Sales experts at SaaStr emphasize a simple but overlooked question that can help vendors win customers from competitors: "What would it take for you to move over to us? What problem could we completely, 100% solve for you, so you'd switch?" This approach highlights that switching costs and risks often outweigh marginal product improvements, making direct customer input crucial in sales strategies, according to saastr.com.
The article explains that most sales reps, CROs, and CEOs avoid asking this direct question. Instead, they rely on competitive battlecards, product comparisons, or generic outreach messages that focus on their own strengths rather than the customer's pain points. These tactics fail to address the real barriers to switching, such as migration challenges, retraining teams, contract buyouts, and internal politics tied to the incumbent vendor, saastr.com notes.
This insight matters because vendors often assume being 20% better than a competitor is enough to win business. However, customers rarely switch unless their current solution is actively broken and the vendor refuses to fix it. Understanding the specific problems that would compel a customer to change providers can help sales teams tailor their approach and overcome the hidden costs and risks of vendor migration, saastr.com highlights.
SaaStr's advice underscores that the key to stealing customers lies in asking the right question directly and listening carefully to the answer. This method can yield specific, actionable feedback that goes beyond surface-level comparisons and addresses the true obstacles to switching vendors, saastr.com concludes.