Drive Sales By Constantly Shopping the Competition

You can’t effectively shift market share (steal business) business if you don’t clearly know what you're up against. For example, imagine how surprised you’d be to learn that a recently hired NFL coach never looked at film of the opposing teams. As another example, if you owned stock in Domino's, and you learned that the company’s top management never ordered from Pizza Hut, you might be tempted to quickly sell that stock.

The best place to start shopping the competition is with the three competitors you know you’ve lost business to in the past. Quickly become a regular. Kick the tires and observe every aspect of their business that touches customers. Many successful companies assign one key staff member to each major competitor. Doing so ensures that useful sales and marketing intelligence will be gathered regularly. You’ll learn that most of your competitors have at least one vulnerable spot that you can spotlight in your own marketing to steal their customers. In addition, spend time talking with your key suppliers. They probably service each of your direct competitors, and may provide valuable insight you would not get by just kicking the tires.To hear Bill Todd's audio "Power shots of Sales" log onto http://www.btodd.com