It’s 1965 and the Rolling Stones have joined the Beatles in the “British invasion” of rock groups.

The press compared the two frequently. An interviewer in Ireland tried his best to get Stones frontman Mick Jagger to fire a shot.

But it seems Mick had the journalist under his thumb. Check out this exchange:

Interviewer: How do you compare your group with the Beatles?

Mick Jagger: I don’t know. I don’t compare it at all, there’s no point.

Interviewer: Well, do you think you’re better than they are?

Mick Jagger: At what? It’s not the same group. We do what we want and they do what they want. You can prefer them to us or us to them. Interviewer: Do you feel you do what you want to do better than they do what they want to do? Mick Jagger: I don’t know. I don’t know what they want to do.

The ​short clip​ is worth a watch, if only for his insistence that he’s being “very diplomatic.” And the Jagger side-eyes:

Three questions in a row and each one dodged expertly—and accurately.

There’s no upside for Jagger to say the Stones are better than the Beatles. Not then, not now.

You can take a similar approach with your competition.

Are you better than they are?

At what? It’s not the same product.

Unless there’s a juggernaut in your space, it’s not very useful to lob shots at competitors who are peers. Instead, focus your energy to show you ​understand developer problems​ better.

The only way I’d stray from Mick’s approach is to explain the “we do what we want” part.

If you’re positioned well, it should be easier to say where you shine than where the competition stinks.

It also has the advantage of being “very diplomatic.”

And you just might find you’ll get what you need.