With the Ryder Cup underway at the end of the month, what can we learn from the bi-annual golf competition?
The Ryder Cup is all about pitching the right pair to beat the opposing team. Put that into the context of business, it’s essential to understand the competition. Very few companies have no competitors, whether direct or indirect there’s always someone vying for the same customers.
Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses is just as important as knowing that of your competitors and can be the difference between winning business and losing out. Wallace Hind show you exactly what you need to know about your competitors and why.
Products & Services
For you to establish yourself as a market leader, you need to respect your competition and know what they are doing. Identify your competitor’s unique selling point(s) and pinpoint where your service is superior or on the other hand, what you need to do better to keep ahead of them.
What do you offer that’s better than theirs and why is it? Do you win on the range of products or RRP? Are you too high or low on price? If some of the information isn’t readily available to you, call up their office and pretend to be a customer looking for quotes.
The more you know, the better positioned you are to recognise how your company is unique, to spot opportunities for growth and identify areas for development.
Online presence
A company’s online presence includes everything from their website to social media accounts. It will inform you of their customers, promotional activity, what keywords they’re dominating the search engines, plus who they’re connected with locally.
Sign up to their newsletters and add yourself to their email database to be in the loop with everything new. Go onto their website and see how it compares to yours in appearance and brand image. Is there a lot of technical product information on their website? If theirs has been recently updated leaving yours to pale in comparison, you might want to put that as a short-term priority for business.
Social media is then the next place to visit. Check out their followers and what their activity is like. Are they popular? Have they built an online community? Does their Twitter double up as a customer service base? Are they on LinkedIn but don’t have a Company page? What are they doing that you should be?
Customer Service
Maintaining customer loyalty is difficult in a market with so many options. You can be certain that if one company isn’t serving their customers right, those customers will move their custom elsewhere – possibly even to you.
It’s advantageous for you to establish your competitor’s target market and their current customer base. This leaves you in a position to tweak your products or services to appeal to a new market segment but also aim to beat them on the level of service.
Are they offering enough payment options? Do they provide a way for customers to leave feedback or reviews? Is their service prompt and efficient? Are you considering linking your product pages with social networks so customers can share content?
Future plans
Slightly more tricky than the rest, but to really come up trumps you must continually look at developing the service you offer, staying ahead of the market.
Future events, collaborations and news releases provide valuable insight into where they’re heading, the kind of connections they have now and which circles they’re aiming for. Anticipate their next move and be aware of what new products or services they’re developing and their resources.
Scrutinising your competitors is crucial to progression in business so look at them first before highlighting opportunities for yourself.
Wallace Hind Selection goes above and beyond to tailor the right candidates for their clients, ensuring they stand above others. To benefit from our specialist recruitment services please visit our website to find out more and contact us today.
