Bad Mouth Compitition?

F

Fleet Chemicals

New member
Hey Guys - just had an interesting phone call from a new account. My compititor went in on a sales call and started bad mouthing us. I found out which compititor it was and now my sales team will have a new focus.

Have you run into this before? Have you done it?

I feel as if this is a terrible way for any sales person in any industry to sell and very unprofessional.
 
Never talk about your competition. Just sell your service. Even when the customer asks us how come your price is much higher than xyz company we tell them I do not know how they do there work so I couldnt tell you. Then sell our service. Makes you look totally un profesional if you bad mouth another company.
 
If a competitor is bad mouthing you or your company to a customer, more than likely they are just jealous of your operations. I've run across other guys in our industry who've been open about "doing what I gotta do" or emphasizing that it's ok to act this way because it's so "cut throat" out there, but in my opinion, any individual that bad mouths another to a customer, just looks desperate and silly.

Don't worry about what your competition is doing, focus on YOUR business and ways to make it better!
 
I have had a couple competitors badmouth me to customers before and the customers told me about it.

We talked about the job, explained how I would do the job, what precautions I would take, etc..., and also named some references if they wanted to check.

I ended up getting the job each time and the customer was really happy that I did a great job and would tell their friends not only about my good work but to watch out for the competitor badmouthing other companies out there.

Instead of badmouthing the competitor if you know that they do a terrible job I will just explain how I do things differently than the competition, offer a lot of referrals if they are not sure and talk to them about their concerns if they have any.
 
Don't worry about what your competition is doing, focus on YOUR business and ways to make it better!

This is what we live by. Put your head down and keep going just like a rhino. Do good work and the phone never stops ringing.
 
Fleet Chemicals said:
Hey Guys - just had an interesting phone call from a new account. My compititor went in on a sales call and started bad mouthing us. I found out which compititor it was and now my sales team will have a new focus.

Have you run into this before? Have you done it?

I feel as if this is a terrible way for any sales person in any industry to sell and very unprofessional.
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Do you know what he said, specifically?
 
Fleet Chemicals said:
Yes, why?
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I was curious as to how caustic it was.

I agree that "bad-mouthing" is unacceptable. I was curious as to how heavily their words were leaning towards the unacceptable side of the scale.

I have a question for you: Do you feel that "education" is acceptable?

Would you critique workmanship, for instance, without attacking the competitor?
 
NickGann said:
In every business I have always followed the rule of denying any understanding of what the competitor is offering, but of selling my service based on how great I know my product is.
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I am the exact opposite...except the last part. I know you are not saying that you dont actually understand what the competitor is offering, but denying when I actually know, well, is wrong, plus if I deny that I know that I know what they are offering, it gives me no basis to overcome that objection. In fact it ticks me off when I dont know what they are offering.
 
By deny, I really mean objecting to confirming negative suspicions of clients. Basically I will not subject myself or competition to the game of telephone. I just tell them what I do is awesome and why it's awesome, and leave it at that.
 
I use to tournament bass fish and one thing I often seen other fishermen do is worry too much about other fishermen instead of worry about the bass. In the end the fisherman who worried about the bass would usually win. I think that happens a lot in this field as well. I think we worry too much about what our competitors are doing and trying to bad mouth their company is immature and very unprofessional. Focus on you and your company and you will win in the end. Don't fall to their dirty tactics and ways. My mom always said two wrong don't make a right and I think that will take you a long way in life.
 
fromgreentoclean said:
I use to tournament bass fish and one thing I often seen other fishermen do is worry too much about other fishermen instead of worry about the bass. In the end the fisherman who worried about the bass would usually win. I think that happens a lot in this field as well. I think we worry too much about what our competitors are doing and trying to bad mouth their company is immature and very unprofessional. Focus on you and your company and you will win in the end. Don't fall to their dirty tactics and ways. My mom always said two wrong don't make a right and I think that will take you a long way in life.
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I agree!
 
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