When you prepare to meet a prospect, how do you know who or what your competition is? How do you know how to position yourself strategically against them? Do you ‘wing it?’ Do you do research? Where do you get your research from? How do you know your research is adequate or accurate?

I’ve got the answers for you. eCompetitors is this amazing site that has me gobsmacked (did i spell that right?). It does all of the research  you could ever wish for, on 11,445 global industries and companies at the line-of-business level. That means that it checks out everything – e v e r y t h i n g – about a company that you could ever, ever need to know, and then some.

Here is some of what I gleaned from playing with the site with co-owner Alan Michaels – and please forgive me here for going on and on. I was truly amazed.

When you look up an industry, you get to choose whichever company names you want to include – Microsoft, Oracle, HP, Dell, etc. and even some you didn’t know about - and compare them in categories such as: product segments (many you didn’t even know about), competitors, customer segments, demographics, technology trends. There are reports on competitors, industry profiles and trends, channels. Interesting to me is the factors that go into the decisions buyers make to choose them over competitors, and even who the target decision makers are - in a phrase, all of the competitive intelligence you need to do research and analysis that explains industry analysis at the line-of-business level.

And the technology is simple to use, easy to read, laid out logically. It’s mind-boggling. It’s exciting. It will make every public company – and some not public yet – an open book and easily accessible for sales folks to get what they need to position their solution in the right way for the right people for the right time in the market.

So before you go into a company to do a pitch, you can know everything – which job titles will be involved in purchasing decisions (once eCompetitors factors in Buying Facilitation® they will know who makes which decisions and the system that underlies the decision making process), who your competition will most likely be. There is so much data there that you’ll be able to figure out how much up-line business you might expect in the future once you make them your client.

They are a brand new company. But I’d use them as soon as possible, because once your competition uses them, you’ll be at a disadvantage.

When you call Alan, call him Michael – he’ll know who sent you. www.ecompetitors.com

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And don’t forget: just a few more days to get your freebies with your purchases of my new book Dirty Little Secrets. I’m getting quite amazing reviews on my new book, and sales folks from all over the world, in every industry imaginable, are thanking me for opening their eyes to how to help influence buying decisions. I’m going to be starting learning groups shortly for those interested in learning some of the ‘hows.’ Stay tuned.

Related posts:

1. Voice Mail, Gatekeepers, And Other Obstructions To Sales Success
2. How Sales Must Shift In This Uncertain Economy
3. Why Sales Fail

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