Contractors - Investigate your Competition
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Open up your yellow pages to your job category and you'll see ads from companies doing the same work as you, in your area.They are your competition.
But how much do you know about these other businesses?
What kind of specialty work do they do? Are they offering coupons in the local papers? Do they do emergency services or work on the weekends? What kind of products do they sell? And the most important - - how much of your business are they taking away?
You probably only know a few answers to all the possible questions about your competition. You might not think it's important. You do your work and provide high quality services and products and that should be enough. But when any business is not aware or ignores what their competitors are doing they can easily find themselves passed by. The phone stops ringing and no new business comes in no matter how much they spend on marketing.
Other companies in your area will constantly be improving their services, their staff, the benefits they offer to customers, adding new ways to access their business, and new technologies.Since it can be hard to really know what they're doing and how they do it, it might be a good idea to a little spy work. You can call them up, as a customer, and find out how they run their business. Ask questions and find out what services they offer and what products their using. You might even be able to find out some costs. You could even have a friend or family member set an appointment with a few local companies to see how they handle their sales pitches, what offers they have, how they do their presentations. Then, they can report back to you on what they find.
It could be that you have nothing to worry about, but it could also give you a chance to catch up with them before it's too late. Way back in the day, IBM sold computers.
What will they say your company used to do?
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Labels: Contractor Advice, Small Business Advice, Small Business Marketing
