Conquering the Competition with Knowledge
Building a successful business is dependent on having an in depth knowledge of your market, customers, product/service and most importantly your competition!
Competitor knowledge can help you to:
- maximise opportunities in the market
- minimise the risk of competitors
- identify your market position (the place you occupy in the mind of your prospective clients) compared to the competition.
- Exactly what do your competitors offer?
- How does their offering/price compare to your idea?
- What it is that clients like about your competitors?
- In what areas are clients not as satisfied by the competitions offerings?
- What does/will distinguish you from the competition?
Competitor information can be more difficult to research, but there are some simple methods you can use and at a minimal cost.
Contacts
Make use of existing contacts in your network such as friends, family, business partners, business advisers and suppliers. Ask them about their experience of the competition.
Internet
Use the internet to check out how competitors are positioning themselves. Often competitors list on their website key competitor information such as, mission statements, service/product details, prices, etc.
You should also not just limit your search to locally based competitors. The internet opens up your marketplace and therefore your competition to potentially the whole world!
Literature and Customer Service
Ask a friend to request their literature - price lists, brochures, etc. Also make use of this opportunity of contact with your competition to assess how the business deals with their customers. Good and bad practice will help you to formulate your market position ahead of competitors.
If you take the time to research your competition you will gain a valuable insight, which will help you to provide a better offering and gain a stronger market positioning over your competitors.
In order to succeed you need to know your competition, and you must continue to research them, as they will be researching you too!
