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…to support our flank, it must be absolutely impassible, such as a large river or lake.” Clausewitz writes extensively about terrain and how to use it to your advantage in a battle. In our language, the obstacle for the incumbent competitor would be the shelter of a trusted relationship that you develop with a key executive. If someone likes and trusts you, it represents a strong barrier to being pushed away by other executives who are loyal to an incumbent. This means you must cultivate a relationship—even more than in other cases—to underpin the ultimate sale. If no-one feels a personal connection to you and your solution, you’ll be easily dislodged. Energetic Follow Up : “ (We must) follow up our successes with the utmost energy .” On the first project or engagement, you have to do a great job and even exceed expectations. Your client has to receive validation of their decision to hire you, especially since they may have been under pressure not to.
Look for trigger events. There are a number of circumstances that will make it easier to break in. These could include things such as: A conflict of interest with an existing provider, who has to withdraw from a transaction or project Executive changes Reorganizations Economic events or shocks Turnover or retirements at the competition A service or quality failure on the part of your competition If you are making a cold call, develop a tailored approach that aligns with one of the client’s key goals . To quote a senior executive I recently interviewed: “People who are trying to get an appointment with me leave voice messages and send emails all the time—but I ignore most of them. They leave general messages like, “We have an interesting solution that we’d like to show you,” but that doesn’t get my attention. But something like this does: “We have a tested solution that can help you dramatically improve you ability to implement stronger risk controls. It’s currently being used by Microsoft, GE, and Google.” Try to identify something small or non-threatening (to the incumbent) that you can work on . As I mentioned, if in order to hire you a client has to dump an existing advisor with whom it has a good relationship, your chances of success are very small. Invest to earn the client’s trust and respect. The incumbent has the advantage and you’re probably going to have to go above and beyond in terms of making an up-front investment in understanding the client’s issues and organization, and building their trust. If something goes wrong with their relationship with your competitor, they will reach towards someone else they already trust—and that should be you . Identify executives in the client organization who are not as loyal to the other provider . You’ll certainly be able to capture the attention and interest of these executives more easily, potentially dividing and conquering. Earn share of mind: emphasize innovation and new ideas . Clients are always looking for fresh perspectives, and they will usually not let an existing relationship get in the way of at least listening to someone else’s good ideas. Develop a contrarian position about one of their important issues, and you’ll most likely get a hearing. And remember, to get share of wallet you need to first win some share of mind! Be patient and persistent. It may take many visits and many conversations over a long period of time—months or even a year or two—to find the right opening. Stay in touch so you are there when your opportunity comes up. This applies to any new business development situation, but even more so when there is a major, established competitor. You have to be there when “the dam breaks” so to speak. Pick your shots. It takes investment, so be selective about investing your time, and focus on opportunities where the potential payoff is highest.
Helpful Tactics
We’ve learned some key strategic principles from von Clausewitz. Now let’s briefly review some tactics that will help you break into an incumbent.
Look on the bright side. When a client has an established relationship with your competition, it means that: the client has a need for your services; they are used to using external providers in your market; and, they value a long-term relationship. These are all strong positives.
In other words, there’s plenty of honey in the beehive—you just have to romance the bees and get by the bear who is guarding it!