How to Get Your Competition Fired (Without Saying Anything Bad about Them): Using the Wedge to Increase Your Sales

by Randy Schwantz

Book Overview

A six-step plan for driving a wedge between the competition and the customer For sales people, convincing a potential customer to choose them over the competition is no easy task, and especially when the competition already has the account. Finally, How to Get Your Competition Fired shows readers a proven system for breaking the relationship between the competition and the customer. Randy Schwantz's method, The Wedge(r), includes a six-step plan that...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471703117
• ISBN13: 9780471703112
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 209 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Teaches you to work smarter not harder without the cliche's

This book blew open my old beliefs on selling with it's basic premise. Simple, but powerful. You are not just selling to your customer. You are also selling against the current provider. I had never considered the incumbant provider as part of my sales process. I had always thought of them as a nuisance that I hoped would go away. Not anymore. In my experience, sales books like this one rarely deliver much of substance to the seasoned salesperson. They usually use catchy titles and then fill the pages with a lot of re-cycled fluff and hype. This book showed me in living color that there is another way of doing things that will increase my income and quality of life...if I open up my mind to it and give it a try. (BTW I have given it a try and it works.) The method suggested is backed up with statistics, examples, a pursuasive argument for questioning the old way of doing things and a road map to follow. Another refreshing first for me when it comes to sales books....this one did not overpromise - Made very clear that sales is still sales. There's no magic bullett or get rich quick way to do it. The Wedge is better, it's not fool's gold. Motivated me and gave me specific actions to take. I came away from the book knowing that I could put a plan based on this book into place for the coming year. I also felt well supported, knowing that I could contact The Wedge organization if I wanted more training or clarification of the process....but I didn't feel like the point of the book was to sell me on more training. Bottom Line: There is enough here for the do it yourselfer and ample other resources available for those who want a more comprehensive understanding of the The Wedge method or want the kind of training that will really get you or your organization moving in a new, more profitable, direction fast. Great Ending - I loved the note to the buyer at the end. Great perspective shift. Great way of disarming the buyer as "the enemy" which is how they must feel sometimes when dealing with sellers. This book is an easy read. It's well written, motivates you by opening up your perspectives on selling in new ways, and stays away from wild promises and Used Car Saleman hype. It re-ignited my passion for selling and gave me solid advice for getting more productive as a salesperson. A great resource that I refer back to a lot. Again, rare for a sales book in my case. I strongly recommend it to anyone who wants to get their numbers up.

Excellent Book. Randy hits it dead on!!

I thought this would be another one of those old sales techniques made to work today, but that's not what this book is. The author has it dead right and explains how to get your competition fired without saying anything bad about them (thus the tiltle) in an awesome way. If you are in sales and your prospect has a current vendor or supplier this stuff really works. Try it and your business will increase. The book is an easy read and full of examples. All I can say is you have to read this book and you won't be disappointed.

How To Get Your Competition Fired ( without Saying Anything Bad about Them)

If have been in the insurance industry for 12 years, but have just recently switched to the sales side of insurance. I have read Randy's first book "The Wedge", attended his training class and have now read this book. They have all provided me with the knowledge and confidence to be successful in selling insurance. Randy helps seperate you from the competition. I feel anyone can walk into a business, get rejected, and then walk out. This book gives you a step by step process on making quality visits, instead of quanity. I am already starting to have successes and feel it will only get better as I become more comfortable with the process.

Only for those who are intent on moving up.

If you are practitioner of Commercial Property and Casualty Insurance or are in any way exposed to the sales side of it, this is a must-read book. I would go so far to say that if you are in any industry where in order to get new business, you must unseat an incumbent, this is a must-read book. Many books related to sales are highly complex thought exercises that have not been tested in the real world. Some of the nuance is appreciated because I have actually successfully performed at this job in the insurance business for the past 25+ years. Randy Schwantz's comprehensive approach to dealing with the harsh realities of competition is most refreshing. Most specifically, I am impressed with how the Wedge technique deals directly with unseating the competition. Also notable are the questioning techniques and the methods by which Randy gets strategic information about both you and the incumbent into the discussion without being an attack dog. I have sporadically used my own versions of a few of Randy's techniques for years but am thrilled to see how Randy pulls it all together for us. This is an excellent tactical level how-to book; my copy is already dog-eared and highlighted throughout.

A MUST READ for Financial Advisors

This is, by far, the most powerful book I've ever read on marketing - as it relates to my profession as a financial planner. However, I would think this book would easily translate for anyone in the service industry. How to Get Your Competition Fired realizes and addresses a problem most books on marketing don't. That is the fact that in most cases; your prospect is already dealing with your competition. Many of the books on marketing I've read through the years neglect this one detail; but it's an important detail. In my profession, almost all of my clients were dealing with another financial planner before working with me. After readign Randy's book, I've found it much easier to cast myself in a more favorable light, show prospects how I deliver better service with greater value, and then - most importantly - how to prepare them to leave their present advisor. Many of you in the servie industry probably have run into the situation where you find a prospect who you can help. Your competition has not been providing very good service. The prospect tells you they are ready to come on board. Then, the next call you get is to tell you that they are staying with your competition. If many of your prospective clients are currently dealing with your competition, you can't afford to miss reading this book!