Status Quo – Your Main Competition
A lot of people are vying for your clients’ attention.
As you strive to stand out from all the competition it is important to remember one thing: they can always do nothing.
Buying Triggers
Unless a client is responding to catastrophic change, buying remains an option, not an obligation.
There are various reasons a client will buy a new product or service. But in all cases, it is quite a lot of work.
A purchase will require reviewing various options, considering the fit with their own business, the disruption that change can bring, and, of course, the financial costs as well.
The more complicated these things are, and the more furiously competitors try to over-reach one another, the easier it becomes for the client to just do nothing and continue with their status quo and current resources.
Know your ROI
You are prepared to pitch your product against your competitors’, but have you practiced pitching it against your client?
Know what value you bring against doing nothing. Be prepared to build a business case to show that the time and money it will take to adopt your solution, will in fact increase time and money for the client going forward.
In other words: be prepared to compete with, well, nothing.
Your client has to spend money to make this purchase, make it very clear to them how much more expensive it would be to do nothing.
This is a constant refrain on this blog: put yourself in the context of your client. Understand their needs and resources, and then make your solution the best match. And make it easy to adopt. I have mentioned in the past that status quo is a competitor, your customer context will help defeat this problem as well.
To Do
- Have several business case templates ready to use in your sales process
- List the full cost of adoption to the client, including money, people involved and time to train and implement
- Ensure a business case is dedicated to status quo, showing returns on investment versus returns on no action