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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | A six-step plan for driving a wedge between the competition and the customer
For sales people, convincing a potential customer to choose them over the competition is no easy task, and especially when the competition already has the account. Finally, How to Get Your Competition Fired shows readers a proven system for breaking the relationship between the competition and the customer. Randy Schwantz's method, The Wedge(r), includes a six-step plan that drives a "wedge" between the competition and the customer. He shows how to reveal the competition's shortcomings without seeming to, letting prospects decide independently to dump their current provider, exclude other competitors and, finally, switch to the salesperson's product or service. Offering real tactics, not just theory, this is the only sales strategy that really works to break the relationship between customers and the competition and bring in more business, faster than ever.
Randy Schwantz (Dallas, TX) is a leading authority and expert on the sales process. A highly successful sales professional, he is a nationally respected sales trainer, author, sales coach, consultant, and public speaker. Randy is President and CEO of The Wedge Group, whose clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Randy Schwantz | | Hardcover: | 224 pages | | Publisher: | Wiley | | Publication Date: | January 21, 2005 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 0471703117 | | Package Length: | 9.1 inches | | Package Width: | 6.3 inches | | Package Height: | 0.9 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.85 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 21 reviews |
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| | Features | ISBN13: 9780471703112Condition: NewNotes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed
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 You, Your Prospect & Your Competition - Unselling The Competition Jun 26, 2010
How To Get Your Competition Fired advances the idea of The Wedge, a sales methodology that not only takes the prospect into consideration, but also places an emphasis on the need to deal with existing incumbent or in-progress competitive pressures. Randy Schwantz honed his sales skills in the insurance industry; however, one cannot see why the ideas and scripts in his book would not apply to other industries. Speaking of scripts, Schwantz is adamant early on that he will offer concrete and tangible examples, which he fulfils.
The Wedge, therefore, focuses on dislodging the competition or dethroning the current provider. The difference, however, is the book's emphasis that the process should happen at the customer's own volition. As the seller drives the process and executes the script, the customer is driven to ask for the seller's goods or services. It is a risky proposition - claiming that a regimented and scripted approach applies universally - but there is much to conceptually like here.
The book's core premise is that consultative selling is limited in scope with its emphasis of a two-way dynamic in sales, namely that of the buyer and the seller. The situation, this book emphasizes, is more akin to a triangle. Competition exists and ignoring it, or not giving it equal consideration, is not clever. Good point.
The first step for a seller is to know his competitive advantage. With competition possibilities on price or product being unlikely or limited the emphasis falls upon service, of which the author insists on the proactive kind, which the customer currently does not see from its provider. As such, the demonstration of the differentiator begins now even before a sale has been agreed to. It is time to showcase what the possibilities are, what is not currently being delivered and what the opportunity cost of staying with the current provider is. In the comparison game, the contrast is amplified when the prospect sees the gap between service currently offered and what could be. This is partly why a direct criticism of the competition is ill-advised. The emphasis, again, is on allowing the customer to connect the dots independently. The big question is how to get the prospect to feel negatively towards the current provider? The answer flows from the pro-active service possibility and vision that the seller helps create. The customers need to know that they are under-served. Once this vision is initiated, the pain is leveraged as The Wedge. The possibility of getting the pain to go away forms the reason why the customer will begin to believe it is time for a change. This is facilitated through giving the customer control and predictability. How? First, by conducting extensive pre-sales research. Asking question is next, but one must beware of customers fudging on the truth or not being able to articulate their pain. Much of the emphasis here goes towards knowing the competition and the type of experience it is providing the coveted customer. This is where the suggested script comes into play.
Armed with this information the book recommends pivoting this information into a picture of a pro-active service including allowing the prospect to draw (imagine) a picture of your superior service. The Wedge aims to allow the customer to have a picture in mind, feel the pain of missing the superb service and thus expecting it and soon asking for it. As a psychological concept pain avoidance is a bigger motivator than seeking pleasure and therefore without felt pain there is little chance of a win.
The research before the direct interaction includes: 1- our strengths versus the competitors, 2- our weakness versus the competition's strength and 3- our strengths versus the competition's weaknesses. It is with number three that ensures one a win.
The Wedge Sales Calls has the following steps including example scripts, which follow the research and making the customer feel comfortable with you:
1- Picture Perfect (where the customer is to draw a mental picture). "I'm curious. When you receive (name of service) so that you don't have to worry about (the pain), are you comfortable with the process?"
2- Take Away (where the rosy picture you drew of your service is yanked away - in line with the above-mentioned supremacy of pain avoidance). "Well, perhaps it's not that important because (give any reason)." You repeatedly tell the customer that you are momentarily setting each issue aside as it is not very important.
3- Vision Box (allow the customer to tell you). "In regard to (area of concern), what would you like to see happen?"
4- Replay (emphasis). "Here's what I'm hearing you say you want (repeating what the prospect said in Vision Box). Have I got that right?"
5- White Flag (the customer is now saying it). "So what would you like me to do?" In this section delivering a proposal is not enough and should be refused as a stand-alone next step. For the proposal to be accepted the customer must be willing to fire the competition. Hence, see the next step.
6- Rehearsal. "That's the easy part (referring to the delivery of a proposal). May we talk about the hard part? How will you tell your other rep that it's over?" That is, would the customer actual deliver the bad news to the competition should the proposal be acceptable. The book suggests being upfront about the difficulty of delivering a bad news to the competitors. The rehearsal is important because the competition will attempt to play defensive and match your offer. "Are you comfortable with everything? So it's done. Great. I'll go to work," Only now will you, in fact, draw up a proposal.
The book does deliver on the tangible aspect of its technique and believes in a regimented approach. However, this strength can easily also be a weakness for obvious reasons. Moreover, while discussing the book's negatives, the reader will notice a fair amount of postponement and stretching of material and pages before the book delves into the meat of the matter. Nonetheless, the build-up is not irrelevant. Each chapter offers a succinct summary as well and the book includes an index.
How to Get Your Competition Fired (Without Saying Anything Bad About Them): Using The Wedge to Increase Your Sales is different, interesting and possibly more concrete in its content than the average sales book.
 One great idea, several ok, and the rest filler again and again Nov 15, 2009
I had heard a few really good things about this book. Unfortunately it was like watching the trailers for a mediocre movie on TV and then going to the movies - you know the rest, all the good stuff was seen in the 30 second preview.
Being fair though, there is a point or two that makes a lot of sense - perhaps even an ah-ha moment. However, you'll get all you need out of this book in the first half. The second half of the book really disappoints in that we have the same items repeated over and over again. Did I say the second half of the book has the same items repeated over and over again?
 Randy Schwantz has definitely helped redefine our sales strategy within our business Aug 27, 2008
It's more than what your grandmother told you..."if you can't say anything nice about anyone, then don't say anything at all..." Randy's book helped us focus on our business strengths during the sales process and how best to communicate those to a potential customer. We now include a "Proactive Timeline" in all of our proposal materials.
If you think outside the box Jun 07, 2008
you may find gold!
I bought this book, at the suggestion of a study group partner, to help in my business - a unique and complex family office practice where our differences are difficult to articulate succinctly. Not so difficult any more!
Yesterday I used principles from the book to counsel a young woman starting a consulting business in the defense area. This morning it was help to a missionary to Russia to figure out how to differentiate his ministry with pastors who may choose to support him or many, many others.
For our organization this was the missing link.
1 of 2 found the following review helpful:
Teaches you to work smarter not harder without the cliche's Jan 22, 2007
This book blew open my old beliefs on selling with it's basic premise. Simple, but powerful. You are not just selling to your customer. You are also selling against the current provider. I had never considered the incumbant provider as part of my sales process. I had always thought of them as a nuisance that I hoped would go away. Not anymore.
In my experience, sales books like this one rarely deliver much of substance to the seasoned salesperson. They usually use catchy titles and then fill the pages with a lot of re-cycled fluff and hype. This book showed me in living color that there is another way of doing things that will increase my income and quality of life...if I open up my mind to it and give it a try. (BTW I have given it a try and it works.) The method suggested is backed up with statistics, examples, a pursuasive argument for questioning the old way of doing things and a road map to follow.
Another refreshing first for me when it comes to sales books....this one did not overpromise - Made very clear that sales is still sales. There's no magic bullett or get rich quick way to do it. The Wedge is better, it's not fool's gold.
Motivated me and gave me specific actions to take. I came away from the book knowing that I could put a plan based on this book into place for the coming year. I also felt well supported, knowing that I could contact The Wedge organization if I wanted more training or clarification of the process....but I didn't feel like the point of the book was to sell me on more training.
Bottom Line: There is enough here for the do it yourselfer and ample other resources available for those who want a more comprehensive understanding of the The Wedge method or want the kind of training that will really get you or your organization moving in a new, more profitable, direction fast.
Great Ending - I loved the note to the buyer at the end. Great perspective shift. Great way of disarming the buyer as "the enemy" which is how they must feel sometimes when dealing with sellers.
This book is an easy read. It's well written, motivates you by opening up your perspectives on selling in new ways, and stays away from wild promises and Used Car Saleman hype. It re-ignited my passion for selling and gave me solid advice for getting more productive as a salesperson. A great resource that I refer back to a lot. Again, rare for a sales book in my case.
I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to get their numbers up.
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