"Dropping Landmines” A Subtle Way to Highlight Your Product’s Unique Edge

Read time: 4 minutes

Welcome to the Succession newsletter where 650+ life science sales reps improve their skills in 5 minutes per week. If you’re getting value from these newsletters, we'd love it if you could forward it along to your sales colleagues. If you’re new here, subscribe below.

Introduction

We recently ran a training session, and one element that resonated with the audience and that they were keen to try out was dropping landmines!

So, I want to share a method sometimes called “dropping landmines,” a strategy for helping your prospects see why your offering stands out without directly criticizing the competition.

Think of it as guiding them to discover potential shortcomings in alternative technologies/products without criticizing competitors while maintaining a positive, professional tone and positioning yourself as a subject matter expert.

If we are all honest with ourselves, all alternative solutions to ours have positives and negatives. As Reps, our job is to highlight where we are positive and the better option! 

What Does “Dropping Landmines” Mean?

In simple terms, “dropping landmines” means positioning your product’s advantages so that the customer naturally questions whether other solutions meet the same standards. You’re not openly calling out your competitors’ flaws; you’re highlighting key industry pitfalls and showing that your product successfully avoids them.

Why Use It?

1. Maintain Professionalism
   Openly trashing the competition can backfire, and customers usually prefer buying from a vendor who focuses on the positives. This method allows you to emphasize what you do right.
   

2. Encourage Self-Discovery
   When prospects come to their own realizations, they trust those insights more. By pointing out “common challenges” in the market and explaining how your solution overcomes them, you help buyers see the value for themselves.
   

3. Protect Your Credibility
   Rather than claiming a specific competitor fails at “XYZ,” you simply mention that some solutions may struggle with “XYZ.” This keeps you clear of confrontation, while still showing you’re informed about industry issues.
   

How to Use It (Professionally)

1. Lead with Your Strengths
   Before referencing potential pitfalls, ensure your solution’s advantages are crystal clear. For instance: “Our reagents remain stable at a wide range of temperatures, ensuring reliable results even in variable lab conditions.”
   

2. Cite Common Pain Points in the Market
   If you know certain products are prone to hidden fees or require overly complex setups, talk about those pitfalls in broad terms: “One challenge labs often face is unexpected service charges after implementation.”
   

3. Ask Open-Ended Questions
   Instead of directly stating a competitor’s weakness, pose questions like: “Have you considered how post-installation support would impact you? This can be critical for long-term success.”
   

4. Offer Evidence
   Once you’ve introduced these points, be ready with case studies, data, or references demonstrating how your product excels in areas where others might fall short.
   

An Example

Imagine you’re introducing a new cell culture medium:

• Step 1: Emphasize a unique strength: “Our media maintains thermostable reagents, meaning they do not degrade in the incubator, which means happier cells and no weekend feeding needed.”
  

• Step 2: Reference a pitfall: “media with poor thermostability, key components degrade in the incubator, forcing more frequent feedings and creating fluctuating nutrient levels. As a result, cells experience inconsistent nutrient availability, which can negatively impact their growth rate and overall culture stability.”
  

• Step 3: The buyer realizes that products without proven stability could pose a risk, and they have to come in at weekends to feed cells. You haven’t named names, but you’ve highlighted a major concern—and how your product avoids it.
  

Fun Exercise

Imagine you’re the competition’s rep for a moment. Which “landmines” would you drop about your own product or service? Those potential weaknesses are exactly what you need to address when you’re positioning your solution—either by reframing them as positives or, if that’s not possible, by preparing a strong objection-handling strategy.

Wrapping Up

Using “landmines” isn’t about being underhanded, it’s about focusing on the real-world gaps that might affect your customer’s success. When you address those gaps proactively and show how your product or service resolves them, you position yourself as a knowledgeable, helpful resource, and that’s what real sales relationships are built on.

Now, not only have you positioned your product as the optimal solution and your competition as insufficient, but you have also made yourself a subject matter expert with knowledge and a valuable resource to the client.

An additional upside is that clients always take the meeting from valuable reps like this!

Let me know how you get on with this tactic.

Apple Podcast | Spotify | YouTube

Episode: How to leverage scientific content in your sales process with Dan Sheridan

• Takeaways go here

1. Lead Generation: We’ll build target lists, write scientifically relevant messaging, and send messages on your behalf to book qualified sales meetings with biotech and pharma companies.

2. Training for Reps: A skill development platform for life science sales reps who want to improve their sales skills, exceed their quota, and take the next step in their career.

3. Training for Teams: If you want to upskill your team around prospecting, driving to close, key account management, AI, or any other topic, we can put together a training plan specific to your organization’s needs.

4. Strategy Call: Need more than training? Want help implementing and executing your sales strategy? In a 30-minute call, we will assess your company’s current situation and identify growth opportunities.