--- title: Why You Need to Know What Your Competitors Do | The Sales Blog description: "A salesperson asked me a question that sounded a lot like this: “Do I have to understand my competitors’ solutions to be able to sell effectively?”" image: https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/paper-clips.jpg --- ### [Now booking SKO meetings for 2026/27! 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Without knowing what they do, how they do it, and why they do it their way, differentiating is difficult at best, impossible at worst. You also [cannot be impartial](http://thesalesblog.com/2018/01/14/when-you-must-be-impartial-2) about the right solution and [disqualify clients](http://thesalesblog.com/2018/01/18/move-upstream/\).) that you can’t easily serve (Let’s look at how both of these ideas help you differentiate and gain trust.) By knowing what your competitors do, you can explain where they create value and who might be a good client for them. For example, if they have a low price model that is at quite the opposite of yours, you can point to the fact that if price is the dominate decision factor for your prospect, your competitor may be a better choice. If you can’t serve them, you can point them to someone with a lower price, and by doing so; preserve the relationship so that if they move upstream, you are the first person they call. Another reason to know what your competitors do is so you can suggest that in some cases they may be the right choice, but in other situations, where different outcomes are important, your solution is likely a better fit. By acknowledging that there are cases where their solution might be right, you create the opportunity to explore where yours is different, as well as explaining how and why you do things differently to produce the better result you do in the situations where you do produce better outcomes. Being willing to share the differences between what you do and what your competitor does, and where they create value that appeals to some people, you create trust and your honest candor makes it easy to believe you when you point to the areas where your solution is better. If you don’t know what your competitor does, you cannot easily differentiate your offering. If you can’t differentiate your offering, you sound like a commodity, you reveal that you are not a subject matter expert (and are really only an expert in your product), and you make it unlikely that you can hold the position of trusted counsel because you lack the advice that would be necessary to doing so. ###### Tags: [Sales](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/sales) [2018](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/tag/2018) Post by [Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/author/anthony-iannarino) on January 21, 2018 Written and edited by human brains and human hands. ![Anthony Iannarino](https://www.thesalesblog.com/hubfs/ai-blog-profile-crop.jpg) Anthony Iannarino is an American writer. He has published daily at [thesalesblog.com](https://www.thesalesblog.com) for more than 14 years, amassing over 5,300 articles and making this platform a destination for salespeople and sales leaders. Anthony is also the author of four best-selling books documenting modern sales methodologies and a fifth book for sales leaders seeking revenue growth. His latest book for an even wider audience is titled, The Negativity Fast: Proven Techniques to Increase Positivity, Reduce Fear, and Boost Success. Anthony speaks to sales organizations worldwide, delivering cutting-edge sales strategies and tactics that work in this ever-evolving B2B landscape. He also provides workshops and seminars. Connect with Anthony on LinkedIn, X or Youtube. 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What we’re doing right now **is working**, even in this challenging economy. **Would you like some help?** [![Solve for Sales](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/2922376/d3a4938b-2008-4a27-8b44-7b2223f6d035) ### Join my Weekly Newsletter for Sales Tips Join 100,000+ sales professionals in my weekly newsletter and get my *Guide to Becoming a Sales Hustler* eBook for FREE! --- ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org/", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Anthony Iannarino" }, "dateModified" : "2021-09-17T1:53:33 PM", "datePublished" : "2018-01-21 13:22:33", "description" : "A salesperson asked me a question that sounded a lot like this: “Do I have to understand my competitors’ solutions to be able to sell effectively?”", "headline" : "Why You Need to Know What Your Competitors Do", "image" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 16, "url" : "https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net/hubfs/2922376/Image/favicon.ico", "width" : 16 }, "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://www.thesalesblog.com/blog/why-you-need-to-know-what-your-competitors-do", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "name" : "Why You Need to Know What Your Competitors Do", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 24, "url" : "https://f.hubspotusercontent20.net/hubfs/2922376/TSB/images/TSB%20Logo%20Dark.svg", "width" : 228 }, "name" : "The Sales Blog" } } ```