In Sales, David Often Beats Goliath
An entrepreneur friend of mine was recently complaining to me that he found it difficult to compete against giant firms in his industry. He should have taken heart, though, because scientific research reveals that in many human enterprises, the smaller competitor beats the massively larger competitor a surprising amount of the time. The secret is surprisingly simple...
A fascinating article in the current issue of the New Yorker magazine cites, among other example of David/Goliath conflict, a study of wars fought between countries with at least ten times the population and armed might as the enemy.
You'd think that the "Goliath" country would always pound the "David" country into submission. Not so. In fact, the much smaller country won the armed conflict almost a third of the time.
The smaller countries didn't just imitate the strategies of the larger countries, though. Instead, they found ways to "change the game" so that the conflict would be winnable on their own terms.
And the same thing is very much true in sales.
According to the article, the strategy that works for underdogs is "substituting effort for ability." The larger competitor always has more "ability" -- more manpower, deeper pockets, broader deployment. What the smaller competitor needs is the moxie to outflank the competition.
Example: suppose you're a sales rep, working for a startup, and competing for a multi-million dollar deal. Your competitor is a giant firm, with a team of five reps, all busily working through the prospect's buying process.
There are many ways to approach this challenge, but I would probably figure out a way to meet the company's CEO in an entirely social context. I would find out the name of his wife, find out what charities she sponsors (or something along those lines) and look for an event where his wife would probably drag her husband. And then I'd buttonhole him and pique his interest.
It might not work, but if it did, I'd likely have the inside track. Certainly its not something that the big firm would try. Too risky.
By the way, that strategy worked for me when I was landing CEO interviews for my first serious business book. The official PR channels were too busy setting up interview with big name journalists to bother with little ol' me, so I found a charity event -- and paid $500 for a ticket -- and landed interviews with three top high tech CEOs.
The lesson is clear: don't EVER be discouraged just because you work for a smaller organization. Remember: the fact that you're small gives you the flexibility to use your skills and business acumen in new and creative ways.
And that's lots more fun than following a big-company sales process.
READERS: How would YOU handle the situation of being a single rep from a start-up selling against a team from a big firm?