How Should You Handle Competition?

You are in the very competitive business of selling office machines. You and one of your salespeople have an appointment with the senior partner of a large medical centre. This potential buyer already has studied several competitive products. Her "hot buttons" are low operating costs and low maintenance. You know that four competitors have demonstrated their product to your prospect. After you have shown her the benefits of your product, she asks you: "Tell me, what makes your machine better than brand X?" You restate some of your obvious product benefits and she comes back with "The salesman with company X told me that they use a special kind of toner that is far superior to what you are using for your machine and that it will increase the lifetime of their machine by 20%."

You know that this is an obvious lie, so you ask: "What evidence did this salesperson give you to prove his claim?" She shows you a customer testimonial letter that talks about how satisfied they were with their machine, but it says nothing about longer lifetime. You reply carefully: "That's the first time I have ever seen a letter praising a brand X machine."

Next, she shows you another piece of paper, a chart that graphically illustrates the operating costs of five different brands. The chart says on the bottom "Marketing ResearchBrand X, 2000." It shows your machine with the highest operating costs over a five-year period and it shows brand X in the leading position with 20% lower operating costs. You are stunned by this unfair competitive comparison. You try to control your temper and think about saying "They always are much better than we are on paper, but when it comes to reality, we outperform them every time."

Question: Would you try to reverse your prospect's decision? Why or why not? Justify your answer