Don't Muddy the Waters, Cast Only One Lure- YOURS!

There has been a couple of fishy- pardon the pun- things happening around here in the past week.

Incident #1: A Sales Rep found a message board posting about a small competitor allegedly going out of business (which was false) and then began forwarding said message to prospects and referral partners.

Incident #2: Other Sales Reps obtained a copy of the major competitor’s pricing and began sharing that with prospects and referral partners.

In both instances Management intervened immediately and stopped the ethically questionable behavior. Thankfully I work for one of the most ethical companies, and incidents like this are rare, but what are these salespeople thinking?

In the world of bass fishing these ethical/moral dilemmas don’t even exist. Why? Because you can’t fish with bait that’s not yours. You can’t cast a spinner bait out there and next to it have a less desirable lure illustrating how great the spinner is to the bass. The fish doesn’t care what you have to say about the next Angler’s lure. All he cares about is if your bait is going to satisfy his hunger.

Prospects are identical to bass in that regard. I’ve never encountered a legitimate prospect that wanted me to do anything other than prove how I was going to satisfy their particular need, or solve their problem. They don’t care to hear what you think you know about the competition- which usually ends up being inaccurate anyhow.

Now, that’s not to say that knowing the competitors price is a bad thing. You should. You need to know, competitively, where to come in pricewise. But the moment you begin speaking on behalf of the competitors you are on a dangerous path. Maybe you know their price, but don’t know about this week’s promotion, or special industry discount. And think about how foolish those sales reps look that took an internet message board posting to be factual- and it wasn’t. There goes your credibility… which, by the way, is really important when earning someone’s business!

So don’t muddy the waters by trying to un-sell the competition. Instead focus on casting your best possible lure and gaining the prospect’s interest.