Ryan Dohrn shows how to compete against a dishonest rival without slinging mud. Use a two-column comparison sheet with checkmarks and Xs to highlight what sets you apart, then deflect competitor lies by sharing your client results instead of arguing back.
Questions this video answers
Do not engage in mud‑slinging; instead create a two‑column comparison sheet highlighting your strengths versus the competitor's gaps, use deflection to acknowledge client concerns without detailed rebuttals, pivot to social proof and client success stories, and reserve direct attacks for situations where an accurate, apples‑to‑apples comparison is necessary.
Chapters
Hey friends and fans, Ryan Dohrn here answering your listener questions sent in to ryan@ryandohrn.com. And keep those sales and marketing questions coming, always happy to answer those for you. All right, Robin from Florida's got a great question. Hey Ryan, I've got a competitor that tends to lie all the time. We've all been down that road. What do I do about a liar? So Robin, a couple things for you. One is I don't get into the gutter and sling mud. If it's going to be a situation where you got to fight fire with fire, sometimes you have to do that, but I just think mudslinging is not good for anybody. Now, sometimes you will need to create what I like to call a comparison sheet. So a comparison sheet will have basically 2 columns. One column is what you do, one column is what they do. Maybe what you do is represented in green checkmarks, what they're not doing is represented in red. Just keep in mind when you're making statements about competition, you know, just remember they could potentially use that against you. If what you're saying is not exactly accurate. Now, if the competitor is lying and your advertiser, your client, is asking you about it, one of the nicest and easiest ways to handle that, in my opinion, is simply to say, thanks so much for sharing that with me. I'm really not at liberty to get into a lot of detail about what it is that they do or they don't do, but what I can do is tell you what my clients are telling me about how the success that they're having. So in the real world, it's called deflection. So it's really like not answering, but giving some type of answer. And then what I would do is try to spin off of a competitor's attack, and I would spin back to my clients and use social proof as a way to prove your points, you know, going forward. But if you need to fight, you know, and get on there and slug a little bit, I guess that's okay. But I just find that I don't get very far. And I don't go there very fast when I get into this head-to-head with competitors. Now, keep in mind, Robin, if they're trying to make an apples-to-apples comparison and it's more like an apples-to-steak comparison, make sure that you're showing your differentiating factors. And you can do that in a polite and positive way. All right, Robin, good luck down in Florida. All right, keep your questions coming, ryan@ryandohrn.com. And if you need me to come and speak at your national sales meeting, always happy to do that. Reach out to me over at ryandohrn.com. All right, friends, never forget, if sales was easy, Everybody be doing it, and they're not. We're not crazy. This is a great career. It'll feed your family for a lifetime. All right, take care.
