How will you be able to make a sales in a competitive environment?

This trend of intensifying competition makes selling more interesting -- but also much more difficult than it once was. You can't assume you'll remain successful simply by doing the same things that used to work for you. In the new millennium, good selling isn't going to be enough to make you a success. If you want to stop losing sales to competition and make more money -- and we all do -- then you've got to sharpen your competitive selling skills.

Here are four of the most common reasons why competitive sales opportunities are lost -- and specifically what you can do to win more often. These are the mistakes to avoid if you want to give your competitors fits.

1. Your competitor understands the prospect's needs better than you doSun Tzu wrote his classic book, The Art of War, years ago. In it he said, "If you know the enemy and you know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself, but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you'll also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will lose every battle."

Between you and me, Sun Tzu had it easy. In BC, all he had to do was learn about himself and his enemy. Inst century selling, it's not enough to know about yourself and the competition. You also have to know about the customers' needs. When you know the specific ways in which you're different from your competition -- AND you know your customers' needs -- you'll know which differences are going to be the most important to your customer. And that knowledge is what will put your name on the scoreboard.

One simple strategy for understanding your customer's needs better than your competition is to resist the natural temptation to talk about yourself, and instead, keep the conversation focused on your customer's needs. If your customer asks you about your product or service -- as they often do - answer their question, then redirect the conversation back to your customer's needs. A good rule of thumb is to identify at least eight customer buying criteria before you start talking about your product or service.