How to Get Your Competition Fired (Without Saying Anything Bad About Them): Using The Wedge to Increase Your Sales [Hardcover]

Randy Schwantz (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 21, 2005

A six-step plan for driving a wedge between the competition and the customer
For sales people, convincing a potential customer to choose them over the competition is no easy task, and especially when the competition already has the account. Finally, How to Get Your Competition Fired shows readers a proven system for breaking the relationship between the competition and the customer. Randy Schwantz's method, The Wedge(r), includes a six-step plan that drives a "wedge" between the competition and the customer. He shows how to reveal the competition's shortcomings without seeming to, letting prospects decide independently to dump their current provider, exclude other competitors and, finally, switch to the salesperson's product or service. Offering real tactics, not just theory, this is the only sales strategy that really works to break the relationship between customers and the competition and bring in more business, faster than ever.
Randy Schwantz (Dallas, TX) is a leading authority and expert on the sales process. A highly successful sales professional, he is a nationally respected sales trainer, author, sales coach, consultant, and public speaker. Randy is President and CEO of The Wedge Group, whose clients include Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Traditional sales methods focus on the relationship between the salesperson and his or her prospect; the problem is that someone probably already has the account and the advantage of the last look. Schwantz, president and CEO of the Wedge Group, formulated a selling system that tackles the challenge of breaking the prospect's relationship with the current provider. He presents a series of questions that allow clients to reveal current dissatisfactions while you remain neutral. The goal is to prompt the prospect to come up with solutions and invite you to solve them, rather than the other way around. The Wedge addresses a delicate question, which is key to succeeding: If you really want me to be your new rep, how are you going to handle firing your old one? According to Schwantz, if you are confident that the prospect is willing to fire your competition, you've most likely won the account. Because it is a nonintuitive way of selling, implementing it will involve some discomfort at first. David Siegfried
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Review

Next time you sit down for a sales presentation with a new prospect, realize that a third party is looking over your shoulder: your competition. How can you get rid of them? Sales consultant Randy Schwantz provides an answer in How to Get Your Competition Fired (Without Saying Anything Bad About Them). Schwantz's sales process, which he dubs "The Wedge," promises to reliably unseat entrenched suppliers and make their customers yours. Starting with proposing an ideal picture your competition is unlikely to meet, Schwantz reveals a subtle yet simple process for getting prospects to practically demand to buy from you. (Entrepreneur Magazine, May 2005)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (January 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471703117
• ISBN-13: 978-0471703112
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #279,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only for those who are intent on moving up., February 22, 2006

By 

Allen Wilson (Houston, Tx USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Get Your Competition Fired (Without Saying Anything Bad About Them): Using The Wedge to Increase Your Sales (Hardcover)

If you are practitioner of Commercial Property and Casualty Insurance or are in any way exposed to the sales side of it, this is a must-read book. I would go so far to say that if you are in any industry where in order to get new business, you must unseat an incumbent, this is a must-read book.

Many books related to sales are highly complex thought exercises that have not been tested in the real world. Some of the nuance is appreciated because I have actually successfully performed at this job in the insurance business for the past 25+ years.

Randy Schwantz's comprehensive approach to dealing with the harsh realities of competition is most refreshing. Most specifically, I am impressed with how the Wedge technique deals directly with unseating the competition. Also notable are the questioning techniques and the methods by which Randy gets strategic information about both you and the incumbent into the discussion without being an attack dog. I have sporadically used my own versions of a few of Randy's techniques for years but am thrilled to see how Randy pulls it all together for us.

This is an excellent tactical level how-to book; my copy is already dog-eared and highlighted throughout.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Fluff overload, September 6, 2006

By 

Matthew J. Adams (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Get Your Competition Fired (Without Saying Anything Bad About Them): Using The Wedge to Increase Your Sales (Hardcover)

I confess that I made a mistake buying this book at an airport on a whim without reading any reviews online. I've read several books on selling, and this one is the worst, mostly because it's very diluted with filler material that adds no value but makes the book look sizeable.

The idea of the book is create a 'wedge' between you and your competition by having a proactive sales / support strategy. While this idea sounds nice, at the end of the day this 224 page book's only real content to "get your competition fired" is a set of six fill in the blank questions that you can, "apply to any sales opportunity"

This book is fluff, plain & simple. Don't waste your time.

13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST READ for Financial Advisors, May 14, 2005

By 

Michael W. Peterson "Financial Planner" (Chambersburg, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Get Your Competition Fired (Without Saying Anything Bad About Them): Using The Wedge to Increase Your Sales (Hardcover)

This is, by far, the most powerful book I've ever read on marketing - as it relates to my profession as a financial planner. However, I would think this book would easily translate for anyone in the service industry.

How to Get Your Competition Fired realizes and addresses a problem most books on marketing don't. That is the fact that in most cases; your prospect is already dealing with your competition. Many of the books on marketing I've read through the years neglect this one detail; but it's an important detail.

In my profession, almost all of my clients were dealing with another financial planner before working with me. After readign Randy's book, I've found it much easier to cast myself in a more favorable light, show prospects how I deliver better service with greater value, and then - most importantly - how to prepare them to leave their present advisor.

Many of you in the servie industry probably have run into the situation where you find a prospect who you can help. Your competition has not been providing very good service. The prospect tells you they are ready to come on board. Then, the next call you get is to tell you that they are staying with your competition.

If many of your prospective clients are currently dealing with your competition, you can't afford to miss reading this book!