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How to Steal Your Competitor's Business

Written by: Steve Chittenden

Article Overview: One secret to success is being able to win when there is lots of competition. This is especially important when it seems everyone wants opportunities where there is little or no competition. The problem with the latter is they are both elusive and unproven. I outline how you can win in competitive businesses.

How to Steal Your Competitor's Business

It seems everyone wants opportunities where there is little or no competition. As desirable as that can be, it is not always the best plan. First of all, if there is money to be made, there will be competition later even if that is not the case now. If there is a bandwagon, it will get overloaded until the axles break. A better plan is to learn the secret of how to capture more business so your competitors are at a loss to catch you.

The secret to "stealing" business from your competitor is surprisingly simple, but that does not mean easy. It does not require you to be mean, ruthless, or unethical. It is actually the exact opposite because no one likes a bully. The secret is: you need to be better than your competition in a minimum of one area. As simple as this is, it easily gets missed and very few are doing it, which is why the strategy works so well.

The amount of competition does not matter if you grasp the principle of doing your best. It is the very fact that you have competition that should motivate you to be better so everyone will want to buy from you. By being the best in at least one respect, you are taking advantage of a flaw in human nature. By nature, we gravitate toward the path of least resistance. Those who follow this path miss out on the rewards of those who take the path less traveled.

Most of your competition is not doing their best, or they are looking for fast and easy, which leaves you a wide open opportunity. Let me quickly address those competitors you may have who are the exception to this rule. If your competition is strong in a certain area because they are the exception, it might be better if you look for a need they are not filling and capture the market in a different area, or seek a niche market.

Allow me to use one of those "when I was a kid" examples. I shoveled a lot of snow for income. I always shoveled the full width of driveways, walks, and steps with nice clean edges. In other words, I did high quality work. I may have had to knock on a lot of doors to get business initially, but I had no problem getting repeat business, and often received more than my asking price.

My primary business now is web design and graphic design. To say those two areas are competitive would be an understatement. Yet I have no trouble with competition. One great source of business is people who are displeased with their current designers, which is a widespread problem. Once these people find out that I don't operate like so many others who think this should be easy money, I retain their loyalty, even when my prices are higher.

Another big advantage if you have a lot of competition is that it indicates there is a large market. Unproven businesses do not offer that advantage. Maybe you're thinking, "Who am I to think I can be better than all these competitors? Isn't that kind of arrogant?" For one thing, you may only need to be better in one area as I have already indicated. Another thing is that when you make the effort to do your best, you have taken a step that most people never take simply because it's not human nature. There's not much competition in that playing field no matter how many are competing in your business.

The principle of doing your best to succeed in business would not be complete without mentioning the importance of marketing. Please do not confuse marketing with advertising. Although you need to get the word out through some type of advertising, marketing is a much bigger picture. It is safe to say that doing your best is usually not enough without good marketing. Good marketing is so powerful it can even help a bad business, or a bad politician for that matter.

Great marketing is part of doing your best. It involves everything from identifying your target market to creating sales. Part of your marketing will be to create your "brand." Many people think branding is only for big business. That's just not true. Going back to when I shoveled snow as a kid, when I knocked on the door of a previous customer, my branding was that they could expect my work to be so good, they would tell other shovelers, "No thanks," and wait for me to show up. Yeah, that actually happened!

So really, you don't want to just take business away from your competitor. You want your customers to be so happy that no one can take them away from you. If they should happen to get lured away by a better price, they will be back when they find out that you are doing your best, and the low price provider does not share your higher standards. If your customer is concerned only about price, let them go. You have lots of competitors who will fight for the scraps that fall from your table.

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Article Tags: axles, bandwagon, bully, competitor, driveways, high quality, human nature, money, niche market, open opportunity, path of least resistance, principle, quality work, rewards, walks



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