The New Power Base Selling: Master The Politics, Create Unexpected Value and Higher Margins, and Outsmart the Competition

The Overconfident Supplier

Some established suppliers within accounts essentially “fall asleep” from time to time. This usually occurs when a seller thinks that he or she owns an account and develops a false sense of confidence and security. These sellers may neglect the account to such a point that the customer doesn’t feel that they are committed to supporting them—and that they might be taking their business for granted. There could even be enough minor issues to prompt the customer individuals to forget all the good work that the seller has done, thereby shifting their focus to the difficulties. However, sellers often miss this, for a couple of reasons:

1. They may feel that the customer is operationally locked in and unable to switch suppliers for whatever reason.

2. Many tend to hear what they want to hear and therefore become unknowingly insensitive to developing problems.

Whatever the cause, this condition provides an opportunity for a competitor to challenge the installed base. Let’s say that you are that competitor and that the installed base consists of high-speed, high-capacity core routers resident within a telecommunications company or service provider. At the same time that the installed supplier is becoming a bit complacent, a new need for smarter edge routers emerges. Normally, this would be a shoo-in for the incumbent. But things could be different this time.

You launch your campaign with an intel-gathering effort that suggests the following:

• You have an ...