7 Sales Tips To Get Ahead Of Your Competitors In 2013

Business Computerworld
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1. Ringfence All Your Existing Accounts If you want to get ahead, and stay ahead, of your competitors in 2013, the very first thing you need to do is ringfence all your existing customers.

What are your relationships like with your existing accounts? The ones you don’t get on as well with? Would they tell you if a competitor had been in? And if they did, would you retain the business at the same price, or would you have to price match to keep it?

2. Focus Your Prospecting The quality of your prospecting will be one of the biggest factors in how successful you are in 2013. As the individual salesperson is asked to do more and more, it’s vital that the time you spend prospecting is time well spent. There will be certain specific criteria that make certain prospects more ideal for you than others. If you don’t know what they are, you need to find them out – and fast! If you’re really not sure, take a look at your existing client base. What was it that made them purchase at the moment they did?

3. Become A ‘Valued Resource’ In order to be seen as a valued resource, you have to earn it. You have to give value first. You have to get updated on industry trends, technological advancements and understand the impact that these could have on your client’s business. You have to be able to hold a business conversation with the level of decision makers you’re meeting. Invest the time to do things like this, and it will pay you back tenfold!

4. Have A Plan For Your Attack One of the best ways to get ahead of the competition in 2013 is to get some of their customers off them! Why not map out competitors accounts in your territory, then create a call plan for getting into see them, and focus on winning their business. If you’re in internal sales, make notes on the prospects that are currently using your competition, then filter the data by competitors name. Then you can create a phone campaign designed specifically to convert their customers to your customers instead! Experience shows that dedicated and focused approaches like those above have a far better chance of success – and also put a big dent in your competitor’s motivation at the same time.

5. Increase Your Activity Now, once you’ve targeted your prospecting, the next thing you need to do is crank up the volume. I’m a big fan of a high level of activity and the reason for this, is that the more deals you have in your pipeline, the more you can afford to lose! Purely by increasing your activity, you increase your chances of success – and therefore increase the amount of money you can earn. Who wouldn’t want to do that?

6. Develop Consistent Motivation We all know that motivation is important for a salesperson. But it’s the salesperson’s ability to be consistently motivated that will help them stand out from the rest, and stay ahead of their competition in 2013.

7. Sharpen Your Sales Skills If you truly want to stay ahead of your competition in 2013, you’ll need to sharpen your sales skills. This means getting up-to-date, relevant sales tips and advice from trusted sources. If you get some internal training at your company, great! If your company invests in bringing an external trainer or motivator to help you improve, even better! If you’re one of those people that believes in investing in yourself (even if your company doesn’t). I take my hat off to you.

However, you don’t have to spend money to keep your sales skills updated – there are various audios around that are free or low-cost, and there are plenty of seminars you can attend without spending a fortune – just make sure you put into practice what you learn, and I look forward to hearing how you’re staying ahead of your competition in 2013! Follow the tips above and watch your sales soar!


I started this site to help others with tips in Sales, Telecom-Renewable Energy awareness. Contact me Tradd Duggan , LinkedIn profile. To Network, possible Sales openings your company may have or more information.