Have you ever thought of taking the time to reflect on the current status of your business? Are you still sure that you are not operating at a loss? What do you think sets your business apart from your competitors?
In order to grow and succeed in the business world, it is important that you find and establish your competitive edge over your competitors, which can effectively decide if you make it or break it in the industry.
Every business has a competition. This is why it is important that you study your competition. Even if this requires you to take their web sites apart and study it bit by bit, review their reports, visit their store as a customer, or get hold of their business cards, you have to take down notes on everything you find out and use it to your advantage.
After you have established the good and bad points of your competitions, you can start looking for your competitive edge. This means that you ask yourself what you can provide your customers that your competitions could not provide. There are several parts you can build your competitive edge:
• The service you provide. A good way to beat your competition is to offer personalized service. As said earlier, people these days are demanding and they are often willing to pay more just to get personal attention. It's wise to determine where your competitors are missing on customer service and apply it in your business. Quite often, this only requires ingenuity, common sense, and courtesy more than pricey technology.
• Target customers. It is important that establish whether your competitors is pursuing all of their target market. Perhaps there is a group or demographic that they don't pursue effectively. Maybe their products are not appropriate for the young market. It's important that you look for these gaps which you can cater to and market to effectively.
• The prices of the products or services you offer. Offering affordable products or services is always a great way to hook your target customers. But this cannot always be good to your business. Keep in mind that you can only offer lower prices is your overhead cost can allow it. So, it's important that you assess effectively where you can cut corners. You can always go for sales and promos on you hot items as this is often more attractive than always to beat your competitor's price.
• The convenience you offer. Customers these days are demanding and picky. They want to get things quickly and easily. If there is any way you can speed up the sales process without making your excellent service and the quality of your products suffer, then that would be a great edge for you. This would surely make you attractive to your target customers.
• Offering promos and incentives. Often, the best way to beat up your competition is to offer incentives and irresistible promos. Just put a simple promo in your postcards or business card templates. This will surely build awareness and reputation for generosity, which can be extremely attractive to customers looking for ways to save on their purchases.
However, before you do any of the strategies mentioned above, you have to first know your customers. Do a market research. Know what your customers need and what they are frequently looking for. And when you do find your competitive edge, go straight ahead and promote it.
Author Resource:
Leah Delaney is specializing in writing articles on a printing company. Try to visit this page for more tips about business cards and find the best place for free downloadable business card templates for your different design ideas.
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