What is the first of three steps in the competitive sales process?

Question

Options

• ALearning about your customer
• BLearning how the competitor sells
• CThe competitor overview
• DDeveloping a game plan

• A
  89% (39)
• B
  2% (1)
• C
  7% (3)
• D
  2% (1)

Explanation

Learning about your customer (A) is the first step because you cannot compete effectively without first understanding who you're selling to - their needs, pain points, and decision-making criteria form the foundation of any competitive strategy.

Why the distractors are wrong:

• B (Learning how the competitor sells) comes after you understand your customer, since you need to know what the customer values before analyzing how a competitor appeals to them.
• C (The competitor overview) is a later analytical step - you review the competitor's strengths and weaknesses only after establishing customer context.
• D (Developing a game plan) is the final step, where you craft your strategy based on everything gathered in the earlier steps.

Memory tip: Think of it as "Customer → Competitor → Counter-plan." You always start with the customer because the entire competitive effort exists to win their business - they're the reason the process exists at all.

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