You already have a sales strategy—whether you know it or not.
Being conscious of it matters because your tactics, messaging, and activities should flow from it. Understanding your strategy (and your competitor’s) lets you predict moves and stay ahead.
Three Core Sales Strategies
Borrowed from military strategy, adapted for sales:
- Frontal (Direct Attack)
When to use: You’re the strongest vendor in the market.
The play: Compete on strength and breadth. “Nobody gets fired buying from IBM.”
Messaging focus: Security, scale, proven track record, comprehensive capabilities.
Qualification: Do they value market leadership and robust offerings? No? Move on.
- Flanking
When to use: You’re not the biggest, but you have unique differentiation.
The play: Change the playing field to where you win. Don’t compete on features—compete on what only you offer.
Examples:
- Tesla didn’t compete on car features. They changed the conversation to electric.
- Steve Jobs: “We want to offer a better difference, not better sameness.”
Messaging focus: Your unique capabilities and why they matter more than traditional criteria.
Qualification: Do they see your differentiation as critical? No? Either convince them it is or qualify them out.
- Fragmented (Land & Expand)
When to use: You’re small with specialized capabilities.
The play: Dominate a niche too small for big players to care about. Be the absolute best at something specific.
Example: Earbuds for swimming. Apple and Jabra don’t play here—the market’s too small. Specialized vendors who emphasize water performance win.
Messaging focus: Hyper-specialized capabilities for a specific use case.
Strategy: Win the niche, build momentum, expand to adjacent markets.
Why This Matters
Strategic clarity drives everything:
✓ Which accounts to pursue
✓ What messaging to use
✓ How to qualify opportunities
✓ When you’ll likely close
Misalignment wastes resources. If you’re a small vendor messaging like IBM, or a market leader competing on niche features, you’re burning time and losing deals.
Understanding Competitor Strategy
Once you know their strategy, you can predict their moves:
- Frontal competitor? They’ll emphasize stability and breadth. Counter by highlighting agility and innovation.
- Flanking competitor? They’ll try to shift decision criteria. Reinforce why traditional requirements matter.
- Fragmented competitor? They’ll focus on specialization. Emphasize comprehensive capabilities if the customer needs more.
The Consistency Test
Ask yourself:
- Does my messaging align with my strategy?
- Am I qualifying opportunities based on my strategic strengths?
- Can I forecast timing based on how well prospects value what I uniquely offer?
If you’re executing consistently with your strategy, you should be able to judge both likelihood of winning and approximate timing.
Bottom line: Choose your strategy consciously. Execute it consistently. Or watch competitors who do beat you with inferior products.