Here’s a thought-provoking question that I also learned. What are the main reasons that customers buy from us over the other guys – those competitors? What is our actual competitive advantage? What is our “special sauce”? What is the most valued, individual feature of our business that puts us out there with a fighting chance? Hopefully you have more than one defining trait or offering in your business but understanding what it is and how it is used to win in the marketplace is fundamental to knowing yourself, making big decisions and doing business.

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How dedicated is your sales team? It’s a positive and quick answer for most in leadership roles. We did a survey once with three separate companies (different industries) and found that 60% of reps were actively working a plan B. This could mean a future career change, additional moonlight gigs, and even a second job. We found reps that owned businesses, had a franchise, on-call ministers, insurance sales positions, etc. The CEOs and leadership of these three firms were shocked. Without passing any judgement, we simply reminded all that sales people are generally hired because of their extraordinary ‘enterprising’ nature. They are driven, curious, creative and have exceptional people skills. For this reason, the sales growth initiatives we suggest are always mindful of this. And, we approach things with a “sell the sellers” first point of view. If you and we can win the hearts of the reps, you will likely win the hearts of the customers too.

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Why do they buy from us over the competition? It’s a very relative concept. In work with executives and leadership teams across many businesses types I find this quick question can show whether or not they are focused or conflicted. Whether they really have a handle on why they are better, faster, cheaper than their competitors… or why not?

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In todays fast paced, connected business environment faulty assumptions can create miscommunications within teams, wasted time and effort, can cost precious resources and could be the difference between winning or coming up short in a major competition. Many companies use impressive levels of information systems and tools to stay up to date and aware of processes and products. While details, data and status updates help our enterprises run smoothly (or are supposed to…), uninformed and stale assumptions regarding people, customers, markets, stakeholders, etc. can derail executives, their teams and their decisions.

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