As 2009 comes to a close and 2010 begins, it’s time to think about a very important part of your business: The competition. You should be assessing your competition on a regular basis, especially at the beginning of a new business year. Also, with the economy continuing to struggle, now is a particularly good time to take a look at who could be draining your pipeline.

Ken Thoreson, president of Acumen Management Group Ltd., gives advice in an article written for Redmond Channel Partner. Thoreson follows certain steps with his clients to help them properly assess competitors to improve win-loss ratios. I’ve adapted those steps for use by sales reps:

Step 1: Identify the top five firms that seem to be involved in most sales opportunities. Certainly, this number can vary.

Step 2:  Create an outline based on each competitor. The outline should include the following headlines: “Your Strengths vs. the Competitor,” “Your Weaknesses,” “Why We Should Win” and “How We Could Lose.”

Step 3: Do the following to gain even more insight: Request a brochure via the competitors’ Web sites (this will test how well it works and if there are follow-up calls, identify their value proposition/marketing message (this helps you validate your unique value proposition), and physically “walk by” their office lobbies to gain a perspective of their image.

By brainstorming, filling out each outline, and interacting with the competition, you should be able to gain the edge needed to outshine competitors in the new year.