3 reasons to talk to your lead's competitors

When you're working on a lead, you can never know too much. Every tiny bit of info is going to help you to say the right things, to make the right offers, to work the most effective angles.

You're probably already doing some cursory research on every sale (you had better be doing research!), which probably includes investigating the lead's website and doing a couple Google searches.

But there's an incredible resource which you likely aren't tapping: Your lead's main competitors.

Why? There are 3 main reasons.

Who knows your leads better than their competitors?

Ideally, you should know more. But that isn't always possible. The competitor's job is literally to try and know more than your lead. Not only that, by being a direct competitor, they know how your lead negotiates. Simply ask them how the lead wins business, and you will get a very detailed answer. That is because...

Companies love to talk about their competition!

You're not going to have to work hard to get information on the lead: people love to talk about their opponents. They will talk at length about anything and everything. If they're too eager to bash the lead, then you may want to take the comments with a grain of salt. That said, there tends to be a correlation between how successful you are and how much your competition hates you.

Competitors can become leads for you!

Simply by asking the competition about your lead, you are getting exposure with that competitor. Your name will sit in their mind. And if they want to have an edge on the lead (or at least to not let the lead have an edge on them), they will look into your product, too. Just imagine how much that competitor will want to buy if your lead starts doing even better after buying from you! They won't want to be left in the dust, and you've just made another customer.

So go find out who your lead's are competing with, and get to talking with them. You're bound to find out plenty of juicy information. It's simple enough to get on the phone with them, because they won't hesitate to talk about the competition (and they sure will know a lot about them!

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