All of us in Business Development have to face competitive pressures, and we need to choose our strategy carefully. Unfortunately, many of us don't.

The most common competitive strategies we use include:


Head to head - where we compete on an even playing field against a competitor
Change the ground rules - where we try to change the basis of comparison to our favor
Divide and conquer - where we try to win a small piece of the business in the short-term, to help us win a bigger opportunity down the road
Delay - we use this when we are in a weak position and need to buy some time until factors change


In addition, many also consider sabotage as a viable strategy. Using this strategy, we (or our coaches) place traps for our competitors to strengthen our own position.

All of these strategies have a time and a place where they can be effective, yet most people rely almost solely on the first option - competing on a head to head basis. On the surface this makes sense, as that is what the customer's buying process is trying to get us to do. However, there are times when this is not a good strategy (e.g. maybe we are the value leader and the client is emphasizing low price). Some people feel that in order to use this approach, we should have a clear two-to-one advantage over our competitor. That sets the bar pretty high!

This is another area where breaking the rules, or changing the ground rules, can have a big impact. There are a number of ways we can do this, including:


Getting to senior-level decision makers
Involving our own senior-level executives
Moving from an apples-to-apples comparison to an apples-to-oranges comparison
Positioning the solution fit and business fit we bring to the table



Submitting multiple responses to an opportunity - one that meets their specs and one that more significantly impacts their business


Changing the rules can involve risks, but it can also have big rewards.