20  / SEEDWORLD.COM  OCTOBER 2026
PEOPLE-POWERED LEADERSHIP
The Biggest Reason Customers Buy is NOT the 
Reason They Choose You
A COMPANY BROUGHT us in because they had a 
sales problem.
Their sales numbers were trending in the wrong 
direction. I heard three of their four salespeople say 
some version of: “We’ve got too much competition. 
They’re bigger than us/have more salespeople/can 
offer better incentives. We can’t compete.”
The leadership team wanted to know what needed 
to change. Messaging? Sales process? Product posi­
tioning? Training? Pricing?
But there was one exception. One salesperson was 
doing exceptionally well. While others struggled, he kept 
winning business. Before deciding what is broken, find 
the thing that isn’t. I jumped into his Chevy to see what 
happened when he stood across from a customer.
The salesperson’s conversation with his customer 
included some talk about products, performance, price 
and availability. BUT the salesperson kept asking ques­
tions: What happened last year? What was changing 
in the customer’s business model? Where was the cus­
tomer uncertain, frustrated or struggling? What was he 
worried about getting wrong? Our sales star knew the 
products well, but wasn’t interested in talking about 
them until he understood the customer’s situation.
Then something notable happened. The customer 
was leaning toward an option that would have meant 
a larger sale. The salesperson talked him out of it, 
explaining why another option better suited the cus­
tomer’s goals, even though it meant less revenue for 
his company.
The customer looked at me and said, “And that’s 
why I ONLY deal with him.”
There it was: a competitive advantage. In his case, 
it was relationship, service and trust. He wasn’t win­
ning because he was better at selling the product. He 
was winning because the customer trusted him to help 
make the right decision.
Too often, salespeople are sent into the field with 
an expensive truck, a cellphone and a product guide 
after receiving product training and access to a CRM 
that wasn’t previously maintained. We expect them to 
follow a rigorous sales process, but if they don’t have 
one, how will they succeed?
BY SHAWN BROOK
Seed World Group 
President
Competitive advantage can take many forms. A 
company can win because it has unmatched local 
knowledge, a unique distribution model, proprietary 
genetics, faster access to new technology, exceptional 
production capabilities or an ability to solve a particular 
problem better than anyone else. The important thing 
is knowing what yours is. That’s a distinction I see com­
panies miss all the time.
A farmer buys corn seed because a farmer wants to 
grow corn. That is the reason for the purchase. It is not, 
however, the reason the farmer buys from you.
Companies confuse the reason customers need 
their category with the reason customers choose to 
buy from them. Seed companies talk about seed. 
Accounting firms talk about accuracy. Software com­
panies talk about efficiency. All of it may be true. None 
of it answers the question that matters most: Why you?
If your answer to “Why should customers choose 
us?” could be used by every competitor, you have a 
description of your industry, but you do not have a dif­
ferentiator.
Your core offering must perform. But while quality 
and reliability earn a customer’s consideration, they do 
not necessarily earn the sale. We consistently see that 
the reason a customer chooses a vendor may repre­
sent only a fraction of the value you provide. Yet when 
several companies offer good products, that fraction 
can become decisive.
Stop asking: “Why do customers need what we 
sell?” The more useful question is: “Once they decide 
to buy a product from the marketplace we compete in, 
what makes them specifically choose us?”
Here’s the most notable tip. A company may barely 
notice its advantage because it is how its best people 
work. The challenge is recognizing why it works, deter­
mining whether customers value it and making it inten­
tional and repeatable. That difference must shape the 
business. A difference claimed in advertising is posi­
tioning. A difference reinforced through hiring, training, 
investment and daily decisions is strategy.
Your core offering gives customers a reason to 
enter the market. Your competitive advantage gives 
them a reason to choose you. Do you know yours? SW

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