What do you know about your competition? Do you ignore them and hope they will go away or at the very least – not bother you?

Pretending they don’t exist is not an option.

You are in business. It is your responsibility to be fully aware of how your target customer views not just your company, but your industry as a whole.  You must know what they are looking for, and it’s not always what you think they are looking for. It’s not even what you think they should be looking for, which is an arrogant standpoint.  Are you meeting their needs? Is your competition meeting their needs? Is it meeting different needs? Is there something others in your industry are doing in the way of product or service offerings that you need to know about?

Do you know why your customers buy from you and not your competition, or why they don’t make you their first choice?  Should you know this?  The answer is, of course, a resounding YES. You should know.

You first need to understand your customers, their needs, expectations and concerns.  And at the same time, you need to understand who your competitors are and where you rate in the mix.  Are you always the first choice, or are you further down the list?  Do you know why?

Once you recognise and appreciate your customer and your competition, you can begin to tailor your offering to be more effective in attracting them.

You need to first identify your main competitors.  List the top five to ten.  Then you look at them from two perspectives:

–A competing business that is interesting to see and learn how they are doing business and attracting customers.
–A prospective customer and what would appeal to them.

Find out what they are doing that you are not, and vice versa.

Then you can look at your own effectiveness and evaluate your ranking amongst your competitors.

The internet makes this kind of evaluation really easy.  But don’t just stop at looking at their website. On their Facebook page, blogs, and elsewhere online, you can learn about how else they advertise. You can also pick up brochures, look at their storefront (if they have one) and signage, and everything they use to show their prospective customer who they are and what they are offering.

Doing this sort of competitive analysis regularly keeps you at the front of the game and helps you fine tune your own entrepreneurial antennae.

Until next time…

 
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