How to Win B2B Customers From Your Competitors

At the core of your business, you probably have an enticing value proposition. Perhaps you outperform your competitors in certain services. And you have plenty of raving clients that can vouch for your excellence.

So the question arises… Why don’t more of your competitors’ clients switch to your business?

Well, there’s something you might not have considered: barriers that get in the way of switching.

Prospects have to mentally, physically and financially switch over. From a tried-and-true solution… to you. And in many regards you’re a mysterious and unknown entity.

So, to entice prospects to your business, you need to understand how they engage with the idea of switching—what’s really going on in your prospective client’s head. And life. After all, perceptions drive purchases.

Fortunately, The Rewired Group has innovated a helpful framework known as the “Progress Making Forces.”

We’ll explore the four forces that influence brand-switching. If you want the prospect to say a grinning “Yes!” to you, you should amplify or reduce them accordingly.

Let’s unpack those forces.

Winning Competitors’ Customers: Forces That Work in Your Favor

1. Pushes away from your competitor

Some of your best prospects are the clients who don’t think your rival’s solution is working as well as it could be.

Opportunities for you:

• Find negative perceptions by reading your competitors’ online reviews. Note the most frequent complaints.
• Home in on those disappointments. Assert your superiority in comparison. You can namedrop your rivals or use more generalized implications. Regardless, your message should be, We won’t let you down like that.
• Back up your claims. Ask for quotes from clients who switched from a competitor to you. Your real switchers can convince the reluctant switchers. Such messages could resonate with an unhappy prospect and make them more likely to consider switching to you.

2. Pulls toward your solution

Chances are that your business is something new to your competitors’ customers. You’re unused. You’re mysterious. Presumably, you offer certain features/services they haven’t experienced. That can attract their curiosity—and even some good ol’ FOMO.

Opportunities for you:

• Help them picture the happier lives they can lead once they become your client. Use “future pacing” in your messages—get them to imagine what’s possible in their lives in the future. That is, tie your value to powerful outcomes in their work lives.
• Position your company as a cure to their pain points. Help them think, This service could do a better job of solving my nagging problems.
• Keep the transformations realistic. If you appear too good to be true, you can provoke skepticism, and even anxiety—in the form of your prospects’ believing that they’re not good enough for you. B2B marketing can be a psychological tightrope act!

Winning Competitors’ Customers: Forces That Work Against Your Favor

3. Anxieties around your solution

Even in B2B, many prospects are ridden with social and emotional worries that can get in the way of switching. After all, nobody wants to be the one who introduced a (pricey) solution to that didn’t work out and so now has to face the higher-ups.

Opportunities for you:

• Neutralize your prospects’ anxieties. But first discover what exactly those worries are.
• Research your current customers. Find out about their decision-making journey. Send out customer surveys and hold customer interviews. Ask: What other solutions did they consider? What (specifically) drew them to you? What were their biggest objections?
• The insights you glean from your research can be immensely valuable. Identify the most common objections and defuse them. That should be done throughout your marketing endeavors aimed at prospects.
• Let’s say a frequent anxiety is hesitancy around the quality of your service. Use social proof to demonstrate that you are indeed a top-quality service. Relevant quotes from your clients can help substantiate that.
• Keep concerns about switching at bay. You should particularly place social proof around calls to action.
• Want to make your solution appear less intimidating? Show your value in smaller, yet engaging, amounts. That could be a sample, a demo, or a “what to expect” process overview.
• If their colleagues like what they see, it may weaken the social aspect of your prospects’ anxieties. Hey, they can vouch for it, too! This has potential! That’s how you can remove some of the “friction” of switching.

4. Habits preventing them from making a switch

Prospects may be stuck to certain beliefs, delusions, and routines, or suffer from inertia even when they feel the “pushes” of the competitor’s solution.

For example, certain prospects may have developed close relationships with your competitor’s team. Some prospects might be mentally accustomed to beliefs that hinder open-mindedness: Management is never open to investing time, effort, and money into a new solution! Or they could be convinced that if they keep waiting… the Perfect Solution will just turn up one day.

Opportunities for you:

• Overpower ingrained habits with ambition. Show how you provide superior results for your clients vs. your competitors. Focus on relevant measurements of success, such as improved conversion rates and levels of customer satisfaction.
• Home in on the prospects’ biggest motivators (as shown in your research). Let’s say that many clients picked you due to your eco-friendly initiatives. Emphasize those values using real data, case studies, and certifications.
• Don’t speak only to surface-level propellants, such as cost-savings. Deepen your persuasion by weaving in emotion. Make this implication: Switch to us so you can finally let go of the frustrations experienced with [competitor].

Don’t overlook the importance of relevance, emotion, and motivation. They can all give prospects the incentive to switch.

Inspiring Your Prospects to Switch: Influence Their Narrative

Sure, you want to lure your competitors’ clients. But you may feel stuck in the position of waiting. Nevertheless, you can take action and increase your chances of persuading those prospects.

So, research your current customers. You’ll gain insights that could be useful throughout your marketing efforts.

Questions to ask:

• What are your clients’ motivators, and what are their pain points?
• What were their experiences like with your rivals?
• What anxieties did they have about your service?

Ultimately, your prospects form narratives about you. And those narratives directly inform the likelihood of switching.

But you’re in a position to assert some level of control over their perceptions. Focus on the obstacles keeping them away from you, and neutralize them.

Many prospects move back and forth, regarding switching. They’ll probably compare you to your competitors. So don’t be afraid to show your superiority. Help open-minded prospects to recognize your usefulness.

More Resources on How to Win Customers From Competitors

How to Beat the Competition With Market Intelligence on Content, Positioning, and Leads

Five Ways to Compete Against Low-Price Competitors

Three Paths for Surging Ahead of the Competition