Alter the Buyer’s Beliefs about the Competitor’s Offering. For a variety of reasons,
buyers often mistakenly believe that a competitor’s offering has higher level
attributes or qualities than it actually does. In such an instance, the salesperson can
provide information to evidence a more accurate picture of the competitor’s
attributes. This has been referred to as competitive depositioning and is carried
out by openly comparing (not simply degrading) the competing offering’s
attributes, advantages, and weaknesses. As an illustration, the BondIt salesperson
might demonstrate the total cost for each of the three product alternatives,
including a quoted price, ease of application, and bonding time. BondIt is much
easier to apply and has a faster bonding time. Consequently, less of it needs to be
applied for each application, which results in a significantly lower total cost and a
much improved evaluation score