You Can Learn from Your Competitors to Improve Your Business
When you’re developing your business, looking at your competition, the right way can be very beneficial. Rather than fighting blindly over the same spot in the market, you should take time to analyze your competition. It will give you a built-in boost for your business and allow you to learn valuable lessons while you save yourself time, resources, and money.
Mistakes teach you great strategies for the future. As a business owner, you will learn from your own experiences, but you can also learn from those of the competition, turning business mistakes into tips to succeed.
Do a General Evaluation
Scan your market and identify three types of competitors:
- Primary: provide a similar product or service to the same audience as your business
- Secondary: offer a similar product or service to a different audience
- Tertiary: slightly related to your business
You may want to consider visiting their shops or offices to get a closer look at the type of customer experience they provide, as well as their processes. That will help you identify what works and what doesn’t. Check out their websites to see what sort of information they’re sharing, read their blog, and follow them on social media to see how they interact with their followers. Keep an eye out for any pain points customers may be having and be attentive to any negative comments you might hear about them.
Consider Their Wins Too
Don’t focus only on the negative. The mistakes of your competition can teach you great lessons, but so can their successes, so pay attention to your competitors’ wins. What are they doing right? This perspective can also provide you with great information to help you develop robust business strategies.
Don’t Obsess Over Competition
Although analyzing your competition may provide valuable insights for your business, it shouldn’t turn into an obsession. It’s an excellent exercise to do when you’re starting up, but it doesn’t need to be a recurring practice. Once you have extracted enough information to help you design a solid business strategy, you can put that to bed and turn your focus toward your own business.
Studying the competition can give you an advantage when you start your business, giving you opportunities to improve even before your operation is up and running.