Step Three - Competitive Analysis

Do you keep a list of your competitors? You should. I wouldn’t spend a ton of time analyzing your competitors but it’s important to know who else is talking to your clients and prospects and what they’re telling them.

This is as simple as making a list of the competitors you run into. You might hear their name from a client, you might get an email forwarded to you with a special offer on it or they may have a high level of exposure in your market.

Identify at least these attributes for each one. There may be other things that you want to track but these are the basics. Websites are a great source of information of course, you can also search LinkedIn for specific salespeople or company principals.

Company info - name, location, web address
Size - volume, number of reps, local market share
Marketing – selling statement, capabilities, strengths, weaknesses

Look your list over. How do you compare? How does the marketing statement you created in step one look in light of your competitor’s efforts? It may need to be tweaked a little if it’s too similar to everyone else.

What are your strengths and weaknesses and how do they line up with your competitors? Are there any obvious areas of Vernon strength that no one else is covering?

I remember a conversation I had with Dr. K, who was one of the most consistent top producers this company has had and a wizard at branding.

We were talking about some of the things he did to maintain his brand and his high level of sales. He told me he pushed the fact that we were a manufacturer with all of his clients and it was a key piece of his marketing message. I was kind of surprised. I always encouraging him to sell more of our exclusive products but never was able to change his behavior. I mistakenly thought the value of our manufacturing was in the products themselves but for Dr. K, it was all in the marketing. He pointed out to me that he really didn’t care if someone used our manufacturing capabilities or not. But talking about them gave him a powerful point of differentiation over all of his competition and it really resonated with his ideal clients.

What’s unique and special about you and your business? That’s what will make you stand out, especially with new prospects.