Competition is present in every aspect of life that is especially true of the business world. Whether you are a small business or a large corporation, you have to concern yourself with your competitors and find ways to gain enough shares in the market in which you compete.
When it comes to the small business owner, how you view competition in the market and your nearest competitors can make a difference in your business plan, how you attract investors, and how you plan your marketing strategies. Here are seven areas of focus that will help you beat the competition.
Get the Whole Company Involved
Unlike corporate giants who can afford to have entire departments dedicated to dealing with competition in the market, the small business has to involve everyone in the business. Though you may have a staff member that exclusively handles marketing, most small businesses can’t afford to devote a staff member to deal with the competition. Every staff member, shareholder, and person involved directly in the business should share in developing strategies to get your share of the market.
It is easy to get buy-in from all involved in your small business because everyone will benefit financially if you can get more of the market share.
Meet and Exceed Customer Needs and Wants
Customers are the reason you are in business; therefore, their needs and desires should be your primary concern. Most companies that edge out the competition for more shares in the market will have the most satisfied customers. How do you know what your customer’s needs are? There are a few ways you can answer this question.
- Ask your customers what they want and need directly
- Partner with a survey company to get candid ratings and feedback
- Pay attention to reviews
- And old fashioned suggestion box
- Regularly check the market trends
- See what other successful businesses in the market are doing
Price Products and Services Perfectly
All businesses and owners at one time or another struggle with pricing. If you are too high, you could lose business. However, pricing too low could have you losing money even if sales are good. Unless you offer something so unique that nothing else like it exists, you should be consistently checking what the market trends on pricing are and target to within 10% of either side of the market average. If you go too low, you might be seen as a cheap product or service that will be of low quality. If you go too high, you will be excluding anyone who wants to use your product or service with fewer means than the wealthy customer.
You want your products or services to be priced to attract the most customers possible without skimping on quality and customer service.
Offer High-Quality Service and Products
Speaking of quality, it should always be a priority. When economic times are tough, many business owners make the tragic choice to cut corners and quality. If you are experiencing a business slump, lowering your quality will cost you more in the longer term. It would be best to find other areas to cut expenses or find a way to get the same quality materials for less. In some cases, if you have a long and successful relationship with vendors, they will work with you to provide you what you need at less cost until you get back in black.
Be Unique and Useful
In some markets, it is difficult to stand out but not impossible. The greatest way you can edge out your competition is to offer something within your shared market that they don’t offer. Find a niche product or service addition, or offer you product or service in a different way. You also want to make sure it will appeal to the widest amount of your target market. When you wrote your business plan at your business’s conception, you should have already identified your target market. Now you need to know how you can get the most shares of the target by offering useful and unique services and products.
Offer Exceptional Customer Service
You have probably heard the importance of great customer service millions of times. Though that might be an exaggeration, customer service focus is important enough that you should hear that many times. Even if you have no choice but to offer identical products and services to the customers in your market and have them identically priced, you can get your market shares to go in your favor by offering exceptional customer service. You and your team should strategize how to offer the best customer service, then turn it up to an eleven and make it exceptional.
Focus on Customer Retention
It’s one thing to get a customer in the door one time. That’s great. No customer is more or less important than another. However, your goal is not to get a lot of one-hit customers who never return. You and your staff should focus on retaining every customer who walks in the door or purchases products and services online. If your business is customer-focused, it will 100% succeed. After all, customers are the reason you went into business.
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