business | style
The Truth About Competition
By Dale Howarth, Business Speaker and Managing Partner at Jigsaw Sales & Marketing Consultants
E
very business has competition. Even if not directly competing, there is always an alternative way to solve the problem you are solving, even if your solution is ground- breaking.
So, whether we like it or not, competition exists across every sector of business. Whilst competition can be unnerving, distracting and at times you may often wonder if your competitors do things simply to annoy the hell out of you, if viewed in the right way competition is actually really good for your business.
Healthy competition drives us to be the best we can be. Competitors take us out of our comfort zone and help us to develop better products and services. Competition stops us becoming complacent, making us focus on our core business, customers and market needs. The truth is that if we don’t continue to make things better then we stop innovating and when we do that we become an ‘also ran’ which takes us down the slippery slope of being a commodity provider (where price alone becomes the differentiator) and ultimately we become obsolete in the eyes of our customers.
If you operate in a highly competitive or crowded market, you are very unlikely to succeed by simply doing what everyone else does. Customers have a choice and this choice places us in a position where we have to compete for their business; forcing us to improve our products and services - which in turn helps us to harvest loyal customers and advocates for our business.
Competitors also help us to better understand our own business
and how to gain a competitive edge by providing a valuable insight into the state of the market we serve; helping to highlight our weaknesses (and theirs), opportunities and to show us what works – and importantly what doesn’t.
Competition also helps to validate our ideas, you know you have a good idea and a great business when others try to emulate what you do and how you do it. The writer Charles Caleb Colton was right when he said that, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” Whilst people may try to copy what you do, you will still have been the fi rst to market and that says a lot about you and your business.
Every manufacturer of mobile phones and computer tablets has worked hard to emulate Apple’s amazing success as the world’s most valuable brand and company. Despite this attention, Apple are still seen as the industry innovators, fi rst to market with new ideas and able to charge a premium for this. How many other companies have avid fans queuing outside their stores, often for days before a new product is released and happy to pay such a premium for the privilege of doing business with them?
So be thankful of competition, embrace it, learn from it and be better for the experience.
Dale Howarth is an acclaimed business speaker, mentor, writer and founder of Jigsaw Sales and Marketing Consultants; helping companies discover the hidden profi t and potential in their businesses. To contact Dale visit
www.jigsaw-consulting.co.uk.
126
www.styleofwight.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132