Researching AE Strategies for Handling Competitors in B2B Sales

Adam S. · 2025-04-30 19:43:47.260196+00

To all my B2B sellers - I'm researching how AEs handle competitors -- just 4 quick questions. Scenario: Prospect mentions a competitor you’ve vaguely heard of. 1. How long have you been with your company? 2. What do you do if this happens during a call? 3. What about over email? 4. If you had a magic wand, anything you wish you could do differently?

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Researching AE Strategies for Handling Competitors in B2B Sales | RevGenius

7 comments

Dave J.
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Agree with comments above. Never ever trash your competitors. Always speak nicely about them. One question I ask is: If you could change one thing about your current (company they use) what would you like to see changed? This opens up the conversation and gets them talking about whatever is their current concern.
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Jingcong Z.
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I am not an AE but I am selling (doing founder-led sales) in a noisy space. I like to ask questions to understand a prospects' needs and what they're looking to do -- that the competitor they mentioned do. I think it's completely okay that you don't immediately have good knowledge of that competitor; it's more important that you can clearly explain to a prospect what is your approach/solution philosophy and your point of view on how you can help them solve their problems --- and ask questions to the prospect to see if they align with your approach to solving their problem.
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royce h.
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Hope this helps
Adam S.
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For sure - appreciate the reply.
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royce h.
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I think these days you could ask GPT to analyze a competitor for you and get through a website faster. I'm the sales org where I am, so not pinging a colleague, but I am typically deflecting with a question. What do you like about them/their product? That is what really matters anyway. I'm not in product sales, so maybe it plays a bit different for those in product/SaaS, but if you ask good questions, even without a thorough understanding of the competitor you can get to what really matters and from there sound off on your value prop.
Adam S.
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For sure - do you also scan their website while on call, look at battlecards, ping a colleague, etc.?
royce h.
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**checks LinkedIn** nearly 3 years. If it happened on a call I typically say something along the lines of, oh year, I know them a little bit. It looks like they have some good folks over there. If they are not working with them I might ask them something like, they are an interesting brand, what stands out to you about them. Or if they are working together, ask them what they are doing together. Over email would be a similar situation. Not reacting negatively or badmouthing, if anything complimentary of the other team and inquire what they are doing. If you can find an edge of like "yeah they do a lot of X, but I didn't know they did anything with Y" and get the prospect to offer up areas where you can play, that helps.

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Dave J.
·
·
Agree with comments above. Never ever trash your competitors. Always speak nicely about them. One question I ask is: If you could change one thing about your current (company they use) what would you like to see changed? This opens up the conversation and gets them talking about whatever is their current concern.
👍1
Jingcong Z.
·
·
I am not an AE but I am selling (doing founder-led sales) in a noisy space. I like to ask questions to understand a prospects' needs and what they're looking to do -- that the competitor they mentioned do. I think it's completely okay that you don't immediately have good knowledge of that competitor; it's more important that you can clearly explain to a prospect what is your approach/solution philosophy and your point of view on how you can help them solve their problems --- and ask questions to the prospect to see if they align with your approach to solving their problem.
✅1
royce h.
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·
Hope this helps
Adam S.
·
·
For sure - appreciate the reply.
✅1
royce h.
·
·
I think these days you could ask GPT to analyze a competitor for you and get through a website faster. I'm the sales org where I am, so not pinging a colleague, but I am typically deflecting with a question. What do you like about them/their product? That is what really matters anyway. I'm not in product sales, so maybe it plays a bit different for those in product/SaaS, but if you ask good questions, even without a thorough understanding of the competitor you can get to what really matters and from there sound off on your value prop.
Adam S.
·
·
For sure - do you also scan their website while on call, look at battlecards, ping a colleague, etc.?
royce h.
·
·
**checks LinkedIn** nearly 3 years. If it happened on a call I typically say something along the lines of, oh year, I know them a little bit. It looks like they have some good folks over there. If they are not working with them I might ask them something like, they are an interesting brand, what stands out to you about them. Or if they are working together, ask them what they are doing together. Over email would be a similar situation. Not reacting negatively or badmouthing, if anything complimentary of the other team and inquire what they are doing. If you can find an edge of like "yeah they do a lot of X, but I didn't know they did anything with Y" and get the prospect to offer up areas where you can play, that helps.