The world is a competitive place and we are often put in situations where we are put up against a competitor. In the world of sales and client relations, this happens all of the time. Often I get asked, “When can I tell my client how awful the competition is?”
When I was younger and in competitive sports, we once had a team in our league that I can honestly say we hated. Our teams were intense rivals and both teams took every opportunity to attack the other team, either on the field or off. Both teams felt a palpable dislike for each other. And we all felt that hatred served us will in the heat of battle. It certainly made the adrenalin rush. A few years later, through unusual circumstances, the two teams ended up merging and what we found was the other guys who we hated so much were not that bad and now we’re on the same side and we ended up with great friendships as a result.
A great lesson was learned, in my opinion. The “other guy” is never as bad as you make them out to be in the heat of competition.
When can you tell the world how bad the competition is? When can you “diss” the other guy or gal and their company?
The simple answer is – NEVER! It doesn’t matter how much better you think you and your company are over the competition, it NEVER serves you well to “diss” the other guy or gal. Regardless of how cavalier our society is in the media about publicly flailing others, and believe me we see it the news, the entertainment industry, and certainly in sports, people don’t like it.
Plainly put, it is wrong and people intuitively know it! In the competitive world of sales and customer relations, NEVER put the other guy down. Praise them for what they do well and then show your customer how you are that much better. It will get you more wins in the long run!
Bill Leesman / Director/ PEO Canada