There are multiple strategies that you should be using to ensure that you always stay ahead of your competitors. To be successful in your business, you need to be ahead of your competitors to ensure that you’ll have customers and earn profits. Your business won’t be able to attain success if you continue to operate behind the shadows of your competitors.
However, achieving it is easier said than done. For you to be successful in this endeavor, you need to continually look at what your competitors are doing and come up with strategies that are ahead of them. This can be very tricky, especially if you’re competing with companies that have become household names or brands to consumers. Honestly, there is no simple trick that can help you overcome your competition. Competition is a constant in every marker.
However, if the company is smart, it can nullify the impact of the competition to stay ahead of the market or industry. This remains true even if you’re running or operating a small business–you can still overshadow your competition if you have the right strategies. But how do you do that? Here, we have come up with five of the most effective ways that can help you overshadow your competition.
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Look for the customer’s pain points and work towards solving them.
The co-founder of TFTH shares his views on the subject and says that the most effective way to overshadow competition is to target the audience better than your competition. For this, you need to ask them open-ended questions and analyze what the customers want more out of your product or service.
Once you have found out the pain point of the customer, your next move is to solve their issues by strictly using the terminology which your customer uses. After you have acquired a clearer picture of the subject, you have to ascertain now, which in the company can solve their problem areas. You, at all times, must be focussed at providing solutions to the issues of the customers, and not just selling them the products or services.
Look for a niche in the market by way of specialization and storytelling.
You might dream of an ideal market where there is no competition. However, it is only possible if you successfully build a niche for yourself in the market. Stanley, a marketing expert for TAE, says that if the market is overcrowded, the room for expansion is relatively lesser. Thus, to compete in this crowded market, you need to have a USP. If your USP is unique, the room for competition only gets smaller.
To build your niche, you need to start storytelling. For this, you need to craft some stories around your products. If your stories are compelling, you would not take too long to be a part of the lifestyle of the customer, and not just be a stand-alone service or product. It is your specialization, which would result in a more prosperous and scalable business. Having a niche market is always reliable, and then the prospects are much easier for you to target. Further, in a niche market, the customer retention rate is higher.
So, as a business, you must start with local markets where you have your target customers, and then adopt a niche marketing strategy for them.
Ensure that you have a competitive pricing
The easiest way to overcome competition is by offering customers more affordable pricing. For this, you would first need a clearer picture of the pricing of the competitor’s goods and services. Then, you have to ascertain, which competitor is offering the best value. Next, you have to compare the competitor’s product with yours and see if your product (if priced higher), provides more value to the customers. The 100% success-rate for beating the competition is opting for a more competition-based pricing strategy.
In this strategy, you ignore the demand and the product costs, and instead, the focus is on the current market rate for your products and services. Then, you have to set your price, which falls within the price range offered by the competitors. Harry, a representative for TrumpLearning, says that surveying the competitors’ prices might take only a few hours, and requires less time than other competition-reducing tacts. Still, it is by far the most effective way to lower the competition.
Make changes to ensure that the business stays ahead of the competition.
For people who run a business, the most quintessential thing to note is that change is the only constant. Analyze your business thoroughly, and find out a model, which can be changed. Then, execute the changes for a couple of months at least, if not for years. You can even simultaneously boost the capabilities of the current business processes.
Regardless of how flawless you think a certain strategy is, keep in mind that the results you’re getting from today won’t be the same when you use the same strategy after a few years. The market and your competitors are continually changing, which is why, as a business, you should know how to cope up with the times.
Tara, an executive of FineGrades, says that a business can succeed in the market if it acknowledges that the competitors are continually taking steps to innovate. Some new entrants will always try hard to disrupt the marketplace. So, if your business regularly takes measures to innovate, the competition will find it impossible to imitate you.
Offer excellent customer service.
Lastly providing the customers with great and excellent customer service is the perfect way to build loyalty amongst the customers. It is also a great way to differentiate yourself from the competition. Companies from different parts of the world can offer the same products and services, but none will have the same exact level of customer service. In fact, most companies think that they can retain customers solely by offering them high-quality products, but this isn’t always the case. Customers are working hard for their money, and they would always choose to spend it in a business who values and appreciates them.
Your utmost priority should be hiring people who not only have a thorough understanding of your products and services but also know the ins and outs of your brand as a whole. During the recruitment process, ask questions that’ll gauge the applicant’s understanding or view of your brand. Do they understand what your business really is? Are they aware of your business goals? As a business owner, you should only hire individuals who understand why your business is operating and why customer service is vital for your business’s daily operations.
Never rush amidst the hiring process. You must find the right people for the job. Also, your staff should always greet the customers with a pleasing smile, and they should show gratitude to everyone they interact with. You, too, must take steps to boost the spirit of your staff and hire only team players. Don’t forget to reward the team players, as every employee needs continual motivation to outperform others. Finally, keep a check that your customer support team is respectful and courteous.
In Conclusion
Overshadowing competition is challenging but this doesn’t mean that the task is impossible to complete. By using the tips presented in this article, and exerting a lot of effort in the process, it won’t be long before you can level out the playing field and stand out from the competition.
Infographic created by Clover Network, a point of sale system company
John Morris is a passionate writer and blogger with a range of experience in the world of tech publishing. John covers everything from Technology including Big Data, Ai to Apps Reviews.