Position Yourself Against Your Competition to Put Your Business into 1st Place

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Position Yourself Against Your Competition to Put
Your Business into 1st Place

- by Todd Jensen

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Competitive athletes know that checking out the
competition is as important as eating right, training
and assessing their own strengths and weaknesses.
Businesses that want to win have to get their head in
the game as well. Evaluating and identifying your
competition reduces risk, decreases money spent,
clarifies necessary resources and saves you valuable
time.

Customer demand for quality service and product runs
high and sometimes blurs the lines of competition.
Consider your local pizza parlor - it does not just
compete with other pizza parlors, it competes with fast
food chains, delivery services and ethnic restaurants.
Everyone is fighting to feed the discerning consumer
who is looking at price, flavor and convenience.

To succeed and get the most out of its marketing
efforts, a company has to first make some critical
decisions and close the gap on the range of
competition. It’s a mistake to try and be too much to
too many people. In this marketplace, the winners
exercise honesty with themselves and their customers
about what they offer and whom they serve.

Before You Analyze Your Competition, Clarify What Your
Business Does

     * What industries is my business in?
     * What products and services do we offer?
     * What brands are in direct competition with mine?
     * Where do we do business?
     * What are our channels of distribution?

While identifying your competitors can be challenging,
it doesn’t have to be. You can break them up into three
categories: direct, indirect and occasional.

Direct Competitors

Direct competitors are the specific brands or companies
you feel tugging at your customers every day. They
compete in the same geographic area as you do and they
market a similar product or service. A small hardware
store is in direct competition with other hardware
stores within a certain driving distance for customers.

Indirect Competitors

Indirect competitors are those that belong to a
different business category, operate in a more remote
location but offer a similar service or product. The
same hardware store mentioned above is in indirect
competition with a local large discount store, a more
remote mail order catalogue and an online supplier that
sell the same tools and equipment.

These competitors may very well be taking money and
potential customers away from the hardware store.

Occasional Competitors

Occasional competitors are not to be misunderstood as
occasionally competing for your business. Instead they
are to be seen as those companies who appeal to a
similar interest of your customers or clients.

For example, the hardware store customer might purchase
from the store with a home improvement in mind or they
might make a purchase with a hobby that requires
certain tools in mind.

On the occasion that the customer is purchasing home
improvement items, other home improvement stores can be
seen as occasional competitors.

Likewise, when the customer has the occasion to spend
money on his/her hobby, hobby stores would be
considered the occasional competitor.

Once you have a sense of who is vying for your
customers, you can make more strategic decisions about
how to appeal to current and potential customers. Look
at how your competitors do business and how you
capitalize upon their methods. Analyzing the situation
gives you a leg up on the competition and you can use
the information to make sure you’re the obvious choice
to consumers.

This article brought to you by Todd Jensen, a member
of the Principa Alliance.

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Todd Jensen, “The Profit Engineer”, has helped hundreds of
business owners make their business more successful and
profitable. For tips and strategies on how to boost your
business success as well as increase your profits, visit
http://www.theprofitengineer.com or http://www.maxqtc.com
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