Do not dodge it and do not claim you beat them everywhere, because the buyer knows you do not and you lose credibility instantly. Name the incumbent, concede the ground where they genuinely win, and then be very specific about the one situation where you win and they structurally cannot. Their size is the source of their weakness: they serve everyone, so they serve your buyer's exact case badly. Say that plainly, with one example, and let the buyer decide which case they are.
4 resources, 1 India-specific, 4 link-checked.
Splits competitors into the hordes, the giants and the ghosts and gives a different move for each. The giants section is the practical answer to being compared to an incumbent on every call.
From The Marketing Meetup by April Dunford 15 min read
Open themarketingmeetup.com →Makes the distinction between competitors and competitive alternatives, and points out that the status quo wins roughly one deal in four. That reframe changes which comparison you should actually be fighting.
From aprildunford.com by April Dunford 8 min read
The founder's own account of entering an existing category (help desk) against Zendesk rather than inventing a new one, and winning on price and simplicity for SMBs. The clearest India example of segment choice beating category invention.
From Freshworks by Girish Mathrubootham 9 min read
April Dunford walks through how to handle the big competitor in front of a buyer: name them, concede the ground they genuinely own, then be precise about the one case where you win. It turns positioning theory into words you can say out loud on a first call.
On April Dunford by April Dunford 30 min
How category design reads from a different seat.
The same ground, over in Brand, web & content, our Starting Up track.
The same ground, over in Find your idea & build the brand, our D2C track.
