»  Home  »  Business Practices  »  Have You Thanked Your Competitors Lately?
Have You Thanked Your Competitors Lately?
By BE Staff | Published   | Business Practices | Unrated
Have You Thanked Your Competitors Lately?
Competition in the business world is often viewed as a negative
thing, but it doesn't have to be. Competition can benefit you,
your competitor, and especially your customer!

Let's look at some of the ways in which competitors can help
you:

They prevent you from becoming lazy and overly comfortable in
your business practices. It's easy to feel confident and
relaxed in your business if you have a unique product that
everyone wants. You don't feel any pressure to better yourself
or your product. Everyone wants it, so it must be good as it
is, right? Then one day another company comes along that begins
offering similar products that are just a little bit better than
yours. Uh-oh! Now you feel the pressure to perform. You don't
want to lose your customers, so you need to continuously
improve your product and your level of customer service. You
now need to give your customers a stronger reason to keep
coming back to you.

They encourage you to be more creative. So, now you're not the
only one selling purple-polka-dotted purses anymore. What can
you do? Develop more products! Stretch your imagination. Come
up with some unique ideas that will either improve upon your
existing products or design new ones. Come up with a line of
new accessories, new color schemes, new sizes and styles. Don't
try to copy what your competitors are doing, do something
different and unique. Express your own creativity.

They help you to stretch out of your comfort zones. Perhaps you
have a solid customer base and haven't had to invest much in
promoting your company until now. But the attention is slowly
beginning to drift away from you. Now you need to work a little
harder at your level of visibility. You can advertise some sales
or special promotions, get more involved with your local
community, or donate a portion of sales to a worthy cause.
Become as visible as you can in your community. Whether you
have an online business or a brick and mortar one, you need to
remain in your customers' minds. Put yourself and your company
out there whenever you can. Be noticeable, be memorable.

They force you to charge reasonable prices. This sounds like a
bad thing, but really it's not. Think of yourself as a
consumer. Aren't you always looking for good value for your
money? Of course you are. And so are your customers! While it's
great to be earning a lot of money for your products, you also
want to be fair to your customers if you want them to come back
again. No one likes to feel like they're being over-charged or
ripped off. You may need to explore different suppliers and
materials in order to keep your prices in line, but your
customers will thank you for it by returning again and again.

Joint ventures. These can be extremely profitable for both
parties, if they're done right. Perhaps you and your competitor
can offer discounts to the other's customers and do some
cross-promotion for each other. Promote your competitor's
purses and she will promote your scarves and shoes. Swap ads in
each other's newsletters. Think of some ways in which both of
you could work together to benefit yourselves, as well as your
customers. Build each other up, rather than trying to tear each
other down.

These concepts become a little more challenging when applied to
distributors who work for the same company, but it's still
possible to find ways to work together in growing your
businesses. Perhaps you can co-host a home-business seminar and
share in the product sales and recruits. Share the costs of
advertising in a prominent publication and split the responses.
Or each of you can target different markets and give referrals
to each other. Working together will ultimately result in more
sales for your company, which will benefit both of you also!

Competition can seem threatening at times, but the truth is,
there is room for all of us! Just think about the popular
burger places in the world today. I can think of at least 4 or
5 well-known ones, including the two most popular that are
usually found within blocks of each other in any city -- or
sometimes right next door to each other! These companies earn
billions of dollars a year. Look at how these companies keep
encouraging each other to do better. In their competition, they
are creating menus that have items for only $1, new value meal
combinations, new sandwiches and salads, later hours and more.
It's benefitting the consumer by giving them more choices and
better value for their money, and it's benefitting the burger
places by earning them more money. It's a win-win situation all
around.

So the next time you see one of your competitors, smile, wave
and say, "THANKS!"


About The Author: Wendy Betterini is a freelance writer, web
designer and owner of http://www.CreativeWorkAtHome.com, a
resource center for home business owners and telecommuters.
Visit today for information on how to make your work at home
experience successful.
How would you rate the quality of this article?
1 2 3 4 5
Poor Excellent
Add comment
Comments
BE Staff
Our staff consists of several contributors from various industries. The articles from our staff are usually product or company related, specific topics are usually contributed from our regular authors. 

View all articles by BE Staff
Article Options

Sponsors:

Popular Articles
Popular Authors
Copyright 2008 businessEvolved.com. All rights reserved.
Powered by ArticleLive Content Management System