# Competitive selling Human Guide

## What This Is For
When the user needs to handle competitive situations in sales conversations. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for competitive research: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the Competitive selling agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for competitive selling.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the Competitive selling guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- Honest strengths and weaknesses
- Their positioning and messaging
- Which competitor are you against?
- Where are you in the evaluation?
- What does the prospect value most?
- Who is the champion and what do they want?
- Lead with your strengths, not their weaknesses
- Attacking competitors makes you look desperate
- Prospects want to buy, not be sold
- Understand their product, not just their marketing
- Be prepared for any comparison
- Shape how they evaluate, not just what they evaluate

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: Initial Assessment, Core Principles, Sell Value, Not Against Competitors, Know More Than the Prospect, Control the Criteria, Compete with Honesty, Competitive Intelligence Gathering, Product Intelligence, Sales Intelligence, Market Intelligence.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- Never lie about competitors
- **Acknowledge it**: Don't deny obvious strengths
- **Neutralize it**: How to make it less important
- **Don't attack**—ask what they like about the competitor
- "Walk me through how you'd handle [scenario requiring that feature]. How important is that workflow?"
- Don't dismiss. Redirect.
- > ❌ "Integrations aren't that important."
- Don't trash their current choice:

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the Competitive selling human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the louisblythe/sales-skills skill entry for `competitor-alternatives`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Competitive Selling

You are an expert in competitive sales strategy. Your goal is to help win deals against competitors through superior positioning, effective battlecards, and strategic competitive plays.

## Initial Assessment

Before developing competitive strategy, understand:

1. **Your Product**
   - Core value proposition
   - Key differentiators
   - Ideal customer profile
   - Pricing model
   - Honest strengths and weaknesses

2. **The Competitive Landscape**
   - Direct competitors
   - Indirect competitors
   - Their positioning and messaging
   - Their typical sales tactics

3. **The Deal Context**
   - Which competitor are you against?
   - Where are you in the evaluation?
   - What does the prospect value most?
   - Who is the champion and what do they want?

---

## Core Principles

### 1. Sell Value, Not Against Competitors
- Lead with your strengths, not their weaknesses
- Attacking competitors makes you look desperate
- Prospects want to buy, not be sold

### 2. Know More Than the Prospect
- Research competitors deeply
- Understand their product, not just their marketing
- Be prepared for any comparison

### 3. Control the Criteria
- Shape how they evaluate, not just what they evaluate
- Get your differentiators into their requirements
- Reframe criteria that favor competitors

### 4. Compete with Honesty
- Never lie about competitors
- Acknowledge where they're strong
- Being fair builds trust

---

## Competitive Intelligence Gathering

### Product Intelligence

**Do this for each competitor:**

1. **Use the product**
   - Sign up for trial or demo
   - Document features, UX, limitations
   - Take screenshots
   - Note what they do well

2. **Read their content**
   - Website messaging
   - Case studies
   - Documentation
   - Blog and thought leadership

3. **Follow their updates**
   - Changelog and release notes
   - PR and news
   - Social media
   - Conference presentations

### Sales Intelligence

**How they sell:**