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Business competition is a fact of life. No matter the industry, there will always be other companies trying to do what you do and often doing it better. So how do you deal with the competition? How do you make sure you’re always staying one step ahead? Here are 6 ways to handle competitors:
Know Your Customers
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Critically examine your customer base and know who you’re selling to. The effort will help you segment your market and find the right strategy to reach your target audience. Analyze every engagement to figure out what works and doesn’t.
For instance, email tracking with Salesforce enables you to see how often a recipient opens an email, clicks on links, and forwards it to others. This data helps you understand what interests your customers to send them more of what they want.
Knowing your customers also enables you to provide a better customer experience, which is essential for keeping them loyal. 86% of customers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience.
An excellent customer experience includes everything from the first contact to after-sales support. Always put your best foot forward and give your customers what they want when they need it.
Know Your Competitors
Understanding your competition is just as important as knowing your customers. To stay ahead of the competition, know what they’re doing and how they’re doing it—research their marketing strategies, products, and pricing. Figure out what they’re doing well and where they’re falling short.
Understand that competition is not just in your local area or industry. With the internet, businesses are now competing on a global scale. Research not just your direct competition but also businesses in other industries that are similar to yours. For example, if you’re a small business selling handcrafted jewelry, you compete with other jewelry stores, fashion retailers, and online marketplaces.
Be Innovative
Innovation is key to staying ahead of the competition. Constantly look for new ways to improve your products, services, and marketing strategies. Pay attention to industry trends and new technologies to be the first to adopt and use them to your advantage.
Think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to problems. Also, be open to new ideas and willing to take risks. Incorporate technology in your business to streamline processes and improve efficiency.
Offer Value
Value is what customers are really looking for. When you offer something of value, customers are more likely to do business with you. Whether it’s a lower price, better quality, or unique features, give something that the competition isn’t.
Address customers’ pain points and offer relevant solutions. Keep your pricing in line with the value you’re offering. If you charge too much, you’ll lose customers to the competition. However, charging too little devalues your product.
Build a Strong Brand
A strong brand differentiates you from the competition, making you more recognizable to customers. It builds customer loyalty and grows your business. Start by defining your brand.
What are your core values? What message do you want to communicate to your customers? Reflect your brand message in everything you do, from your marketing materials to how you answer the phone.
Be Human
Giving your business a human touch makes you more relatable and trustworthy. People do business with people, not businesses. Show your customers that there are real people behind your brand.
Use social media to humanize your brand by sharing stories, photos, and videos showing your business’s faces. Be responsive to comments and questions, personal and friendly, but avoid being too informal.
Embrace The Competition
Handling the competition is not easy, but it’s necessary for any business that wants to thrive. As you will find out, a little competition is good for business. It keeps you on your toes and forces you to constantly strive to be the best. So, Embrace it.
