The Marketing Bureau

....You must beat them!
Never has it been more important to know how to compete against your competition than in today's business environment. With new business becoming more and more scarce, the business you do find—you must win.

First published on Go-To-Market_Strategies

One of the biggest mistakes people make in marketing is underestimating the competition. In fact, many clients have actually said to us, "We have no competition." If that were true, it begs the question, is there really a need? You have competition. Everyone does. It may be that your competition is internal rather than external, but competition does exist in some shape or form.

KNOW your competition

You must remember that it is your customers who define your competition, not you. So to truly know your competition, you must:

1. Ask your customers who they used before you, and who they think of when they think of alternatives to your service or product.
2. Ask your sales people what companies they sell against and who they lose to when they lose.

Organize the information you get from your "surveys" into competitive categories or the top 3-5 individual competitors, whichever is more relevant to your competitive landscape.
Then begin researching each competitive category or competitor. Use the Internet—after all it's free—but don't forget to ask your colleagues, your customers, your partners, and your sales people for detailed information they might have on your competition. The information you really need to know (price, service quality, etc.) is not always found on the Internet.

For every competitive category or top competitor, summarize the following:

• Competitive Products/Services.
  List the product or service that competes with yours. Make note of how they position their offering.
• Pricing.
  Describe their pricing strategy such as price points, discounting practice, average bill rates (if service), average size of sale, etc.
• Competitive Strengths.
  Describe their strengths—price, quality, location, support, target, etc.
• Competitive Weaknesses.
  Describe their weaknesses—price, quality, location, support, target, etc.
• Our Competitive Strategy.
  Describe how you will compete against this specific competitor. Consider this your competitive rant. For example: "Unlike competitor X, we provide XX." If you don't have a compelling rant, look internally and see what needs to be changed. Is your operational model not efficient enough to compete on price, do you not have a history of delivering the level of quality that outshines your competition, etc.

Now...set out to BEAT your competition!

Once you've defined your competition, and how you plan to position yourself against them, you are ready to take them on. But, there is more you must do to actually win.
Everyone in your organization and every action you take in the sales cycle and beyond must take into account your competitive position. Conduct an internal briefing to profile each of your key competitors and make sure that everyone (and we do mean everyone—from the receptionist, to the sales force, to the CEO) has a copy of your competitive analysis.

Also, ask your employees to have their ear to the ground for competitive intelligence. As they run across press releases, customer provided information, or other key data about your current or future competitors, broadcast it to the company. Educating the entire company better prepares them for how to help you beat the competition.

And finally, formalize a quarterly competitive briefing to the management or executive staff. This briefing should include an update of your competitive analysis; with a list of recommendations on how you could improve your company, products/services, or market position in order to better compete. Don't forget the very important step of making the changes, not just talking about them.

Then sit back, do what you do best, and watch the competition eat your dust!