- Collect details on your competitors offering
- Create Apple to Apples comparison sheet to use in sales
- Collect competitor sales information and build notebook
Review Competing Brands and See How They Position Themselves
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Competitive analysis of your market place is a vital part of your business’ success or failure. Knowing what your competitors offer, what they charge, what their collateral materials look like and how they are perceived is key.
Making your business stand-out from the crowd and to get your foot in the door you need to know what/who else is out there trying to get the same new customers you are and even trying to steal your current customers. By having all of the details on your company and your competitors you can help your prospective client’s make an educated decision on where to spend their money.
In our company we have made an “Apples to Apples” specifications sheet that we offer to prospects who are bidding out our Postcard Promotions. We have taken the time to research our main competitors to find their costs, timing, customer service, basically their strong and weak points. From this information we put together a simple one page sheet that states in black and white what makes us different and why the prospect would be best served by using our company.
Now that you know it’s important to find out about your competitors, how do you go about getting the information you need. The first and most obvious place is the internet. Look at your competitors web sites for content, branding, look and feel, products/services offered and pricing. Keep a notebook or other list of your competitors websites noting how your site can be different.
Another method of researching your competitors is to call the company using any name and even a friend’s address. From there simply ask them for a packet that they can send to you showing what the company has to offer and a cost sheet if they have it available. This is just another resource that you will use for making your company distinct in everything from your web presence and printed materials to customer service.
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