Often during a competitive sales cycle there is the opportunity to decide whether you want to go before or after your competition. Although I have heard no end of theories from sales reps on this one, my experience is that you need to answer some questions before you decide which position you want to be in.
Does your prospect understand the functionality/technology of your application space?
If they don’t, then letting the competition do the hard work of educating the prospect up front is a good idea.
Are there specific traps you can set up for your competition?
These need to be more than just things you can talk about, they need to be things you can show. If you can say to the prospect after a demonstration: “Ask our competitors to show you how they handle that…” then it is probably a good trap. If you have lots of these, then going first is a good idea. If you are forced to go first, then make sure you have some.
Is the prospect open to talking about the competition?
Some customers, as you know, are rigorous about their selection process and won’t talk about the competition at all during the sales cycle, while others are an open book. If they are willing to talk, then going later is a good choice because you can get the dirt on what your competition blew. This is the opposite of setting traps: overcoming the obstacles that thwarted your competition.
Are they using a rating scale?
If they are the type of prospect using a strict rating scale (“rate the vendor’s functionality for x on a scale of 1-10″) you should consider going last because of the natural tendency for people to “conserve” their ratings early in the game. How likely is someone to give you a “10″ when they know there are 5 more vendors they will need to score afterwords?
Do you need more time?
This may seem basic, but if you need more time, consider going last because being prepared will trump any of the other factors.
Is the time of day of the presentation affected by your decision?
Again, it may seem basic, but if they are having all the sessions in one day, you probably don’t want to be last. The time of day is important and if choosing a different slot makes a difference, it is worth considering. 2PM is typically the worst time of day to present because it is the natural low in people’s daily cycles. In civilized countries they take a siesta at that time.
Is your product better than the competition?
If not, then throwing aroundÂ
FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) is probably going to be a big part of your strategy, so going first help.
Are there LOTS of other vendors?
If there are more than 3 other vendors, then going last is probably a wise move because people can only hold so much information in their memory. We often forget just how much information that prospects have to absorb during a sales cycle and they can get the vendors mixed up. I was recently on the other end of an evaluation and I was surprised at how often I would get the vendors confused. Going last can help with people’s memories, and often if you do a great job they will ascribe qualities to you that they actually were brought up by your competition. If there are lots of other vendors then you definitely don’t want to go in the middle.
Of course, deciding where in the lineup your presentation or demo will fall is not nearly as import as doing a great job during the sales cycle. But every little edge helps.
Dave Sohigian - TechDemoGuy Selling competitive, demonstration, presenetation, Selling