I have commented on this subject before. In my May 13, 2013, post, “Talking Down About Competitors,” I recommended not bad-mouthing your competitors. Then, in my April 23, 2012, post, “Create Your Own Path,” I recommended the book Blue Ocean Strategy, by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne, and the concept of listening to your customers/clients and providing them with something new and different to meet their needs.

Here are two quotes from my newest favorite book, The New Strategic Selling:

1. “We have long held that one of the commandments for losing in business is to concentrate on the competitor rather than the customer.”
2. “The alternative is to think far less about what the competition is doing, has done, or might do, and more about what selling is about in the first place — the providing of customized solutions to individuals’ problems.”

My question is simple: “Where is your focus — the customer/client, or the competition? What would I hear if I listened in on your Leadership Team meetings?