We all know that criticizing your competition is a bad idea
For one thing, you gain a reputation. People begin to talk about you as someone who can’t win business on your own merits.
Clients don’t like criticism either. For one thing, criticizing someone’s supplier means that you are criticizing them. After all, they almost certainly made the decision to use this supplier.
Criticism is also very negative. You won’t make someone feel good and ready to buy by criticizing. But all these are minor issues compared to the next point I’m going to make.
Here’s the most important reason why you shouldn’t criticize
If you criticize the competition, you lower yourself to their level. You end up selling on the same terms as them. And that means you end up sounding pretty similar to the competition. You may not have the delivery or service or quality problems of the competitor. However, that’s the only difference that you are making between you and the company that you are criticizing.
If you want to sell successfully, you need to stand apart from everyone else. It doesn’t matter whether the competition performs well or not. The client should want to use you or your services and nobody else’s.
If you haven’t already done so, it’s time to think about what makes you stand out from other printing companies. Offering good printing services is no longer enough. In addition, you need a difference: what is the single reason why a customer really should choose you and your company? Finally, you must condense this into a powerful sales message.
If you cannot achieve this, then you may have no option but to rely on criticizing the competition.
P. S. If you want to create more powerful sales messages, download my free e-book “Ten Common Print Selling Errors and What To Do About Them” right now at http://profitableprintrelationships.com/e-book/ You’ll also receive my regular “Views from the print buyer” bulletin, full of ideas on how to sell print effectively. Also, check out my pdf book: “How To Stop Buyers Choosing On Price”
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- Business Management - Marketing/Sales
Many printing companies are frustrated how hard it is to engage buyers in today’s world. That’s where Matthew Parker can help. He is a gamekeeper turned poacher. Parker has bought print for more than 20 years and received over 1,400 print sales pitches. He now uses his buyer’s point of view to give practical advice to printers. He helps them engage with prospects and customers to create profitable relationships.
Download his free e-book, "Ten Common Print Selling Errors And What To Do About Them" and check out his recently launched book, "How To Succeed At Print Sales: Setting targets, planning the right activities and making sure goals are met."