Have you been asked how your product differs from competitors?
Seen quite a few founders struggling with this recently, so thought I'd share a simple rule of thumb here.
When someone asks...
"how are you different from competitor X?"
What they're really asking is...
"how will my life be better using your product instead of competitor X?"
#growth
Great point.
I'd add that there's a common instinct to answer the question about how you compare by talking about all of the things the competiton does wrong.
Instead, I try to answer the question by asking a question about the prospective customer's problems, and then use their answer to draw a clear path to show them how well we address the problem.
I don't really spend ANY time talking about the competition, and instead put the spotlight on the customer's problems and then use that to frame how well we understand them and will help them.
How do you reframe question? If you are explicitly asked you don't answer?
There's a difference between dodging the question, and refining the question before you answer it.
In my experience, only 1-2 out of 100 people REALLY want you to prove something to them, and there's a very very very high correlation between that line of questioning and people who will never buy no matter what you say. So part of the key is learning when someone is asking you to prove yourself "for sport" and calmly, politely ignoring it.
The rest of the time - easily 99x out of 100 - the person asking the question is really just asking a surface-level question and there's a better question hiding underneath (which is @louisswiss's point in the original post here).
In that case, it's better to "catch" their question with a clarifying question that focuses on them, their situation, their needs. If someone ACTUALLY wants help, they'll usually respond very positively to being asked clarifying questions that help you narrow in on how they perceive a problem.
If you can't narrow that down, you're going to struggle to persuade them anyway because you're basically pitching to a brick wall. But when you CAN narrow it down (like the ETZ example in the post I linked above), you're having a conversation about them that happens to guest-star your product/offering/etc.
Completely agree.
The easiest answer to say is also the hardest to come through on: You.
I'm definitely not an expert, but on the mid-scale, sometimes the company working with a client, their culture, brand and people, can make a huge differentiator. It's one of the worst aspect of many 'hyper-scale' tech companies today and one of the things small founders can truly capitalise on.
How will this product/service improve my life if I apply them in my life?
[ User + Product = Super User ]
This is a question I get regularly for Codemason since it's in such a competitive field
And so on... I've ended up just adding it as a FAQ on the pricing page now.
I used to firmly agree with not even mentioning a competitor if you could avoid it but recently I've decided to experiment...
I'm trying to break into a market with a lot of established competitors and alternatives, so I've started to wonder if introducing the elephant in the room works better than avoiding it.
Like I said, still an experiment at the moment but have to say it does feel good to just say it how it is and be more candid about it
Ultimately, I don't think it's so much about what exact features you have that your competitor doesn't but what your business is focused on that your competitors aren't.
So in my case:
Codemason vs AWS: Developer experience. AWS amazingly powerful but also is an overcomplicated intimidating nightmare.
Codemason vs Heroku: Lock-in and cost. Heroku is incredible but you're stuck using their servers and they really start to ratchet up the costs once you're running.
Both of those scenarios contain things that we're focused on that they aren't (comparing focuses not features). And people who would disagree usually wouldn't fall into the target customer category (too skilled, don't need us or cashed up and don't need us)
Yes, true.
But often, what I tell myself is that my target is not, or at least not now, the customers of my competitors.
My target is people that are not yet the customers of my competitors.
In the beginning, I don't believe that your product has to be so good that people switch solution.
You "just" have to arrive first in front of your target eyes.
Hey @louisswiss , great question!
I've been asked not that long ago through a call with a friend how my product LocalChef.fr differs from my only one serious competitor in France?
The answer I provided was that we connect directly the food trucks to the companies / clients / individuals or festival organisator instead of being an intermediary person / company. We are also free on this feature.
While that’s great, it’s also a you-focused thing not customer focused (unless I’m missing something). Is it better for them that you do that? If so, that benefit is what you message.
@dohertyjf Good point.
The benefits from the customer point of view is the transparency on the communication with the other party, and a better user experience (which lead to saving time for managing the reservation of your food truck). And also money because we are free :)
Does it sound more customer centric?
This comment was deleted 3 years ago