Who's your biggest competitor?

Last week, I was on call with an entrepreneur who takes school kids for an international vacation!

I asked him who is his biggest competitor

He quickly jumped in 'XYZ is our biggest competitor because they have been around for 12 years'

'ABC is also our competitor because they have more market share than us'

'DEF is stealing a lot of our business because their pricing is very low'

I asked him again 'Who's your biggest competitor?' He listed 2 more names & stopped

I probed further 'How many schools don't go ahead with you & not with others too - as in they drop the vacation plan altogether?'

He said 'That's a good 60%'

I asked him again 'Who's your biggest competitor?'

It hit him.

His biggest competition is 'Status Quo'

Many a times, people maintain status quo by just sticking to what they are doing and not going ahead with the purchase at all

This happens a lot in the services business and with startups which are doing something really new. There is a lot of inertia for the prospect to make a buying decision (they are stuck in the 'consideration' phase of the sales funnel)

But lot of sales professionals/entrepreneurs don't factor in 'status quo' as competition in their sales pitch. They are just too busy trying to outdo their 'conventional' competitors

As a sales rep, you need to decode customer psyche and understand if the prospect is likely to maintain status quo. If yes, then your sales pitch should challenge the prospect into taking a decision by instilling FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)

So the next time you are pitching to a prospect, just don't blurt out your standard ppt pitch, spend time understanding the prospect and see their inclination to maintain status quo!

Now, don't maintain status quo by just reading this article. Take ACTION!

P.S - Netflix CEO Reed Hastings once said 'Sleep is our competition'

That's raising the bar to a whole new level!