SALES-REPLACING AN INCUMBENT

You are a company which is in the business Service Delivery. You’ve have created a list of prospects who would benefit from your service. In all probability, the company already has an incumbent service provider.  

Selling a service to a company which already has an incumber service provider is very different from selling the same service to a company which have never worked with an external Service provider for those activities.

“What’s the difference?”, you may ask

Well, for starters, your challenge is not only to convince the company about your capabilities but to convince them that you are better than the incumbent.

The incumbent already starts with an advantage:

i.                 A known devil is better than an unknown one

ii.               Relationships have already been developed at various levels

iii.              The Service provider has become an integral part of the company’s internal processes

In most cases, your attempts to get this prospect onto your client list results in this common response, “We’re happy with our current provider.”

It’s time to change your thinking and approach in order to ensure better outcomes when trying to replace an entrenched competitor.

Here are some points to consider to make inroads into a company with an incumbent Service provider

 

#1: Apply empathy

Your company provides a better service or solution. And deep down, the prospect probably knows it as well. But remember that people buy emotionally, not logically. Look at the world from your prospect’s point of view. Their thoughts may be:

• My current vendor is messing up on some things. But they always take care of us. Can this new vendor really deliver? Will they take care of us?
• I’ve been doing business with this Service Provider for years. She was with us in the early years and took care of us. I feel like a traitor for considering another vendor”

Stop selling and instead, step into your prospect’s shoes. State what they are thinking or feeling to make an emotional connection and start a real-world conversation.

Your statements to the prospect should be:

“Mr./Ms. A, it sounds like your current provider has given you some grief. However, if I was on your side of the table, I’d be wondering if we can really deliver, whether we have the capability, whether we will actually do what we say we will do” PAUSE.

“Mr./Ms. A, you and this Service Provider have been doing business for 10 years. The clients we work with value relationships, as you do. So, if I were you, I’d be feeling very torn about moving the business due to that existing relationship — even if there are things my company can do better. Am I correct?” PAUSE

Empathy elevates the sales conversation and changes the sales conversation.

 

#2:  Avoid generic, one-size-fits-all prospecting approaches.

Do you even know if this company has an incumber Service provider and who it is? If not, you may already be hitting a brick wall.

If you don’t know who the incumbent is, it’s going to be very hard to design tactics and strategies to unseat them!

The first step of the selling cycle would be to gather information about the existing Service provider and some history of their relationship with this company.

Then design value propositions and questions designed to expose gaps in their offerings — without ever mentioning the incumbent’s name.

For example, the incumbent may provide really great local service. However, you have the ability to provide the same service from remote locations at reduced cost and improved SLA’s. When reaching out to prospects, lead with a customized value proposition based on a specific need that you have identified. 

“Mr/Ms. Prospect, many of our current clients were really happy with their existing vendor. However, they were open to taking a look at our organization because of our flexible resourcing model giving us the ability to provide the similar or better SLA’s at a lower cost.”

 

#3: Examine your self-talk. 

Have you talked yourself out of a sale before starting the sales conversation?

When you look at a prospect on your CRM, do you think “They have been doing business with XYZ Company for years. Pretty sure they aren’t looking to switch.”

After conducting that conversation in your head a few times, you either don’t pursue that prospect or show up pathetic and apologetic.

Apply the emotional intelligence skills of self-awareness. Recognize and change your self-talk. Change your thoughts and you will change your actions, and how you show up to each sales conversation.  

Your target prospect has been doing business with XYZ Company for years. But is XYZ Company capable of offering them ALL the services they need?

You have had instances where your clients have terminated your contract and switched to another Service provider for various reasons. Isn’t it possible that the incumbent vendor may be making similar mistakes in this company?  

 

Find a gap in service offerings and go after it rather than pursuing the portion of the business the prospect is most worried about giving up. Once you have a foot in the door, provide OUTSTANDING service and expertise. Earn your way to the top. 

And ofcourse, once you become the incumbent, do not leave the door open behind you for another Service Provider to creep in

Unseating the incumbent is not easy. It takes paying attention to your sabotaging self-talk and being empathetic to your prospect. It requires applying delayed gratification and building out customized value propositions rather than generic ones. 

Good Selling!

- Coach Ram
www.coach-ram.in