You've done everything possible to prepare yourself for a sales appointment with a valuable prospect. You know all about their business and the offering being presented, and most importantly, how your offering will add value to their business. You have materials ready, you have rehearsed the sales presentation, thought through potential questions and answers, and as always have a few possible ways rehearsed to ask for the sale and close the sale. You go into the appointment with complete confidence that the prospect will purchase the offering. There is just one problem, the competition. Have you thought about how your competition is addressing this same prospect, and other prospects in your target market?   Is the competition also meeting with the prospect? If the lead contacted you in order to learn what you can offer, chances are they have also contacted and researched the competition. You need to prove on your own company's merits and strengths that what you offer is superior to the competition. Do not bad mouth competitors (demeaning the competition comes across as petty and insecure).

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If asked about specific concerns and comparisons between your product and the competition's product, answer the comparison in a factual and helpful manner. The best way to do this is to find out exactly what benefits the competition's product and services offer. How does their offering solve a specific problem, but maybe miss the larger solution that your market needs? It comes down to researching your prospects’ choices and differentiating yourself and your offering to better meeting their needs and alleviating business "pains" in their lives. Once again, show that you have a better understanding and appreciation of the needs and goals of the prospect. Let the prospect know why your offering is special so they have no reason not to buy. Provide testimonials and success stories from clients who have already bought and benefited, or provide them with contact information for clients that praise your work and products.

Think about ways to enhance what you are selling, because if it is exactly the same as the competitors’ offerings the deciding factor will be price, and in a price competition usually all sides lose. The prospect ends up buying something which does not solve their problem and move them forward, while the "winner" (i.e., lowest bidder) ends up losing money on the sale. Winners are proactive and are able to either avoid pure price competitions, or say "No" to the sale quickly while learning a lesson for the next prospective sale.

If this is a lead that you located and contacted, the competition is likely to discover this lead as well if they haven't already done so. Start the trust and relationship building upon discovering the lead. Once the prospect and you have a relationship built it will be much more difficult for the competition to lure your potential client away.

Do you know the competition's track record? Investigate what and how the competition delivers. Look up their current list of clients and past clients to uncover the performance history and weaknesses. Through research, you may determine why past clients chose to switch providers, and you will be able to better understand and align your offering with, and actually meeting the prospect's needs and expectations.

Look at how the competition has adjusted and enhanced their offerings. Not that you should follow in their footsteps, but this will help you determine any niche markets that are and continue to be underserved.

In order to gain more visibility and sales in the industry being served, you need to not only know the prospect but also the competition. Without knowledge of how to compete, your offering will become blurry in a highly aggressive market.

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About Sales Focus Inc. Sales Focus Inc. is a consulting, training and outsourcing company that focuses strictly on sales. We help our clients during these difficult times to take business away from the competition. In down economic times, focused companies will not only survive, but also thrive! We offer cost containment and profit enhancement solutions. Profit enhancement is a different mindset than cost cutting. Cost cutting means doing less of something; profit enhancement implies doing more of something that will boost the bottom line. We represent the concept of focused profit enhancement solutions.

Sales Focus is driven towards a single goal: "Generating Immediate Revenue for our Clients!" Whether it's implementing our S.O.L.D. Methodology, Developing Specialized Training Programs or Launching an Outsourced Sales Force, we remain focused on the goal of TACTICALLY GENERATING RAPID REVENUE.

For more Information or to see if we are a good fit with your company, contact us directly, 866.840.8305 or 410.442.5600, send us an email at info@SalesFocusInc.com or visit our web site: www.SalesFocusInc.com. Request a free white paper while calling us or visiting our website.

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