Here’s a simple idea that way too many entrepreneurs fail to follow:

Know what your top 5 competitors are doing.

This is something I never wanted to do… I always figured it was “busy work.”  

It wasn’t until I started to do what I’m about to tell you that I realized how important it was… And once I did it, I received many “ah-ha!” moments that made it easier to do things BETTER than my competitors.

…A better offer, create a better sales strategy, etc.

Now, as tempting as it might be… DON’T copy your competitors! If you’re copying your competitors, you’ll never be #1 in your market. You can’t lead from behind – so you always want to do things a little differently… And better.  

When you see what I’m about to show you, remember this: don’t look to copy what they’re doing – look to make it better.

PERFORMANCE TIP: When you systemize this process, you can have one of your team members do this research for you. It doesn’t always have to be done by you.

You ready?

Create a spreadsheet like this one:

Follow the steps.

STEP 1: Identify your top 5 competitors

These are the top 5 competitors that your buyers are comparing you against.

As you’ll see, the next steps are all about identifying the pieces ofthe funnel we discussed the last post (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Confidence, Action).   

STEP 2: Write down the big hook they’re using to capture the Attention/Awareness of the reader (the top part of the funnel).  

If you look at these past sales page for Infusionsoft, what (do you think) is the angle they are using to capture their prospects’ attention?

If we’re in the CRM market, and we identified Infusionsoft as a competitor – we’d write this down this headline.

STEP 3: Now that they’ve caught my attention, what are they saying to further my Interest?

As we scroll down, we see things like this:

We’re looking to see how they’re capturing my interest. In the case of Infusionsoft, they’re doing it by identifying the problems they’re solving… 

STEP 4: What promises are they making to heighten my Desire?

Click on one of those links and you get to a case study:

Now, what’s interesting about this is that they’re combining the Confidence stage with Desire by using the case study to create desire.

STEP 5: How are they building Confidence? 

We mark the testimonial and case study they’re using.

STEP 6: Action  

For the Action, I want to know a few things about their offer:

• What are all the features?
• What are the benefits?
• What special bonuses are they offering?
• What’s the price and terms for purchase?
• What’s the guarantee (if any)?
• Are they using any scarcity elements (like limited quantity or time)? If so, what are they?

When you have this information, it helps – when you want your customers and clients to take Action – you know that you’re making the most compelling, strongest offer to your prospects.  

Again, your potential buyers have done their homework on YOU. They know who your competitors are, and they’re comparing you already… So you want to make sure you’re the no-brainer.

We go through this process with our private clients. I pull up one of their competitors, put my client’s offer side-by-side with their offer, and ask them:

“Which one would you rather buy?”

You see, even though you know your product/service might be the best in the industry, that doesn’t mean very much if your offer isn’t the best too. Do your homework to make sure that you are the BEST.

Do it for your top 5 competitors. The more information you gather, the better your results.

Abe Lincoln was the one who said: 

“Give me six hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

This is you sharpening your axe to get better, more efficient results. It’s so much easier to make a sale when you make your offer more attractive, more compelling, and more enticing than anything else available to your prospects.

Don’t wait. Take action. You’ll be very glad you did.