What's the best way to learn about your competition?
Answers:
Best is to focus on one self. But if you must know, and without doing corporate spying. Best is just do a secret shopper. Have wife, child, friend, or even hire someone. Have them shop them, act like a customer, client, whatever. Have them record what they saw, heard, were told, any papers given to them, etc. Not as in actual record, that is unlawful to do without consent or a court order.
Years ago when I was building a new building next to my rental location, I was standing in my new lobby. All the while watching the owner of a local competitor acting like a customer to one of my managers who had no clue who he was. I thought it was comical that I bothered him so much he had to come check me out for himself thinking no one would know who he was. Just made me feel like I was doing good and he was chasing me.
So be warned. do you lead or follow?
I shop my competitors, making mental notes about their pricing, specials, and customer service. If I can't beat their prices, I make sure I make it up in some other way, such as customer service, cleanliness, or the willingness to order something for customers that they don't carry.
Talk to them. Ask them questions.
first define the geographical area of your target population - and segmentation - see if there is similar business within say five minutes walking or ten minutes driving - visit stores or business that may offer your product or service- how is the service- do feel they are client oriented - check out their web-pages and advertisement - what image do they promote - this will give you an idea of what your business strengths are and weakness that may be addressed in your business plan -or strategy
It depends if your competition is local or "global".
If your prospective competition is local, you may be able to find them using yellow pages or by searching for them on the internet (search for keywords related to your business, as well as the geographic area). Another good way is just to ask people around town where they would go for the services your business provides -- they may be able to tell you what competition you'll have.
If your prospective competition is global, the best way for sure is to search for your competition on the internet. Again, use keywords related to your business and see how many other businesses are doing your own thing.
Best of luck!
Competitive shopping is the best way to do this. That is going online and basically mathing or beating their pricing.
Learning about a company from the inside out helps as well. Know their BBB score, if they have one, look them up online. If you can even do tracing on the owner, do it. If you share the same manufacturer's / distributors get on the good side of your supplier - make friends, this helps a lot. You would not believe how much i learn about my competitors just by having a freindly relationship with a shared manufacturer. Know as much as possible about your competition and the people that work there.
If one company offers free shipping, offer free shipping and a gift, or lower prices. That will make you a unique asset.
Another way to know about other businesses and to make your stronger is to find their weaknesses. If they have trouble with customer support, for instance, advertise customer support more than the shipping aspect.
People tend to relate to current events too. Meaning, the cost of shipping just raise, mention that in your advertising campaign "though shipping rates have been raised, our prices will remain constant". The Iraq situation is also a marketing niche. Offer free shipping or gifts to people with a military address.
hope that helps!
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