Imagine for a moment that you’re a street musician. Your meal ticket is selling your performance. So, you’re playing your heart out, vying for the attention of prospects as they pass by. You catch someone’s ear, and they wander closer. They’re reaching into their pocket when suddenly, lo, instead of the sweet sound of a shiny coin landing in your tip jar, you hear an ominous tune picking up on other end of the square. Is that your competition, stealing your prospect’s attention away just as you were about to win their patronage? You play louder and harder to try to gain them back. But from your prospect’s perspective, the square has become overloaded with conflicting noise. Deafened and irritated, they walk away and on to their next errand.
Who won this battle of the one-man bands? Not surprisingly, the answer is “no one.”
The same thing happens in real-world sales cycles. You and your competition are blasting messages and new products into the marketplace, hoping something sticks. The moment you announce a new product, your competition is meeting (and beating) your innovation. You shout louder, they shout even louder. You get the picture. You’ve been there.
Companies create war rooms and fight plans and all kinds of competitive battlefields. In fact, the competitor can begin to consume your attention.
If you stop and think about it…who is missing in action from this battle? Only the person that matters most — your buyer.
What is your war with the competition doing to your prospects? Confusing them, that’s what. The amount of information your prospect must sift through to find the answer to their problem is increasing by 33% every year. They are already overloaded with information, and the incessant battle of the competitive bands is only contributing to their malaise. It’s no wonder you and your competitors all begin to sound the same. It literally becomes a din of noise.
You can’t cut through the clutter by adding to it.
It doesn’t take “more power” to win a deal. It takes a simpler, well-placed message that stands out from a crowded, noisy marketplace.
Where has your message gotten too complicated? Where can you cut back on the noise and focus on that simple story that sets you apart? How can you make it easier for customers to choose you?
Never become so infatuated with your own performance in your industry, or what your competition is up to, that you forget to make it easy for your prospects to buy from you.
