So, you’ve done a ton of competitive intelligence research for your healthcare company and you want to make sales battlecards. But what information should you put on them? Exactly what goes on sales battlecards?
Competitor Claims
On each competitor’s battlecard, you want to list their strongest claims. These are the arguments they make that give them an edge. It may be about their 24/7 remote monitoring coverage or their security infrastructure. It may be about the ease with which they help you find billing codes. Whatever they are, your sales team needs to know, so they can be prepared.
You can put as many claims as you want on each battlecard but, to start, I’d stick with the top ones. These are the claims they make the most often and that have the strongest pull with prospects.
Counterpoints
Once your sales team has each competitor’s claims, they are going to need to know how to counter them. That’s why your battlecards should also list counterpoints. If your competitor talks about their 24/7 remote monitoring coverage, you might want to counter with data on how quick your response is, even on weekends and holidays.
You don’t always want to be playing defense, so it pays to think of counter-arguments that also steer the prospect in a new direction.
“How to Spot Them” Clues
Sometimes competitors have a “tell.” This is a clue that helps you know which competitor your prospect is talking to. For instance, you may know that one of your competitors leads with their software while the others emphasize their clinical service. So if your prospect starts peppering you with questions about software, you have a strong clue as to who else is pitching them.
The beauty of these clues is that they tell you who else is in the mix. And the more you know in a sales deal, the better.
Seed Questions
Your best bet with a prospect is to steer them towards your company’s unique value proposition. When you do that, you start playing on your home field. Your battlecards should list seed questions that give you that home field advantage.
Seed questions are designed to get your prospects thinking. For instance, if your strength is in your clinical expertise, you can ask them how important is it to them to have MDs involved with remote monitoring. If your strength is your platform’s uptime, you can ask them what would happen if they chose a platform that crashed frequently.
Landmines to Lay
One step beyond seed questions are landmines. Think of these as pointed seed questions because they are designed to put an element of doubt in your prospect’s mind.
For instance, if your competition says they make billing easier and you know they frequently miss several codes for a range of diagnoses, then you can turn that into a landmine. You can tell your prospect what codes your platform gives for a range of diagnoses. Then, suggest they ask the other vendors they are considering to show them what codes their platform gives. Landmines are very useful because, when used correctly, they let the data speak for you.
Make Strong Sales Battlecards
Add these five elements to your sales battlecards to help your team understand your competitors. They will provide insights into how your competitors think and give clear responses that your sales reps can use to steer a deal to a successful close.
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