How to Beat the Competition in Sales

Do you simply want to go head to head with your competitors, or do you want to find out how to beat the competition in sales with a distinct advantage?

Surpassing your industry rivals requires much more than offering the highest quality products for the lowest price. Those wanting to become a leader must refine every aspect of their business, so they will gain the attention of many customers, clients and talented employees. Find out how you can compete with your industry rivals and even better, how to beat the competition in sales.

Gain a Competitive Advantage

Customers need a good reason to choose your business over a rival. If they don’t, you will all blur into one. You must, therefore, identify a USP (unique selling proposition) that will capture your customers’ attention and accommodate their needs. Also, display your USP through clear marketing, as your customers should never have to wonder or ask what makes you different from your competitors. If you really want to beat the competition in sales, aim to identify a gap in the market that you can capitalize on, which can help you stand apart from your industry rivals.

Creating a Unique value proposition is not necessarily an easy thing to do, and unfortunately there is no one-size-fits-all approach. That being said, you can break the process into two phases, which will help guide you to your unique value proposition. 

Phase 1 should be where you the business owner along with any close business advisors sit down and take a hard look at what your business is about and what you believe makes it different than any of your competitors.

Phase 2 is turning that ‘thing that makes you different’ into a unique marketing message. This message should resonate on a personal level with your target audience.

Uncovering this UVP shouldn’t be a guessing game. You are going to have to do a lot of market research and you will certainly need to become involved your customers daily routines and habits in order to discover not only how to connect with them but what will trigger them to buy.

Learn About Your Industry Rivals

You may have browsed your competitors’ websites and social media pages, but do you know about the processes they are using daily to run their business? Keep up with your competitors by learning more about how they run their company. For example, you or an onsite safety professional could attend the upcoming ASSE conference to learn more about occupational safety in your industry, and the effective strategies your industry rivals are using to streamline their operations. Visit https://safety.asse.org/ for more information.

You Can Even Look outside your industry. The only road map you may find may in fact come from studying other successful companies and not necessarily in your own industry. Work to backwards engineer what these companies have done to set themselves apart and communicate a specific message effectively.

Continually Connect with Your Customers

You customers’ needs and expectations may change constantly. If you want to stay one step ahead of the competition, you must strive to continually connect with your target demographic. Find out what matters most to your demographic to meet their needs. For example, they might value flexibility over affordability, or they might want the latest products or a premium service. Once you know what your customers are looking for, you should revise both your sales and marketing strategies.

Improve your customer’s life by solving a common pain point. Trying to compete on price alone is a sure fire way to fail. Instead, focus on making your customer’s life better by solving a common problem.

As recently published on Entrepreneur.com:

“People buy from people that they like and can relate to,” says Adrian Miller, a sales trainer based in Port Washington, N.Y. “When business owners overlook the importance of that personal connection, they run the risk of losing the prospect to someone else–usually someone who took the time to create a relationship and help the prospect buy something rather than trying to simply sell to them.”

Check out the infographic originally published on hubspot included at the bottom of this post as a great visual reference to help you define your UVP.

Update Your Branding

There is a reason Pepsi often updates the brand logo, as it helps the soda giant to remain relevant in their industry and embark on new and exciting marketing campaigns. Generate a buzz and encourage trust in your brand by updating your image. For instance, you could paint the front of your premises to create a more attractive, welcoming and modern storefront. You can also create branded clothing and packaging or develop a professional website or business cards.

Whether you’re a new company or a business that is on the verge of reinvention, it can be a difficult process to become recognized as a brand. Fortunately, there are a few keys to success when it comes to effectively building your company’s value to create a brand that consumers want to be affiliated with. It all starts with knowing yourself; it’s that very individuality that makes your business relateable to the public.

Here are 5 additional tips to keep in mind with a brand update:

1. One Step At A Time

Since it usually has multiple products and services, a new company, no matter how much capital it has, will tend to fall short of the resources that it will require at one time or another. This can make it difficult to market on a large scale for multiple outlets, which is why it’s important to really focus on what you’re offering. Rather than providing many individual thoughts, which can confuse customers or distract your brand message as a whole, try to pool your energy and resources into one common area where you can have a single focus to effectively pull in new customers and keep existing customers interested in what you have to offer.

Often times, keeping a simple and focused idea for your brand message will help the idea catch on. This actually might seem too simple but naming your brand with just one word can increase customer retention and help your brand name become recognized far more quickly. I’m sure we can all name dozens of popular electronics, auto and apparel brands by one name right off the top of our heads. There’s a reason why companies like Apple and Windows name their products using simple identifiers rather than long descriptions.

2. Be Prepared To Claim The URL

It isn’t enough to change the name of your brand, or create a name for your product or company; you’ve also got to be prepared to claim the URL and other needs for a successful startup. A brand is all about creating customer recognition, and being recognized by a specific name is almost pointless if that name is being used for another product or company. Keeping yourself unique and independent from others in your industry is what will set you apart as a top contender and make consumers want to come back to you time and again.

3. Follow The Rule Of Two

It’s true that you want to stick to single words or as few as possible for your brand, but there are two rules to follow when it comes to making this decision. First, you must select something that describes what it is you do or sell so that customers aren’t looking at your business and wondering what it is that they’re going to get. If you sell paint, for example, then something like Color Code might be more fitting than Marvelous Marvins or something equally as vague. Second, keep your brand name simple so that it’s difficult to misspell or mispronounce it, as this could confuse customers and keep your brand from being properly marketed.

4. Choose For Yourself And Be Consistent

Many companies choose to go with a focus group or selecting committee to decide on a brand that works. Nine times out of ten putting things to a vote will reward you with a name and a vision that is less than inspired. You want something definitive and unique in describing your business, not a hybrid of multiple elements all wrapped up into a confused brand name. Your brand is much more than a simple name, it’s about creating a personal connection with your audience.

Once you have a clearly defined brand message and image, it is essential that you actually live up to it. Nothing kills a brand quicker than making claims that aren’t backed up. If your brand message is all about being there for your customer, but you fail to return their calls, answer their questions or back your product; how long do you think your brand will be around?

5. Get Some Protection

While it’s quite possible that nobody will be looking to claim the same name as your company, if you don’t trademark your brand, logo, and slogan through the United States Patent and Trademark Office for both online and physically printed items you could find yourself losing your concept to a competitor. This actually happened recently to one of my clients who even used a trademark attorney to register their business name. I hope they got their money back from that attorney, because after they launched and began building a very successful brand they were issued a cease and desist notice from a much bigger brand that had trademarked their term usage in that particular market. This caused tens of thousands of dollars in rebranding and production costs.

Step Up Your Marketing Efforts

Spread the good word about your business by stepping up your marketing efforts. Stop focusing solely on social media or content marketing, and look at other marketing avenues to explore, such as PPC, blogger outreach, leaflet drops, or local or national TV and/or radio campaigns. This will increase your brand awareness, which can create a trustworthy brand.

Check out these 3 proven online marketing tactics that will use your brand content to engage your viewers and entice them to take action.

If you want to learn the best ways to boost your brand’s awareness online to increase your website’s visibility, click here.

Look to the Future

Are you aware that businesses that plan for growth are more successful than companies that remain still? Don’t get stuck in the here and now and strive to keep up with future developments within your sector. For example, you should invest in new technologies, follow consumer trends, and have a clear vision where you want the company to be in one, two or five years’ time.

Don’t Forget to Bookmark the Value Proposition Infographic!