We have no competition
August 7th, 2007
This is something we hear often. Some clients and prospective clients actually believe that they have no competition.
Guess what? No matter what industry you’re in, you have competition.
If you’re the only real estate company in town you still have competition because you’re competing with all of the people that are selling their homes one their own, whether they’re using yard signs, the newspaper, internet or some other method. Even if you are the only company that offers a particular product or service, you still face competition through alternatives. A female motivational speaker focusing on empowering women may feel that she has no competition because no one else is focusing on her target market. In reality she is facing tremendous competition first with other female motivational speakers, regardless of whether they focus primarily on women or not, and then with male motivational speakers. Even though the other motivational speakers, both male and female, may be focusing on a completely different target market, she still has to overcome their name recognition and exposure to convince her prospects that she is the best choice for their needs.
This mindset is more that just a simple misconception though, because it allows you to drift into a false sense of security, ignoring threats and opportunities. On the other hand, by taking careful inventory of who your true competitors are, you’ll be able to avoid the erosion of your company’s market share more effectively while developing new sources of revenue.
The first step is to determine who your competition is and to find out why any of your prospects chose to do business with them instead of you. If they truly had a need for what you offer, there must be a reason that they chose not to take advantage of it. What did the other companies offer that you didn’t?
The second step is to find out what related products or services could be added. After all, why would you be content with a $1,000 order when you can just as easily generate a $1,500 order just by offering something that your prospects were going to invest in anyway? If you sell camping equipment, you could easily add a variety of healthy, conveniently packaged foods. It’s far better to be known as the outdoor supply store than just the store that sells tents and sleeping bags.
The third step is to offer something that no one else has. Matching your competitors’ offer is one thing, but when you can offer something that they can’t, you’ll have a serious advantage. For example, if you’re a real estate agent, you could offer the free use of a moving truck to all of your buyers and sellers. Ideally, you should own, rather than rent the truck, in which case, it would serve as your own mobile advertising platform by having it wrapped.
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