50 Words and phrases to ghost competitors

Building confidence in your solution and casting doubt on a competitor’s solution is one of the best ways to influence a customer to select your solution. In the proposal industry, we call that method ghosting the competition.

The next time you want to ghost a competitor consider using one of the following 50 words and phrases.

Words

1. Deficiency
2. Disbelief
3. Doubt
4. Dubious
5. Flag
6. Lack of faith
7. Lack of confidence
8. Low confidence
9. Low recruitment
10. Low retention
11. Low value
12. High risk
13. Misgivings
14. Misguided
15. Mitigation
16. Qualms
17. Question
18. Query
19. Reservation
20. Skeptical
21. Suspicion
22. Unbelievable
23. Uncertainty
24. Waver
25. Weakness

Phrases

1. All things considered, you might [fill in the blank]
2. Based on industry data, that approach has potential weaknesses because [fill in the blank]
3. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, [fill in the blank]
4. Having faith in that approach might be mistaken, because [fill in the blank]
5. High-risk solutions include [fill in the blank], because [fill in the blank]
6. I would doubt, that [fill in the blank]
7. In our experience that approach creates a weakness, because [fill in the blank]
8. Industry data shows that solution is not viable because [fill in the blank]
9. It’s hard to believe that based on industry evidence [fill in the blank]
10. Rebadging is a high-risk solution in today’s competitive job market because [fill in the blank]
11. That approach would cause one to question if [fill in the blank}
12. That raises a red flag, because [fill in the blank]
13. We doubt that because [fill in the blank]
14. We thought that too, but the evidence shows [fill in the blank]
15. What’s missing in that approach is the following [fill in the blank]
16. You may be considering that option, but [fill in the blank]
17. You may be skeptical of [fill in the blank]
18. You may have misgivings if [fill in the blank]
19. You may have qualms (or reservations) about the approach to [fill in the blank]
20. You may have room for doubt, because [fill in the blank]
21. You may take that approach with a grain of salt because [fill in the blank]
22. That approach brings into question [fill in the blank]
23. You might have second thoughts if [fill in the blank]
24. We considered that approach too, but [fill in the blank]
25. We found that approach to be high risk, because [fill in the blank]

By Brenda Crist, Vice President at Lohfeld Consulting Group, MPA, CPP APMP Fellow

Lohfeld Consulting Group has proven results specializing in helping companies create winning captures and proposals.
As the premier capture and proposal services consulting firm focused exclusively on government markets, we provide expert assistance to government contractors in Go-to-Market Strategy, Capture Planning and Strategy, Proposal Management and Writing, Capture and Proposal Process and Infrastructure, and Training. In the last 3 years, we’ve supported over 550 proposals winning more than $170B for our clients—including the Top 10 government contractors. Lohfeld Consulting Group is your “go-to” capture and proposal source! Start winning by contacting us at www.lohfeldconsulting.com and join us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

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