Skill: Competitive Battle Cards
What This Skill Does
Builds per-competitor battle cards that give sales reps instant, confident responses when a competitor is named mid-deal. Each battle card contains: where you win, where they win, how to reframe the comparison, specific displacement scripts, landmines to plant early, and what never to say. Designed for use in real conversations — short, direct, and immediately usable. A rep who knows their competitive position closes more deals and loses fewer to FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt).
When to Use
- A prospect names a competitor on a discovery call and you need a response
- You're in a competitive evaluation and need to know how to differentiate without sounding defensive
- A prospect says "we're also talking to [Competitor]" and your rep freezes
- You want to train a new sales hire on the competitive landscape quickly
- You're losing deals to the same competitor repeatedly and want to understand why
- You want to plant landmines early in discovery that disqualify competitors before they're even mentioned
Inputs Required
Before running this skill, ask the user for:
- Competitor name(s) — which competitor(s) to build cards for (up to 3 per run for quality)
- Your product/service — what do you sell, and what's the core value proposition?
- ICP reminder — who is your ideal customer? (title, industry, size, pain)
- Known win/loss patterns — where do you typically win against this competitor? Where do you typically lose? Even rough impressions are useful.
- Prospect source — where did you hear about the competitor in this deal? (prospect mentioned it, LinkedIn research, RFP, mutual customer)
- Deal stage — is the competitor being evaluated simultaneously, or is the prospect currently using the competitor and considering switching?
- Any known competitor strengths — what do prospects say they like about the competitor? What does the competitor say about themselves?
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1 — Build the Competitive Profile
Research and document each competitor's public position:
Their stated positioning: What do they claim to be the best at? What language do they use on their website, in case studies, in sales conversations?
Their typical buyer: What size company, what title, what industry buys from them most? How do they differ from your ICP?
Their business model: Pricing model (seat-based, usage, flat), implementation complexity, support model, contract length norms.
Their known weaknesses (public signals):
- G2/Capterra reviews mentioning frustrations
- Common complaints in community forums or Reddit threads
- Churn patterns or customer complaints surfaced in prospect conversations
- Implementation horror stories or support complaints
- Pricing opacity or surprise costs at renewal
Recent changes to watch:
- Funding rounds (more aggressive sales, may cut corners on service)
- Leadership changes (instability, culture shift)
- Acquisition (integration risk, roadmap uncertainty)
- Price increases or model changes
- Customer wins or losses that signal direction
Step 2 — Build the Where-You-Win / Where-They-Win Matrix
Be honest. A battle card that claims you win on everything is useless and trains reps to be arrogant. A good battle card acknowledges where the competitor is strong — and arms reps to handle it.
Where You Win (your genuine advantages): List 4–6 areas where you consistently beat this competitor based on deal data, customer feedback, and product reality. For each advantage, state:
- The advantage
- The proof point (customer quote, metric, case study)
- The question to ask that surfaces it as a priority for the prospect
Where They Win (their genuine advantages): List 2–4 areas where the competitor has a real advantage. For each:
- Acknowledge it honestly
- Provide the reframe — how you neutralize or contextualize the weakness
- What not to say (responses that make you look defensive or weak)
Format:
| Area | You Win | They Win | Reframe | |---|---|---|---| | Implementation speed | | | | | Pricing transparency | | | | | Enterprise integrations | | | | | Customer support | | | | | Product depth in [specific feature] | | | |
Step 3 — Write the Displacement Scripts
Write word-for-word scripts for the three most common competitive moments:
Scenario A — "We're also evaluating [Competitor]" Goal: Acknowledge without panic, differentiate without disparaging, plant a landmine question.
Template: "[Competitor] is a solid option — I'd expect them to be in any evaluation like this. The main thing I'd suggest looking at closely is [specific landmine question that reveals their weakness]. Most companies at your stage find that [their weakness] becomes a real issue around [milestone or scale point]. When you're doing your evaluation, it might be worth asking them specifically about [that point]. We can show you how we handle it."
Scenario B — "We already use [Competitor] and we're happy with them" Goal: Respect the relationship, identify the crack, position as an upgrade — not a replacement.
Template: "That makes sense — they're well-established. A lot of the companies we work with came from [Competitor]. Can I ask — what's working well for you with them right now? [Listen.] And is there anything where you've hit a ceiling or wished it could do more? [Listen.] The reason I ask is that most teams we talk to are happy with [Competitor] up to a certain point — usually around [the scale or use case where they break down]. If that's not an issue for you, then great. But if [that problem] is something you're starting to feel, it might be worth a 30-minute conversation to see if the timing makes sense."
Scenario C — "Why should we choose you over [Competitor]?" Goal: Give a clean, confident, non-defensive answer that reframes the comparison.
Template: "The honest answer is: it depends on what matters most to you. If [their primary strength] is the top priority and you don't need [your differentiator], they might be the better fit. Where we consistently win is when [your ideal use case] is the priority — specifically [your 3 clearest differentiators]. For teams like yours, that tends to matter a lot because [their specific context]. The best way to find out is to run a quick side-by-side on [the specific capability that matters most to them]."
Step 4 — Plant the Landmines Early
Landmines are questions you ask early in the sales process — before the competitor is even mentioned — that make the prospect think critically about the competitor's weaknesses when they eventually meet them.
For each competitor, write 2–3 landmine questions:
Landmine format: "When you're evaluating solutions like this, how important is [the thing the competitor is weak at]? Have you seen situations where [their weakness] caused issues?"
Example landmines against a competitor known for poor support:
- "How critical is it that you have access to a dedicated support person — not just a ticket queue — when you're in the middle of a live situation?"
- "Have you ever been in a situation where something broke during a key business period and support was hard to reach? What was the impact?"
- "When you're this far into a buying process, how do you evaluate whether a vendor's post-sale support matches their pre-sale promises?"
Once the prospect has answered these questions, they'll ask the competitor about it in their own evaluation — and will evaluate the answer through the lens of the concern you surfaced.
Step 5 — Define What Not to Say
Every battle card must include a list of phrases to avoid. These are things that make reps look afraid, arrogant, or unprofessional — and they lose deals.
Universal "never say" rules:
- Never say the competitor's name more than once in a response — repeating it elevates them
- Never say "we're better than [Competitor]" — prospects distrust self-comparison claims