4 Strategies For Getting Ahead of Your Competitors
Competition is a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it forces you to deliver your best; there’s simply no way to be successful without being the best you can be. The level of competition that’s out there simply won’t allow it. On the other hand, competition is just frustrating; you’re doing your best, but your competitors are grabbing some of your target audience, and, as a result, eating into your profits.
Subscribe to Accounting Accidentally on Substack. Get links to new content on accounting, personal finance, and humor/ short story topics.
Getting — and staying — ahead of your competitors is, therefore, essential for establishing long-term success. Let’s take a look at how to do it.
Contents
Know Who They Are and What They’re Doing
You can’t get ahead of competitors if you don’t know who they are, so perform research to get a list of names who you can consider your competitors. Remember that just because a business operates in your sector, that won’t automatically make them a competitor. They’re only a competitor if they’re targeting the same potential customers as you are. Once you’ve got a list of your competitors, take a close look at what they’re doing — understanding their baselines is essential for getting one (or more!) steps ahead.
Expand Your Reach
Of all the ways to grow a business, expanding reach is usually the most effective — yet also the option that many businesses are reluctant to pursue. Done correctly, it can make a significant difference to your overall success, and put you miles ahead of your competitors. In some cases, it can remove a competitor altogether. Acquiring another business can be a challenging process, but a business acquisition loan can help; and once the deal is done, you’ll have snagged more market share while also removing a competitor for good. Don’t want to buy another business, but do want to expand your reach? Entering a new market, such as an overseas market, can also be a good idea.
Invest in Top Talent
Outstanding employees can make all the difference to an organization’s prospects. If the best talent in your sector isn’t working for you, then they’re working for your competitor. Working to put together competitive salary packages, a great work environment, and fostering a culture that people genuinely want to be a part of can ensure that not only do you attract the best candidates, but that they stay with your business once they’re on board.
Stay Agile
Even if things are going well right now, that doesn’t mean things will automatically be just as rosy in the future. Things change. New ways of working will emerge, customer needs and expectations will evolve, and the current landscape will become a memory. While there are some exceptions, the best companies tend to take an agile approach that allows them to move with the times. In doing so, they give themselves a significant competitive advantage. After all, it’s much easier to be successful when you’re in a position to take advantage of the moving goalposts. Your core values and mission can remain the same, but the rest should be open to change.
Ken Boyd
Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies
(amazon author page) amazon.com/author/kenboyd
(personal finance book/ self-published) 34 Stories That Explain Personal Finance