The difference between winning mat-rental proposals and losing ones once was described to me as a “matter of inches, not feet.” In other words, most sales professionals would agree that their products and services are considerably better than competitive alternatives. However, the view from the prospect’s desk may show little or no differentiation. When the differences between competitive proposals are slight, price could become the primary factor in determining a winning proposal. In order to reduce the likelihood of a “price-only” decision, we need to make sure that the prospect understands the competitive uniqueness of our proposal. Sometimes those competitive ...