How asking one question can add to your list of Guerrilla Marketing Weapons.

When you implement your Guerrilla Marketing Attack, you select a group of weapons to use. The list of 100 weapons covers a wide variety of industries, so chances are there will be some that are not applicable to your industry. Over the months as the attack progresses, the weapons used are graded A-F; and as the ones with the grade of F are thrown out, your list becomes shorter and more powerful. There may be weapons you have used in the past that you have added to the list.  The list of weapons is dynamic and patiently nurtured and perfected to make it more and more powerful. As you throw out the ones that don’t work, there is a simple way to replace them with weapons that do work, compliments of your competitors! This can be done with one simple question.

When you or anyone in your organization are talking to a prospect that is happy working with your competitor, ask:  “What do you like best about working with XYZ Company?”  You need to recognize that they are happy working with your competitor and you are not going to win them away. Say something nice about your competitor to put them at ease and ask the question in a very casual manner, just out of curiosity. Keep them in a non-defensive and casual mood and they may elaborate on the answer.

You probably won’t come away with a new customer at that moment, but you probably will get some great ideas for new weapons that have been proven effective. Your competitor may have a different format for a newsletter, a unique way of staying in contact, a different approach to training and educating their customers. It also may be as simple as an easy, cost effective way to make their customer feel very special. 

So, remember when you are talking with anyone who is happy working with a supplier ask, “What do you like best about working with…”