When a salesperson mentions a competitor by name while trying to
sound better than them, but accidentally plants that competitor in the customer’s mind and sends them off to research them.
Competitor seeding is when you weaken your own pitch by defining yourself in relation to someone else. Instead of sounding like the obvious choice, you sound like a reaction.
In sales:
The moment you name the competitor, the buyer starts wondering:
• Who are they?
• Should I check them out?
• Why are you talking about them so much?
Better move:
Don’
t name the competitor.
Name the
gap.
“Most solutions in this category
don’
t include this, so teams end up paying for it separately. We built it in from the start.”
Bottom line:
If you name your competitor, you’re doing their advertising.
If you name the capability
gap, you’re doing your own positioning.
“Unlike Competitor
X, we include this feature.”
“Congrats. You just did Competitor
X’s marketing for
free. That’s competitor seeding!”
