a growth mindset and actively listening and adapting to your customers' shifting needs as well as where your company's strategic direction is going. For example, if your company is going through a transformation from a farmer to a hunter organization, and you've been in a farmer role, this will require you to hone your hunting skills as well as learn new skills. These new skills are humbling and may be a little uncomfortable( e..g, cold calling, etc.) but to grow, you must be okay with change and embrace that discomfort. This means you are growing!

Growth mindset is key in any profession...but particularly in sales. The landscape is constantly changing, buyer needs shift over time and what you sell changes over time (particularly if you work in tech)! As a result, you need to continually learn to stay on top of your game!

Build relationships, not transactions. Find out as much about your prospects/clients as possible and provide value. The goal isn't to close a deal, the goal is to create a customer experience so wonderful that they keep flooding you with referrals.

You need to learn to speak the same language as your customers. A good example, in the medical field doctors communicate using what is called a SOAP approach ( Subjective, Objective,Assesment and Plan)when they talk to other healthcare professionals about a patient.You will often hear a doctor say "the patient describe X I observed Y, the lab test showed Z and I prescribed W. This is also the way they write their patient's notes.So when talking about the benefits of your product for the patient you could use the same approach. In my experience this helps in the development of a good relationship with customers This is also true for many other professions.

I’ve always found it important to recognize and respect the specific communication style of the person you are meeting with, and to tailor your own communication style to match theirs. For example, if you are meeting with a direct and fast paced decision-maker be sure to be knowledgeable, concise and laser focused when responding to their questions. Or, if you are meeting with an extroverted chatty person be sure to spend time at the beginning of the meeting on non-business chitchat and follow their cues on when to transition to business. Developing the skills to recognize and match your own communication style to the people you are meeting with can accelerate relationship building and trust.

Become more effective by getting to know prospects without initial engagement. Do your research. Know their history. Compliment them on what the business is doing well. Each potential client is different and each client has a different friction point where we can help (or not). Sometimes we just make a warm welcome and leave it at that for a while. Knowing the target and customizing the offering to the target based on what may be their friction point, but asking questions can go a long way to getting to the open door.

In today’s world, pace of change is key and for sales reps to be able to adapt quickly to new GMT strategies and market reaction is super important. For that to happen you need your sales force to be data driven, ROI driven and provider/advisor to your dealer base! Best in class service supported with data / ROI facts is winner!

like any role - you need to stand out. discover what makes you stand out and play to that! what's your strenght? organization skills? client skills? analytical mind? based on your strength you can build a competitive advantage such as: - rep who runs best discovery - rep who juggles multiple complex deals at once - rep who deals with the "toughest" clients you'll stand out if you play to your strength

One of the things I did was to review my customers annual and quarterly reports (most of my clients were publicly traded). These provided me with a wealth of information on their goals, their competition, their weaknesses and where they saw opportunities. Sure, these can be sleep inducing reading, BUT they also laid out a path/game plan for me. I set my goals around the clients goals so when I was meeting with them I showed how my product or system would support their goal or help them with their competition. We were working together on common goals - I wasn’t just pushing a product but providing them with a solution I knew, and they knew, they needed.

The best communicators are often the best sellers. There are a ton of great technologies that help you communicate better - either more effectively or more consistently. Buyers will not buy what they do not understand!

Sales force automation is no doubt at the heart of field force effectiveness driving impact and synergies. Optimizing PoA and FTEs. Complete sales force automation around customer interactions brings value information which is vital in making strategic decisions. Integrated solutions open data Goldmine for Commercial leadership as baseline for contious improvement and change towards growth and profitability.

My experience has been that successful sale people are the one that controls technology and do not let technology control them. As an example in multichannel promotional environment a sales person that take charge and control of the right channel for the right customer at the right frequency and sequence with the right message to augment his/her visibility and ensure reinforcement of his/her message in between face to face call and validate with the customer the personalized approach during the next sales call has a clear advantage over the competition

First I have to say: I am old school with over 30 years of sales experience and I cannot confirm CRM was helping me a lot. Example: in the past a yearly contract was the following process: Quote spreadsheet with products and prices per location. Negotiation facetoface, web, or phone. Contract spreadsheet. Now this is different: client sends me a web page I have to register. Than I got an RFQ, have to fill in the prices (80, instead of 8 lines). Than I have to upload. Than I got a counterproposal spreadsheet. We negotiate and I have to make the changes. than I got the contract from client, which I have to enter into our CRM system, all the 80 lines. So either myself, or the technology is not good enough. What is your experience?

Imagine a farmer with state-of-the-art equipment cultivating abundant crops. Technology is your advanced toolkit in today's digital world. You should embrace social selling platforms, AI-driven analytics, and CRM systems. And similar to a farmer's modern tools, these tools can assist you in planting seeds of opportunity and harvesting a bountiful crop of sales.

You can remain agile if you bring on partners and resources that allow this flexibility and are willing to prove results. Please set clear expectations, ensure your potential service provider is aligned, and set short-term agreements as much as possible.

Emotional Intelligence: Your Sales Superpower! Sales success hinges on emotional intelligence. One key competency of EI is agility and flexibility. Many EI skill sets interweave with together. EI is the ability to understand and manage emotions, vital in the fast-paced sales world. Agility is key. Be open to change, innovate, and adapt swiftly. Flexibility matters too. Tailor your approach to each client. Nurture self-awareness, empathy, adaptability, resilience, and relationship building. With emotional intelligence as your guide, conquer sales challenges and soar to new heights of success!

1. Adaptability: We need to flexible enough to adapt to situations. This will help us to understand customers and serve them well. 2. Continuous learning: Learning about competitors, clients, etc. which make you agile and flexible to pitch and win in under any circumstances. 3. Be Agile: Be more iterative in your sales process and try bring down unwanted steps which will slow the process. 4. Get out of comfort zone: A sales person who is calculative will push himself hard and will take risk, which will help him to achieve more sales. 5. Faster Decision Making: This makes you more flexible and aggressive. My experience is more the urgency you show and take faster decision, more you will win deals

eam Collaboration: Foster a collaborative environment among sales team members. Sharing best practices, insights, and strategies can benefit the entire team's performance. Offer Customization and Personalization: Highlight the ability to customize solutions based on individual customer needs. Tailor proposals and presentations to resonate with the prospect's specific requirements. Maintain a Positive Attitude: Encourage a positive mindset among sales reps. A positive attitude can be contagious and influential in maintaining motivation and resilience.

Always be open to new ideas and perspective, review your plans form every angles. Look for possible weak points, review your process, ask for opinions from coworkers with opposite point of view from yours. Differential analysis is key in a project

1. Qualify your leads carefully. Don't waste your time pursuing leads that are not a good fit for your product or service. Instead, focus on qualifying your leads upfront so that you can invest your time and energy in the most promising opportunities. 2. Do your research before each sales call so that you can speak to the customer's unique pain points and how your product or service can solve them. 3. Be prepared to negotiate. It's common for customers to negotiate on price, terms, and other aspects of the deal. Be prepared to negotiate and to find common ground.

Be passionate Sales Reps with a growth mindset have relentless passion. There will always be someone more naturally talented than yourself, but what you lack in talent, you can more than make up for with your passion. Passion is what drives them. If you are able to show your passion towards clients and/or prospects, it's going to make your sales journey(s) a lot smoother. In addition, passion also makes you more likely to learn, adapt and grow as a person.

Busque mentores e exemplos para que orientem nesta caminhada. Esteja aberto aos novos modelos, se libertando de como era feito no passado! As evolu??es sao necessárias!

In adapting to a competitive market, I learned the importance of avoiding routine. It was vital to constantly seek new perspectives. I often drove different routes to meetings, discovering potential clients along the way. I also visited stores outside my product category to observe their sales strategies and point-of-sale solutions. These excursions offered fresh insights. Additionally, discussing challenges with colleagues and friends, even those in different industries, provided diverse viewpoints. These practices kept my approach to sales dynamic and innovative.

Es importante planificar e ir ajustando a medida que avanzamos, esto, durante los check point implica aprender de los desvíos/errores y corregir según el/los objetivo/s planteado/s

Understand the market dynamics, understand the competitive landscape, understand yourself then act accordingly. Be agile and keep learning and growing daily

In my experience I find that active listening gains insight on how to meet and exceed the customer expectation. Being a collaborative partner and providing solutions gain customer confidence . Partnership is how to win over the competition

Make a concerted effort to be sincere, and connect with people on an interpersonal level. Regardless of customer needs, people enjoy doing business with people they like. Aim to do both! It's a win win situation. Never discount the human connection!

Just remain super focused on the customer. Make every interaction about them and not you. Deliver outstanding customer experience through the entire life cycle and more. Don't sell, but, help customers buy more effectively. A lot of good points made through out this thread. Use everything spoken about and remember, not every customer is the same. Each will have their own specific recipe for success.

Being approachable and likable. Those two things are way underrated. We all know you need to know your market, product, etc. Those are expectations, not qualities. Be the person others look forward to seeing and working with.