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Over the years, I’ve worked with Founders and Sales leaders of many B2B companies.
During our sales consulting sessions with them, they come to me saying their sales team can’t differentiate their product/solution.
Their product/solutions have become a commodity (or are perceived as a commodity by their customers).
Customers only talk about price.
Sound familiar?
Here’s the thing – I always feel it’s management’s responsibility or the founder’s responsibility to find some unique differentiation in their product, service, or solution.
Let me show you exactly how to fix this.
How Can Differentiation Happen for a Commoditized Solution?
Okay, let’s assume you feel your solution is commoditized, and there’s no differentiation you can find.
What can you do in such scenarios?
1. Check With Your Long-Term Customers
You know what I tell every leader?
Start with your customers.
If you have long-term clients who’ve been with you for 5, 10, or even 15 years – there’s your gold mine.
Ask them one simple question: “Why are you still with us?”
There must be some reason the seller’s organization is not aware of, but the customer is aware of.
That’s why they’re still staying with you.
Here’s what usually happens:
- You think you’re just another vendor
- Your customers see something unique that you don’t
- Nobody from your organization has ever asked them
- They’ve never shared their real reasons
So go ask them.
2. Create Differentiation in Delivery
Can there be differentiation in the delivery service?
Think about:
- Timeline improvements
- Experience of delivery
- Consistency in execution
- Quality benchmarks
If you can’t beat them on what you’re selling, beat them on how you deliver it.
3. Create Differentiation Service Support
Can there be differentiation in terms of post-sales?
That’s the service support operational bit.
Areas to focus on:
- Response time to issues
- Quality of the support team
- Proactive problem solving
- Customer success programs
4. Create Differentiation on Financials
Can there be differentiation in terms of the financial aspects?
The commercial side.
For example:
- Payment terms – can you make it simpler for customers?
- Flexible payment models
- Risk-sharing partnerships
- Total cost of ownership advantages
5. Create Differentiation With a Focused ICP
If the above also cannot be differentiated, how about creating an absolutely focused customer segment
That’s your ICP – Ideal Customer Profile.
Here’s how it works:
Create an ICP so that your entire sales team remains laser-focused on that ICP.
When sales guys talk to customers, they’re able to talk with knowledge, expertise, insights about the industry best practices, and about that ICP.
This is where differentiation hopefully can happen.
6. Create Differentiation with “How You Sell”
If you still believe that there is absolutely no differentiation in any of the above aspects,
Then it’s not about what you’re selling.
It’s about how the sales guy is selling or how the seller’s organization is selling.
Let me give you examples:
Take IT services companies.
For standard services, you may not find much difference between TCS, Infosys, HCL.
Or Telecom companies.
For standard mobility services, you may not find much difference between Jio, Vodafone, Airtel.
So now it’s not about what you’re selling because what you’re selling, almost everybody’s able to provide.
Now, can we create differentiation on “how you’re selling”?
How Can Sales Reps Create Differentiation on “How They’re Selling”?
Let me go deeper into the “how you’re selling” part.
Here are the things sales reps need to fous on :
Know Their ICP Inside Out
- Are they very clear who’s my ideal customer profile?
- Do they understand the industry challenges?
- Can they speak the customer’s language?
Understand Buying Personas
- Are they clear who all are the key buying personas?
- What motivates each persona?
- What are their pain points?
Prepare for Every Meeting
- Do they go absolutely prepared for client meetings?
- Do they follow a meeting preparation checklist so nothing important is missed?
- Have they researched the customer’s business?
- Do they bring insights, not just presentations?
Build Credibility Continuously
Do they ask themselves post customer meeting: “Did my credibility go up or down or remain the same?”
Because credibility has to keep going up.
Every interaction should add value.
Understand Customer Motivators
- Do they take efforts to understand their decision influencers?
- Are they aware of the customer’s motivators?
- Are they able to connect their product, service, solution, their proposal to the customer’s motivators
Once your sales team focuses on these aspects, you’ll see it’s not about what you’re selling.
It’s about how you’re selling.
And eventually, with a lot of sales reps who remain focused on how they’re selling, I’ve seen it’s not about whether they want to sell.
It becomes the opposite.
The customer would like to buy from them.
Final Thoughts
Now, on a lighter note, if people say “There’s absolutely no differentiation.”
No differentiation even in the selling approach.
Nothing.
Then I would say it’s just a matter of time.
Eventually, the business will keep coming down.
This isn’t rocket science.
But it requires leadership.
It requires you to stop expecting your sales team to magically differentiate a commodity product.
