How to Steal Customers from Your Competition

By Craig Elias

If the prospect says yes, ask about the impact of the failure.

If the pain was considerable, follow up with these three questions:

With any luck, the decision-maker will be left scratching their heads, as they realize their vendor hasn’t really done any damage control. You’ve now created dissatisfaction — and a sales opening.

If they say no consider this as a follow-up question

Pretend something happened …

Sometimes a thought experiment can radically change a prospect’s perspective. If the vendor is particularly entrenched at the buyer’s company, you might want to say,

The prospect will then ramble off a bunch of features, qualifications, and qualities they’d be interested in.

With any luck, a shadow of doubt will cross over their face as they realize — they’re not getting these things with their current vendor! If this happens, pounce on the opportunity to be the first seller in with a hot prospect.

I’m a big believer that people often don’t do what they say they’re going to do. This means the best indicator of future actions is past actions.

Therefore, the event that made them switch vendors in the past — whether it was a change in a salesperson, a marketplace shift, or a vendor policy — is highly likely cause them to switch vendors in the future.

When you talk to a decision-maker that fits your ideal customer profile (ICP) but can’t be sold to right now, I suggest asking them if they have time to answer three really quick questions. As long as you are not trying to sell to them, they will often say yes, at which point, you should ask the following 3 questions:

This will help you understand which events are highly likely to have them switch vendors in the future and when you should reach out to try and sell to them.

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