Distinguishing losers from winners
How can you tell if your vendor is a loser or a winner? By how much they talk about the competition.
A thought occurred to me this morning that resonates true. Winners (in a market) spend their time thinking about customers, whereas losers spend their time thinking about the winners (i.e., the competition).
This shows up in their marketing messages, their sales pitches, etc. If you're an IT buyer, you should be able to figure out immediately whether your would-be vendor is leading or following the market. Losers waste time fetishing the competition with feature comparisons and such. As an IT buyer, you're not buying a comparison. You're buying a solution to a pressing business problem. That's where the focus should be.
If you're a vendor, think about what keeps you up at night. Concern for customers or concern for competitors?
If it's the latter, I'm sorry, but you're probably a loser (in the market).