Your Business Competition can Hurt You if You Let Them

Understanding Business Competition is understanding your own business:

Finding out what your business competition does right, as well as what it does wrong, what they charge, and what they feel is the next big trend in the business will give your business a significant boost.

The good news is that finding this information is not difficult or expensive.

Searching Is “Virtually” Painless

The easiest place to begin your research is by looking at your competition's website. Their website will tell you:

• Who they are
• Their brand
• Background information on officers and directors
• Financial information
• Their customer base

After looking at your competition's website, you can then search for the company through a search engine using keywords, such as:

• The company's name
• The owner's name
• Product names

You may also want to check and see if the company has a profile at Web sites for Hoovers and Dun & Bradstreet. This is the main source for business credit reports.

Once you have done your online research, it is time to take it offline and get to know your business competition in person.

Of course, this is not possible for online stores, but for brick and mortar shops, it is a real necessity. While in a competitor's store, you will want to look at:

• What do you like and dislike?
• How busy is it?
• What are they doing right?
• What are they doing wrong?
• What do they charge?
  

You may also want to have a friend go to your business competition and become a customer.

This will help you understand their customer service and pricing. You may also want to consider talking to the competition's customers.

Finally, a place to find out more about your competition is an industry trade show.

This would put you in direct contact with customers and suppliers. If your competitors have booths, you will be able to read t heir materials and speak with those representing the company.

Once you've gathered the research on your competitors, you need to look at how your competition communicates their product offerings to their customers.

What are their key promises and how can yours differ?

It is up to you to find your unique way to put your products or services out their to attract customers in a way that will differentiate yourself from your business competition. To find the answer, consider the products or services you sell as well as things like a higher level of customer service or free next-day shipping.

There is no shortage of valuable, inexpensive ways to research your competition. The important things are to take advantage of them and then use the information to make your business even better.

More On Business Competition

Next Chapter:
Chapter 3: Four Ways To Form Your Company