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Keep Your Friends Close and Your Competition Closer

 

 

When you start your own business, it is natural to have competitors. A competitor is any business who offers similar services, products, or ideas to the same demographics you are reaching out to. In order to dominate your competitors, you need to grab more market share than they do.

 

 

Just because you have more market share than your competitors do, it does not mean you will always stay on top. That’s why you have to keep your eyes on the competition at all times.

 

 

I am going to share some strategies you won’t learn in college that you can utilize to make sure you stay ahead of the competition for good.

 

 

 

Desk Research

 

 

You can learn a lot about your competitors without ever getting up from your desk. I would recommend using your computer to check out their website every 1-2 weeks to see if they are doing anything new.

 

 

Not only that, but you should subscribe to any newsletter or other forms of updates they offer. Most companies now a days are active on social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter.

 

 

Whether you choose to follow them using your business account or a made up name, I highly recommend keeping a tab on your competition. These social networks can often provide you news about their team/office, future plans, or anything else that may be of importance to you.

 

 

A simple Google search on your competitors is an effective way to see what they are up to. If you do frequent Google searches, you will be able to immediately notice when a new result shows up. If they are in the news or other media outlets, you can see exactly why they are there.

 

 

 

Customer Surveys

 

 

A great source for information about your competitors can be your customers themselves. Customers usually shop around and contemplate between multiple products or services before choosing a particular one.

 

You can ask your customers which other services or products they considered before selecting yours. If your customer happens to mention the name of a competitor, you can ask them in detail about their experience with that company.

 

 

Not only that, but you can go in to detail and ask them why they liked you more than the other companies. This gives you the ability to focus on your strengths to acquire more customers in the future.

 

 

Often times, a competitor may come out with a new update or exceptional discount. When this happens, you may find a lot of your customers leaving to join them. Regardless of what your competitor is doing, you should always get in touch with “old” customers and ask them why they left.

 

 

Even if you may not be able to get all your customers back, you can figure out why they are leaving and what your competition is really doing. Once you understand that, you can go on damage control and find a solution to keep all your customers from leaving. Customers old and new can provide you much needed insight on your competitors.

 

 

 

Analysis

 

 

This is probably the hardest or most tedious method of acquiring intelligence reports on your competitors. You have to spend a lot of time using as many sources as possible to learn more about your competition.

 

 

This is a great way to find out who you’re competitors really are. You need to start from the day company was open for business and see if you can find trends, patterns, or even clues about their methods of operation.

 

 

Often times, business have common patterns of hiring, updating, or unveiling news. If you know when your competition is going to do something, you are far more prepared to combat their next move.

 

 

 

Spying Time

 

 

I want to start off by saying that this method should only be used if you have tried and failed at everything else. If you cannot find out anything about your competitors, it may be time to send a spy to help you out.

 

 

This spy should not do anything that is illegal, damaging to your brand/company, or harmful to anyone else. I would recommend having someone you know contact your competitor as if they are interested in purchasing their product or service.

 

 

This will allow you to learn about their sales methods as well as their approach to potential customers. You can have your spy to ask them particular questions about their services or products that you may be curious about.

 

 

This technique usually works every time because no sane company will pass down the opportunity to acquire a new customer. However, I would like to remind you again the importance of participating in ethical behaviors when using a spy.

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

 

For any business to be successful, they need to know what their competitors are up to. It is highly important to pay attention to the finer details and check up on your competitors every few weeks so that you do not get left behind.

 

 

Keeping a tab on my competitors has helped me have the upper hand with my companies, StatFuse and JB Media Force. As great as it is to gain new customers, it is equally important to retain your existing customers.

 

 

Share your thoughts and comments about this topic below.

 

 

photo credit: Mukumbura via photopin cc

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