I’ve met with business owners who live looking over their shoulders. Are you one of them?
Are you always looking over your shoulder at the competition? Constantly comparing websites, social pages, newsletters, storefronts, and work vans?
If this is you, my biz owner friend, it’s time to stop.
Now, I’m not saying to ignore the competition completely. The best time to do it is when you’re getting started. You use what you learn to understand your industry, customers, and what your business needs to do.
I began shaping this belief when I first read Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. Here’s the basic strategy:
- Study the competition carefully as you prepare your company or product release
- Identify what competitors are doing well
- Find what they don’t do well — or do at all
- Chart your own business to focus on what your competitors ignore
Get a stress-relieving cut
Say you start a hair salon. You review the ten most popular spots in your area. You find while they all provide the basic services, customers can’t get service In the late afternoon. The ones that stay open are busy and chaotic.
This is your opportunity. You can set up a place open into the evenings with a serene environment. Maybe you can even offer your customers a glass of wine or tea when they come in.
Identify the area your competitors are all lacking and make that your primary selling point. After that, leave your competitors in the rearview mirror.
Focus on your customers. WOW them at every opportunity you have and make them your primary marketing channel. Word-of-mouth and user-generated content are among the strongest forms of marketing you’ll encounter.
Keep your sights set forward. Focus on your customers. Aim for gradual growth. In time, your competitors will stress about you while you’re busy scaling up.
Here are this week’s actionable steps:
- Find your competitors and identify what they are missing that you can capitalize on
- Get moving and focus on your business instead of your competitors
- Forward this newsletter to a fellow business owner who can benefit from it
Your friend,
JC
