Top Tips to Handle Competition in Business
There are many hurdles to overcome when running or growing a business, and one of these is dealing with your competition. However, this doesn’t need to be a hard hurdle to jump. Whether you are a small business or an established one, here are some top tips on how to handle competition in business.
Use Your Competition as a Positive Influence
Believe it or not, having competition in the world of business is actually a positive and healthy position to be in. It not only shows that there is a demand for the products or services you are selling, but it will also push you to improve, adapt and overcome problems and ideas. This will ultimately strengthen your company’s business model. So, rather than looking at your competition as a negative, be thankful for them and focus your energy into improving your own business.
Seek External Help if Needed
Not everything in life or business is doable alone, sometimes you need to ask for help, advice, or guidance. For example, positive steps can be taken when working with, or seeking advice from a business strategist such as Hussain al Nowais. Working with people who have deep knowledge and experience in their industry can provide extremely valuable information and help give you an edge over your competition.
Look After Your Existing Customers
Often your competition will try to poach your customers by offering “new customer deals” or tempting them to leave your products and services for theirs by undercutting your prices. A way around this is by valuing each of your customers and providing more than just product or service value. If you can match your competitor’s prices then this is a bonus, but if you can show your customers why your prices are set as they are and that you have their best interests at heart, a lot of them will end up staying. For example, you might not be able to reduce your pricing due to the higher quality of service and/or products which you sell.
Think Outside the Box
To help give you an edge over your competitors, it is often worth trying to think outside the box. What is meant by this is that generally most business models are the same, and people will run the same marketing strategies, products, services, and advertisements. If you can take some time to think about an alternative way to get the same result you will stand out from your competition and may secure customers that you otherwise would have lost.
Invest in Your Staff
Your staff will be the backbone of your business, without them everything would not be possible. Similarly, to look after your existing customers, the same needs to be done for your staff. Make sure that your competition has no carrot to dangle over the heads of your employees. Staff retention is a great way to combat your competition as the lower your staff turnover is, the higher the productivity of your staff will be and the deeper knowledge of your business they will have.
So, next time you realize there is some competition refer back to these tips and see if they help you.