“It’s more important to out-think your enemy than to out-fight him” Sun Tzu, The Art of War.

The Marketplace is much like a ‘war zone’, with many players fighting over the same territory to win customers and gain market share.

As sales professionals, we are very much like the foot soldiers who go out to battle every morning with the intention to win more business than our competitors.

But the artillery we use is not guns and swords, but rather a more subtle but yet potent weapon. Persuasion

To become skillful on this ‘war front’, we need to study our competition well and outsmart them at every turn.

Who are their star players? What sales script do they use? How do they uniquely pitch their product? What are they saying about us? What are the gaps in their sales story that we can exploit to our own advantage?…

Sun Tzu was a great general because he understood that it was not enough to just know your enemy: you must use that knowledge to strategise and plan their demise…

What competitor strategies have you come up with lately? What new initiatives do you have up your sleeve to blindside your competition and take over their market-share? How much time are you spending thinking about and planning your win in the marketplace?

I remember once leading a sales team where we would devote at least one full day per quarter to strategise on winning in the marketplace.

Market dominance does not come easy - you have to fight for it, and once you are at the top you become the target to beat - so you have to strategise continually about how to remain at the apex.

Thinking is hard - that’s why not everyone does it well. But thinking outside the box is especially necessary in this dynamic environment.

So dare to spend quality time everyday thinking of new ways of gaining market share by out-thinking and out-smarting your competition.

Have a Winning Week ahead!

Your Sales Coach
THANDI MIRANDA