How to take on a competitor - and win!

Business is all about People providing a service or product to People. Every part of your business must respect this aspect.

Take care of your employees. Pay attention to your?employees and treat them well. Treating employees fairly is much more crucial for a smaller firm. Even with the rising unemployment, finding quality personnel is not easy for a smaller business. If one decides to leave your business, there is no reserve or pool of talent. Even with a complete staff, you may find that numerous aspects of management or operations may fall into the lap of one person, which tends to make extreme time demands on that person. Spend whatever time and funds that are necessary to always fully train all employees on every aspect of your business, especially exceptional customer service.

Present a very professional image. Smaller firms competing with big businesses will find that the first impression is vital. Image is crucial to winning the trust of potential customers and retaining the ones that you have. You must be professional, even if you are working from your kitchen table. Professionalism should be seen from every aspect of your business — from the way you dress, answer the phone, or design your business cards. Plus, always give the impression that your business is thriving, well established and efficient. Many customers do not mind that they are dealing with smaller specialist firms; as long as the business has the credibility that they are looking for. Project as big and chances are your customers will too.

Location. If involved in Retail major benefits can occur if you locate near a competitor. This gives all potential customers a choice. You win by providing a better total experience.

Know what is your difference. Ensure your employees know and use the information about these differences.

What do you dislike about how the competitor does business. Important to understand where competitors fail potential customers. Ensure that it doesn't occur in your business. For example, many businesses fail because of poor phone support.

Provide exceptional customer service. Treat every customer as your best customer?and you will then be better than all the others. As a small business owner, you can concentrate on small details — every client is important, every suggestion is heard, and every phone call is important. A larger company can afford to throw away clients if they complain. They may also not feel the pinch of losing three or four clients a week; since they figure that they will get them back next week – or so they think.

Recognise all of your existing customers. When the larger competitors come to town, now is the time to?strengthen the relationship with existing customers. One way is to develop loyalty programs designed to increase overall satisfaction and customer loyalty. You can focus on rewarding customers who have repeat purchases, such as discounts for frequent purchases, special “loyal customers only” sales, or gifts to frequent buyers. It is always more expensive to gain a new customer compared to servicing an existing customer.

Use “loss leaders.” A “loss leader” is defined as a product on which you lose money but through which you also generate sales of other products in your mix. The idea is to price selected items at cost (or even below) in order to entice customers to go to your store, and then hope that these customers will buy more once they are inside the store. Another approach would be to sell a product at a loss, bundled with another that is profitable, such as offering “two for the price of one.” The goal is to entice customers in with irresistible offers, that they will buy other things more profitable to your business.

Develop a niche and focus on it. Large competitors may have a little of everything; while you can have a little of most things and everything of one or two types of products. This will establish your store as the place to go when buying those items. The way small businesses can compete is to carry extensive items in one or two product areas. Specialise or focus on a narrow, deep but?profitable niche. ?You can win against the giants by?looking for products to market?that are either neglected or poorly covered by big companies. For example, you can be the only florist in your area that has all the supplies necessary for elegant parties — and the staff that knows how to pull it together.

.Use technology to your advantage. Technology, now more advanced and affordable to small and large companies, provides the tools and power for small businesses to compete on an equal basis with the big boys. It is the biggest improvement to level the field between the big and small boys. Voicemail, broadband Internet access, and two-way radios, for example, can increase efficiency by allowing small business owners to get more done in a timely and professional manner. Computers also allow for more efficient and professional customer invoicing, job pricing, and inventory tracking. If you are still not on the Web, better start now as a website can provide you with inexpensive, comprehensive, and professional advertising in front of your customers. If possible, record all information about customers in a Reward database. This enables you to use the information on past transactions to give continual recognition of your customer for any future promotions.

Emphasise the uniqueness of your products. People are often attracted to the idea of getting something unique from a smaller, independently owned business, but are used to the larger selection a chain store can offer. In your marketing and advertising messages, highlight the originality of your stock as compared to the universal stock a chain store offers.

?Give your business character. Most big businesses have the same look, often impersonal, in every city. Make your business stand out by giving it an inviting character. Make shopping in your place relaxing. Greet customers as they enter the door, and let them know that you and your staff are nearby if they need any help. Never let customers wander around the store not finding what they need and having no one to help them.

Recognise that your customer always has a choice - be the business of choice.

To be continued .....