How to Run a Competitive Business

Almost anyone can start or even run a business. All you need to do is come up with an idea for a product or service you wish to sell, register your business and fill out a few forms, licenses, and permits and you are there. However, there is a difference between starting a business and running a successful and competitive business. To ensure you have as much information and guidance as possible, here are several pointers that you can implement into your own business on how to run a competitive business.

Research your competition

One of the biggest things that must be done in order to run a competitive business is to research your competition. While this may sound like a dirty tactic and that you are snooping or spying on the competition, it actually has nothing to do with being stealthy and more to do with just paying attention to what they are doing, how they are doing it, and how you can better place yourself in order to capitalize on the state of play. It can be easy to fall behind if you do not research how your competition is operating as you may miss opportunities or be late to the party when something within the marketplace shifts. An example of how to research your competition is through SWOT analysis which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Strengths

Figure out and look for the strengths of your competition. What are they good at? How are they achieving it? And how can you implement the same practices and procedures in your business?

Weaknesses

Are there areas in which your competition isn’t doing so well? If so, use this to your advantage by then reflecting on your own business. Are you making the same mistakes? Is there something you can do or put into place so as to avoid it?

Opportunities

Look to see what your competition is doing to put themselves into places of opportunity, and come up with steps that you can take which will also help present the same opportunities to yourself. Not only will you be giving yourself and your business the same opportunities as your competition, but you will also put them under pressure if they notice you are positioning yourself to do the same thing as they are.

Threats

The first three pointers are geared more towards watching your competitors and seeing how you can match them, this pointer is more focused on what they are doing that will either directly or indirectly affect your business. If you are aware of their actions and plans, then you can prepare or counter any moves that they may take that could hinder your growth.

Research your customers

Not only do you need to be aware of your competitors, but another key factor in staying competitive in business is knowing your customer market and what they want. There are plenty of ways in which to conduct market research or gather information about your current customers, and potential customers alike. A simple way of doing this is by continued customer observation, this will allow you to spot trends and behaviors in your current customer base. If you are looking to expand and grow, however, you could conduct surveys on the general public to get a better understanding of what people want, need, and expect from their experience when using your products or services.

Go the extra mile for your customers

Customer service is a great way to put yourself above your competition, and often it is pretty easy to go that extra mile for your customers. Not only is this a great way of retaining existing customers, but it also helps attract potential new ones too. If you had a great customer experience with a business you will most likely tell your friends and family about it, or if you hear of someone asking for recommendations on where to go, the place where you had a good experience and were treated well is likely going to be the first business you recommend. Amazon is a great example of utilizing customer service and always going that extra mile for their customers, as when it started gaining traction, a well-known fact about them was how well they treated their customers.

Treat and train your employees to a high standard

If you want to stay competitive in business, you want to focus as much of your time and energy on your products, services, growth, and customers as possible, rather than on fixing problems. One common problem is staff turnover, and a great way to combat this is if you treat and train your employees to a high standard, this will then lower your staff turnover and increase not only morale within the company, but also boost productivity and growth too. Richard Branson who is known for being one of the most successful businessmen once said, “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to”.

Training

Not all members of staff that you will employ will have the relevant training or experience, and if left unchecked, this could become an issue, so it is important to give your staff the tools and experience required to do their job well. If someone can do something well and finds it easy, they are not only more likely to do a better job and feel like they are being looked after, but they are also less likely to look for work elsewhere.

Opportunities and personal development

Make sure you have opportunities for personal development and growth available for your members of staff. Having a good career planning system in place to identify career goals and explore growth opportunities is a great way to enhance employee engagement and improve productivity. Of course, there will be limitations within any business as to how many opportunities there are, and you cannot guarantee that everyone will climb or be successful in their efforts to achieve these positions. But if you have something available, this is better than having absolutely nothing to offer your team with regard to progression.

Rewards and recognition

Another way in which you can create a better employee experience within your business is with reward and recognition schemes. Not only will this promote healthy work ethics and competition among your employees, but it will reward those who go above and beyond.

Creative problem solving

Having a competitive edge often means thinking outside the box a little bit, and coming up with different ideas or solutions to problems that you may face. Every business within your niche will be trying to get from A to B, and generally, because humans are creatures of habit, everyone will be taking the same path. Although “safe” and “known” this path may not always be the best route to take, so next time you are faced with a problem, instead of looking at the quickest or easiest fix that everyone would go for, look at the problem from different angles and see if you or a member of your team can come up with an alternative and creative way of getting from A to B that your competitors either are not doing or have not yet thought of doing.

Being flexible and quick to adapt

Similarly, to thinking creatively and outside the box, another competitive edge to have is being flexible and reacting quickly to changes within the market or your specific business niche. If you can adapt and change processes, procedures, the way you are selling your products and/or services, or even parts of your business model then you will have a huge advantage over your competition. A problem that many companies will face is that they will get too comfortable with processes and procedures, especially if operating in a long-standing or non-volatile business model. While the phrase “don’t fix it if it isn’t broken” holds merit, you should always keep in mind that change is generally inevitable, so it is best practice to keep assessing the market and how you can keep ahead by moving and adapting to supply and demand.

Think about what you can do to stand out

A large part of running a competitive business is figuring out ways to stay ahead, and how you can stand out. This can be through several ways such as how you market your business, promotions that you run, or even down to the products and services which you sell. A common option that businesses will take to stand out and give themselves a competitive advantage is by matching or lowering the prices of their products and services. Just be sure that you can do this ethically without impacting the quality or experience. This includes the product or service that you are selling, your customer and their journey with you and of course, any employees or partners that work for you or alongside you. Sometimes your profit margin on your products or services will take a small hit, but in the bigger picture, if you can retain your competitive edge by doing this, you will more than likely make up for it over time.

Whether you are just starting out, or are a well-established business, these pointers should help you gain or keep your competitive edge if you consider them.