Viewing your competitors productively

- As a business owner, sometimes it can be pretty scary when competition moves in. Especially when someone new appears on the scene and starts taking customers away from you. Well, in this video, I wanna talk about why you should actually welcome competition. It's actually a good thing for your business and you should be glad to have competition. Let's talk about a few reasons why I say that.

First of all, is contrast. By contrast, I mean there's a nice comparison between you and your competition, and sometimes your customers don't really appreciate that until they see the difference. You may have certain strengths, certain things that you do that are very different than your competition. For instance, maybe you cater to them in a certain way, you provide a higher level of service than your competition does.

Recently, I had this experience when I was flying. Now, there's an airline that I use typically, and often I complain about little things that happen that I don't like. Well, one time I was going to a city that I don't normally go to and I had to use a competitor, a different airline. At the end of that experience, I was grateful for the airline that I normally use. Why? Because their competitor provided a horrible customer experience.

Contrast helps your business. Number two is awareness. Sometimes people don't get it, or maybe they're not even aware of what you do. Perhaps it's a new industry. For instance, early on, I started business coaching and there weren't a lot of business coaches, so people didn't understand. Or maybe people don't recognize that you sell a certain type of clothing because you're in a different area where other people aren't selling. When competitors move in, or start doing what you do, other people become aware of what you do.

I once had a mentor who told me that the best place to start a new hamburger business is right next to McDonald's. Awareness. Number three is progress. It's sometimes easy as a business owner, when you're being successful, and the money's coming in, to get a little complacent, but a competitor pushes you. They drive you to become better. You start to look at your systems and the way in which you're operating, and you need to make improvements.

That's part of the beauty of the free enterprise system, the idea that competition helps customers get a better experience. If you wanna understand what it's like to not have good service because of a lack of competition, just call your local telecommunications company. You'll see what customers support is like in a noncompetitive environment. Number four is focus. As a business owner, sometimes it's easy for you to drift and start to add all these different opportunities and service lines to your business.

When a competitor comes into the scene, they force you to get more targeted, to choose a niche, a group of people, or a group of the industry that you cater to. That's actually good for your business, because you can become more profitable. For instance, a graphic designer once commented on my site that she did this very thing. There are lots of graphic designers out there, but she chose a niche, speakers, and a particular product, their back-of-the-room sales of CDs and DVDs, and she focused on them.

It gave her a competitive edge, because she was able to price things higher because no one else was targeting that market. And number five is acquisition. Ultimately, you want to sell your business, or at least you want to be able to have a business that's available to sell. A competitor is a potential buyer of your business. And also, the other way is true. You are a potential buyer of their business. It will make it easier for you to grow your business at some point in the future if you acquire them.

So, view competitors as potential allies in the long run. Again, competition can be scary, but ultimately, when a competitor moves in, the first thing you should say is, "Thank you."