Business Blog

When you think about your competition you may start to feel scared or nervous, or you may feel excited!

Why would you feel excited?
Maybe because having competitors is often a good sign, it means that you’re working in a proven industry, and you have someone to study and learn from.

So what should you be learning from your competitors?
You can learn a heck of a lot from your competition, here is a quick checklist on what you should be checking with every one of your competitors. You can find a lot out just by their company website or brochure, however you can always search for review sites, mystery shop them, join their mailing list, check their annual accounts with companies house, keep your eyes open for them on industry forums or twitter, the list is endless.

1. Are they offering the same products/services as you?
2. Do they offer anything different?
3. Are they good at what they do?
4. Do they provide quality goods or services?
5. What are their prices?
6. Are they keeping up with the times or falling behind?
7. Are they overrun with customers?
8. What can you improve?
9. What can you do differently?

The key number to focus on is number 9.

What can you do differently?
Look at their prices, how convenient is their shop or office to get to? Is their server often down, does their marketing suck? Are they offering low quality goods, can their customer service be better? Are they going “green”?

Once you can see their weaknesses you can start to build those areas as your strengths. If your competitor never answers the phone, make sure you have a virtual assistant at hand when your lines are busy and have a “we guarantee your call will be answered” banner, or even a “request call back” feature.

By building on the weaknesses within your competition you will find that you fill much needed gaps within your immediate market, and ultimately your sales will increase.

Good Luck!
Jenny
www.coppockmedia.com