Compassion for your competition?

by Merrill Lehrer

Right now, it's time to give your competition a real tight hug. After all, they'd like to see your business thriving, correct? Some of you may have warm regards for your competition. "They're helping to expand the market," is what some folks say.

What has your competition done for you lately? Are they sending customers your way because you specialize in some products and they don't? That is wonderful if you have a relationship filled with reciprocity.

Why should you like "the other guy," the folks who work for "the dark side?" They are stealing your customers. You should be extremely aggressive with your competition, dreaming of ways to do better than them.

Are you taking your competition seriously? Let's discuss how you should be evaluating them and utilizing that information to improve your business.

One, who is your competition? Many businesses instantly believe that they are superior to their competition. That may be the wrong point of view. Who are they, and what makes them tick? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Even if they offer only one service or product that is similar to yours, they are competing with you. Never underestimate anyone competing with you.

Years ago, retail pet stores thought that grocery stores couldn't compete with them. When P & G decided to roll out their IAMS brand of dog and cat food to additional retailers, the independent specialty pet stores underestimated the impact on their business. Many consumers now had another outlet to buy their pet's food, and a gigantic chunk of business left the pet specialty retail store.

Today, pet specialty stores are competing with anyone selling pet products.

Two, where is your competition? Are they one mile down the road or one hour away? If you're content to draw customers from the local trading area, power to you. But the other business may be pulling customers from far away, if they're special. Do they market to the same customer profile as you? If so, they're your competition.

Three, how is your competition going to market; what is their claim to fame?

Do they offer a vast assortment of the latest and greatest products? Are they low priced? What about stupendous service? Do they present items in a more dramatic fashion than you? How do they advertise? Are there unique weekly events? What makes them special?

Four, what are they selling and how does it compare to your offerings? Does your competition have a better selection of products? Or do they offer a greater variety of goods in a category than you?

Can you attract potential customers or will they be drawn to your competition? If you see other businesses doing something better than you, can you outperform them? Dissect exactly what a customer would appreciate at your competition and then copy them, and improve upon it. There's no shame in imitation. Look how the Japanese expanded the consumer electronics and automobile industries.

Think like a consumer. What were your best shopping experiences and how does that compare with your business? If you were a customer, would you enjoy dealing with your business, or do you torture your customers with an inattentive staff and mediocre offerings? Do you make every sale a pleasurable experience? Are you competitively priced? Do you offer unique items, or the same stale, crusty, old products that are visible in museums?

Is there anything sizzling or exciting when the customer is shopping with you? Or would you rather buy from someone else?

It's very difficult to leave our egos behind and to view the competition through the eyes of the consumer. You live with your business everyday of the year and that can make you myopic; it's too close to you. How can you step out and look critically at your operation?

The history of buying, selling and services are littered with the corpses of corporations that didn't stay ahead of the competition. What's happening to Kmart? Do you remember the name of the large store that went out of business in the past year? How quickly we forget. If you have been selling products for 25 years, I salute you. But, you need to evaluate what your competition is selling, too.

If the presentation is dynamic down the street, the advertising more aggressive, the signing is more impressive, the choice of merchandise offers the consumer anything they could possibly need, and the salespeople are a joy, how are you competing with that?

Take the top five things that you like about your competition. How does that compare to your business? How can you improve upon them? You must understand that monumental change doesn't happen overnight. Dissect what they're doing and plan your counterattack. Manufacturers, who are scooped, redevelop their products and launch them with enhancements. Retailers redesign their stores when necessary.

You can't sell everything or be in every category. But you should tower over your competition and specialize in something.

I've never liked my competition that much. I always enjoyed making them appear foolish in the marketplace. It gave me intense pleasure whenever I could do things better than them. So you'll excuse me if I don't have any compassion for my competition. I'm not going to give them a big slobbery kiss or show them any affection. But they do keep me on my toes.

Merrill Lehrer is a speaker and author, specializing in manufacturing, sales and retail consulting. He has more than 25 years retail buying and selling experience, having held key management positions at Petco, Office Depot and Federated Department Stores (parent company of Macys and Bloomingdales). Merrill's book is Retail Detailed: Secrets to Selling Retail Chain Stores. He is a columnist for several trade publications and has written for USA Today. Contact him at Retail Samurai Sales, 858-613-0400, or mlehrer@san.rr.com.

back to top                                          back to online exclusives