C.O.M.P. Competitive Opportunity Management Process: Winning competitive sales engagements

Understanding and analyzing a competitive sales opportunity so you can properly prepare and execute your plan to win a competitive sales campaign. The book includes these areas: Understanding Your Opportunity - Examine all aspects of the creation of and expectations for your opportunity to enable you to build a solution that meets and exceeds the customer’s requirements. • Understand the client’s business structure and keys to business success • Understand the financial and non-financial health metrics of your opportunity • Understand why companies buy, how they make investment decisions, and budget • Determine compelling business issues and why your opportunity was created • Maximize the value of the opportunity to you and your client • Discover the client’s business pains and their consequences and where you can help • Understand your objectives, strategy, and tactics for your opportunity Political Alignment - Examine relevant aspects of the key stakeholders that will impact or will be impacted by the opportunity and your solution. • Review the roles, areas of involvement, focus, and evaluation criteria of key stakeholders • Evaluate coverage, contact frequency, support level, and focus on key individuals • Determine key stakeholder’s power, clout, and acceptance to your proposed change • Determine the keys to creating support and sponsorship • Learn to align, and gain access to executives and key stakeholders • Have effective executive conversations and build strong executive business relationships • Build sponsorship and urgency for your solution within your client’s culture Develop Your Superior Business Value Solution - Use your information and discovery to create a solution which satisfies the client requirements and is perceived by them to be of superior business value over that of your competition. • Understand client value, perceptions of value, mutual value, and components of value • Map client’s value requirements to your solution and the change you will bring to them • Frame your solution to the client’s business and expand your value across organizations • Outline the resources and capabilities you can bring to this client for this opportunity • Assess your partner’s involvement and integrate them if they will be involved • Create a successful business case and proposal that will get approved and not vetoed • Gain and build commitment for your solution The Competition - Analyze your competition and create competitive immunity and speed bumps with an effective competitive counter strategy. • Understand who your competitors are and what your competitive requirements are • Assess how your competition sells against you • Understand what their business culture and personality means to this opportunity • Identify competitive support within your client • Review competitive strategies and develop your competitive counter strategy • Learn key competitive practices and competitive considerations Putting Together The Plan & Presentation - Take all your information and analysis from the workshop and prepare a Competitive Opportunity Management Plan for your team, specifically for this opportunity. • Review the planning structure, components, key elements, and process • Create specific objectives, strategies, and tactics from workshop exercises and actions • Learn how to test, implement, communicate, and govern the plan • Prepare and practice the delivery and presentation of your plan • Review key presentation considerations before, during, and after the plan presentation • Define your role in winning and take charge of driving the plan to success