Competition in small business is inescapable and unavoidable. Whether you like it or not, competition is always going to be there. When the price of any products or services become low, the market becomes saturated quickly.
When you are competing against big companies in an established market, you have to look for ways to stand out from the crowd and develop a loyal following. With a well-established business plan, perseverance and innovative ideas you can use the advantages of being a small business owner and beat the major players in the field.
But there’s always a few secret rules to succeed against big industries. Follow these tried and proven rules be prepared for competition.
Target a specific market to beat the business competition:
Small businesses need to grow a following to compete with bigger industry in the long run. To make quick sales and more revenue, they need to focus on their basic consumers.
Niche down to the barest minimum basic customers and focus on their need. This mindset will let you have a monopoly in the market and will help to expand your business from there.
When you don’t have a laser-targeted market in mind, your sales will become slow and your marketing strategy will not reach to the right audience. When you recognize your market segment, you can throw campaigns, sponsor events and advertise on social media to catch their attention.
Don’t try to reinvent:
Dealing with business competition can be frightening. So, many small business owners think that inventing something new and selling it to a greater audience will explode their growth and skyrocket their sales. But what they fail to see is that trying to invent something will take a lot of time and will only frustrate the young entrepreneurs.
So instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, look at your product from a different angle. Try to find an untapped subcategory in your narrowed down market and sell it to your core customers.
Let’s say you are not the only ice cream seller in your area but you can be the only butterscotch vanilla ice cream seller. In this way, you can appeal to a smaller circle of consumers and grow your business from there.
Make your customers your top priority to beat the business competition:
Small businesses succeed not only because they focus on a smaller circle of consumers but also because they care about their customers. Small business owners can interact directly with their customers, deliver a better customer service and exceed their expectations.
Quick response to emails, inquiries and solving customers’ complaints will result in great customer experience and will only bring more customers. You must create several avenues for your customers to communicate with you.
Be polite and build your relationship with your customers. Social media marketing and online reviews will give you more exposure and this way your customers will have more options to approach you and inform you about their problems.
Ask your customers to fill out surveys about improving your customer care. You can also offer incentives for filling out surveys. Small businesses can use their huge advantages in communicating with customers directly to get ahead of the of big companies.
Collaborate with your competitors:
Competition in business is good. A healthy competition can improve your take on things, it will force you to use all your resources and work smartly. The success for small business depends purely on executing a well-revised strategy on a daily basis. And making your enemies your allies will only help you on the road to success.
You can use many tactics to collaborate with your competitors. You can offer to cross-promote each other’s product, share your knowledge about your take on the market and can also offer to exchange your technology or tools.
Before building a venture with your competitors, get to know them personally. Set up a meeting with your rivals or invite them to a party or dinner. Your competitors will be just as curious about you as you are about them. So there’s 50/50 chance that they will agree to the meeting or show up at your party.
Don’t be afraid to take risks:
Being a small business owner, you have the luxury to change your strategy to try out new things without too much expense. You can always experiment with new things to improve your business.
Maybe you would like to change your brand and see how your customers react to it. If you own a website then it will be a good idea to change the keywords to keep your website up-to-date.
Taking risks in business can often lead to success. If you are afraid of too much change in your business then start with small things. Soon you will adapt to new things and constant change can only improve your business and help you to beat the business competition.
Things might not always work according to your calculation. But the experience is still is a valuable lesson. You can use this acquired knowledge later in life and succeed.
Always research and be up-to-date to overcome the business competition:
Always research to know what is happening around you. When the product becomes cheap and profitable, the market becomes crowded quickly. Always keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. Scrutinize their every move.
Your research on your rivals will save you a lot of money and time in the long run. Often business owner fails to cope with the ever-changing market and doesn’t focus on filling people’s need.
Talk to people with similar business and chain operations and try to find out about their uniqueness or their take on the ever-growing market.
Provide quality product or service to beat the business competition:
When you have niched down to the barest minimum customer, your product should be designed to your customer’s need. Your product should deliver a valuable promise and experience. Make sure your product has something new about it. Even if your competitors are selling similar products, your product should have something that is entirely different from your competitors.
When starting a business, you should build something cheaper and better and it should definitely have a uniqueness to it which will help you to stand out from your competitors.
Day by day, people’s span of attention is dropping. You need to produce a jaw-dropping product that catches your buyer’s attention in a snap. A revolutionary product can bring you the spotlight that you need.
Get your pricing right:
Many times small businesses try to lower their price to attract more customer and build their brand. But this way you will only lose money with every new order or will not make enough to expand your business.
This method can help you to start your business and get momentum quickly but can only make enough to operate your business. This usually happens in a saturated business. In such cases, it’s a better idea to look at this from a different angle. Do not lower your price but offer a better service.
When you set a lower price for your product then it might give people the wrong impression that your product is cheap. Set a price that is neither expensive nor cheap. You can offer a free business consultation service, free shipping service or free installation service along the way and watch your sales explode. Advertise your uniqueness, define your brand and make yourself different from others. Your loyal customers will come back for more.
Cooperation within the team can help you to overcome the business competition:
It’s crucial that you and your team are on the same page. Always cooperate with your team. Your members of staffs need to understand your strategy, decision and share the same goal. Make sure your team members don’t have to double guess your decision and make any far-fetched assumption.
This, in the eye of the competitors, is a weakness. Your team will help you to understand a lot of issues in the business. They can identify crisis before you. Explain all the pros and cons of your decision with your staffs to get them on board.
Create a customer database to beat the business competition in small business:
When you focus on a narrowed down customer base market, it’s very difficult and expensive to get new customers. So you must treat your old customers like royalty and get them to give you repeat jobs over and over again.
Keeping a database can help you in this case. Keep in touch with the people you have worked with before and build a strong business relationship with them. Send newsletter or promotional letter to keep the communication channels open.
Small business owners don’t win because they have a huge access to resources but because they know how to survive with the little they have. Take advantages of the size of your business and make a place for yourself in the market.
Don’t worry if a lot of companies are already selling the same product or service you are planning to sell. Embrace the size of your business. Use it as an asset to build reputation, trust and loyal customers. A saturated market tells you that your product has demand in the marketplace. Use this knowledge and find innovative ways to stand out and beat your competition.
