Your real competitor is a spreadsheet
Ask what customers would do if you didn’t exist. That’s who you’re actually competing with.
Your comparison page lines you up against three funded startups. Meanwhile, your actual prospect is doing the job in Google Sheets and wondering whether switching is worth the hassle at all.
Positioning consultant April Dunford, author of Obviously Awesome, says to think in “competitive alternatives,” not competitors. Her question: what would a customer do if your offering didn’t exist? Often the honest answer is “do nothing,” which really means sticking with a spreadsheet, a manual process or an intern. That status quo is a serious rival. She says enterprise software companies typically lose 20% to 30% of deals to “no decision.”
Ask your last five customers what they used before you. Then rewrite your pitch around why you beat that, specifically. “Better than Competitor X” means nothing to someone who has never heard of Competitor X.
The example
- Instead of
- “Unlike other project tools, we have AI-powered Gantt charts”
- Try
- “Still tracking client deadlines in a spreadsheet? See every one on a single screen, with no formulas to break.”
Before you flush
Ask three customers what they used before your product, then rewrite your headline to beat that alternative instead of a competitor.