Eat Their Lunch
We spend most of our time in a red ocean
We would for sure prefer discovering and building a Blue Ocean, unfortunately the most common situation is not this one.
Most of the time, our product or service, if not a commodity, is not enough to provide us the uniqueness we need to make the deal.
Most of us live and work in a red ocean.
The Four Levels of Value Creation
The market size is defined. If we gain a new client, somebody else will have to lose one. Our challenge here is to win customers away from our competition.
That’s the core topic Anthony Iannarino is exploring and addressing in his last book “Eat Their Lunch”.
The main assertion the author makes in the book is that there are 4 levels of value creation.
It can be summarized in the drawing below.
According to the fact that we are in a red ocean with multiple similar products or services in term of performances and quality (commodity), level 1 and 2 are clearly not enough in order to grow our market shares (being in a red ocean means that there is no space left and that our own growing is at the expenses of our competitors).
Most of the business happens today at level 3. We try to solve business problems for our customers and provide tangible results. It’s better, but not enough in order to close the deal and win customers away from the competition.
The solution resides at the level 4. We have to become a strategic partner. We have to act proactively in order to show our customers we understand their actual and future challenge and we know enough about them to contribute and build the best solution together.
Going from level 1 to level 4 is leaving super transactional for super relational. It’s becoming a trusted adviser instead of a supplier.
“You don’t win by focusing on your competition. What makes you a dangerous competitor is how you play the game.” — Anthony Iannarino, Eat Their Lunch
What does level 4 requires from us and how can we reach the status of “trusted adviser” ?
Capturing Mindshare
The main challenge is to capture their mindshare, which means owning a portion of our prospective client’s thinking.
Mindshare is the lens through which the client looks at their business, their challenges, and their opportunities.
By sharing insights and ideas with them in our expertise areas, we can shape their thinking and contribute to framing better outcomes together.
Being Proactive
It’s our responsibility to create the case for change and not to wait that our dream client is dissatisfied with our competitor.
Waiting and responding is a low level of value when it comes to commercial relationships.
A trusted adviser would do something before their client was harmed.
The client is buying YOU
A compelling reason to change requires a strategic outcome our competitor is not creating for the client.
It shifts the value proposition from the tangible results that our clients perceive as a commodity to the more strategic, future outcomes.
The intangibles are what compel change and differentiate us and our solution from our competitors, and we are individually responsible for those intangibles.
Improving the value proposition means improving the intangibles.
Ability to Lead
Being accountable for producing a better future state.
One of the primary question our dream client is considering when they choose to displace their current partner is whether they belive we will produce the better results we promise.
They want to know that we are going to move heaven and earth to produce the results. They want a partner, not someone who will disappear once the challenges will arise.
“Sales is leadership, and leadership is sales.” — Mark Hunter
Developing an informed opinion and a point of view
We are our dream client’s second brain.
As they are busy dealing with their daily business, we are the ones doing the hard work of reading, listenning and studying what’s going on in the world that may impact their business.
We are constantly looking for new insights and ideas that would keep them ahead of their competitors.
As a conclusion…
In a world that is increasingly concerned with transactions instead of relationships, the competitive advantage will go to those who invest in human relations, deep connections, and the serving of others human beings.
The great push in sales is to automate everything, especially prospecting. Because the B2C world is thriving on selling in “1 click”, B2B world would like to reduce the cost of acquisition by following the same model.
In a business where creating a preference to work with us is probably the single most significant determining factor of our success, it’s the human things that will make a difference and tilt the scale in our favor over any and all who do less.
