With software solutions becoming more popular and even AI helping to augment the efforts of software engineers, the SaaS market has become crowded with competitors.
Many of your potential leads may already use another solution, so it’s important to know how to win customers from competitors to make headway in the market. We’ll talk about a few ways you can approach this, which include knowing the minute differences that set your service apart and diving into customer data.
Key Takeaways:
Narrow down popular competitors and dive into their products to gather intel.
Collect data from your customers on what you do best.
Outreach to competitors’ customers and highlight existing pain points plus what you do better.
Winning Customers From Competitors in a Nutshell
To win new customers from your competitors, you have to identify the most popular competitors to analyze.
Then, take a good look at their service offering and see how it differs from yours. Consult your own customers to find out what they like about your product, and analyze competitor reviews to find their weak spots.
When you’re ready to do outreach, use specific cases from top competitors to contrast with your benefits. This shows the prospect you’ve done your homework and that you empathize with their struggles or provide unique value.
Find the Right Competitors
There may be dozens or hundreds of competitors in your niche, but chances are there are a few popular options. If you have a CRM platform, for example, you aren’t going to analyze hundreds and hundreds of competitors. You’ll drill down into the top few, like SalesForce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. A simple Google search can reveal top competitors in many areas.
However, finding the most popular platforms your potential customers are using can take some work. One way to do this is to open up LinkedIn.
Spend some time looking at the profiles of your ideal audience. If they’re managers or C-suite executives, there’s a good chance they note what technologies they’ve implemented in their profile. Solutions that pop up frequently are good ones to analyze.
You can also look at LinkedIn job listings for roles that would use your type of technology. These job postings often include lists of software systems the candidates should be familiar with.
Research Those Competitors From the Inside Out
The next step is to do a deep dive into the top competitors in your niche. Analyzing customer reviews is important, and doing so gives you insight into customer pain points with the technology. But don’t stop there.
Consider doing a free trial or paying for a month to get into the platform’s features. When you do outreach to your competitor’s customers, you should know how the platform works and even what it’s good for.
Then, you can talk about drawbacks with more authority. You can say you’ve used the software and thought it was great for one reason but thought another thing was too limiting, for example.
Uncover Your Unique Benefits With Customer Data
Having researched competitors, take a good look at your own platform. Engage deeply with customer feedback and conduct a thorough market evaluation. Pay attention to the specific ways in which customers find your product to be a unique solution to their challenges.
By actively participating in user discussions, you often uncover valuable insights about the practical benefits of your product that competitors may overlook. Once you’ve found these distinctive advantages, tailor your sales messaging to emphasize them.
No two software platforms are 100% alike. You’re bound to find something you do better than the competition. Things that might help you stand out can include:
Better customer support
Unique capabilities
Better value for the money
Better customer satisfaction with the user interface
Focus on conveying how these benefits address customer issues rather than simply listing product features.
Tackle Customer Issues
After pinpointing the standout aspects of your product, it's important to clarify how these aspects specifically tackle the issues your customers encounter with existing options.
Dive into their difficulties, showing a strong grasp of what they're up against. Illustrate this understanding with instances where your offerings have effectively dealt with similar hurdles, making your argument more relatable and persuasive.
Craft your outreach to blend empathy and proof, alongside a compelling invitation to act, ensuring it's relevant and tailored to address their specific problems.
Combine It All in Outreach
The last piece to winning customers from competitors is to reach out to them. You have to let them know you exist, and individual outreach is one of the best ways to do so. We recommend using email automation with advanced personalization - this allows you to build personal connections at scale with hardly any effort.
Start your email on a personal note, indicating that you've researched their needs. Remember, by this point, you’ve walked in their shoes and know how your solution compares to the competition.
Acknowledge the strengths of other options they might be considering, but then steer towards the shortcomings—areas where your recipient could get better value from your service.
Your email should outline these challenges succinctly and show how your solution is tailored to address them. Conclude with a clear call to action, encouraging a dialogue about their current obstacles or a meeting to explore solutions.
Here are a few examples:
Worth a conversation, or no?
Can you confirm with a yes/no if this a pain point you currently experience?
Would you mind if I sent you a short video to explain how this may help?
Would you be open to a high-level call to learn more?
Check out more CTA ideas: 100+ Examples Of Cold Email Call To Actions
Use QuickMail To Win Clients From Your Competitors
In the competitive business world, one of the best ways to grow your business and win clients from competitors is by leveraging a tool like QuickMail.
QuickMail can be instrumental in attracting new customers by automating personalized outreach, which makes potential customers feel valued. It can also help in keeping your existing customers engaged by providing regular updates on products and services, which can build customer loyalty.
To stand out from the competition, it's important to offer something unique that provides better value. QuickMail allows for segmenting your customer base and targeting your customers with specific messages that highlight how your product or service can better meet their needs compared to competitors.
Plus, QuickMail's analytics can help you understand the potency of your digital marketing efforts, allowing you to refine and stay ahead of your competitors.
Combining the strategies we’ve discussed with QuickMail, you can attract customers, grow your customer base, and secure new business.
With some diligence, it’s fully possible to win customers from competitors. Your competitors probably have enough customers, anyway, don’t you think?
Click below to try QuickMail for free and start winning more customers.