How well do you know the competitive landscape in your industry? How much has changed over the last year or two?
Most people like surprises- except when the surprise comes in the form of an unexpected new competitor…. Imagine being in an industry for over 25 years and seemingly out of nowhere pops up a new competitor…. That’s exactly what happened recently to one of our customers.
All businesses face competition. To gain a competitive advantage and ‘win’ in your space, you have to know what you’re up against. This is especially important today since the competitive landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years. There are typically many other companies competing for your customer’s attention and ultimately, their sales.
We recently completed a national industry study for an organization that we’ve worked with for over ten years. The purpose of this bi-annual study is to evaluate customer attitudes, opinions and usage of products and services regarding our customer and their top competitors. The results are intended to support growth and drive immediate and long-term plans and initiatives for product and service development.
One of the most striking points in the results this year was the arrival of a new competitor. This company was identified by 25% of the participants as the preferred manufacturer in this space. Two years ago, this competitor wasn’t even mentioned.
This, of course, caught our customer by surprise. Although they were aware of this company, they had no idea that it was making such a strong impact on the industry and in less than two years, no doubt.
What was further surprising, and shocking was the fact that this new competitor ranked highest in satisfaction in eight out of fourteen categories evaluated including reputation, overall performance, quality service, product availability, responsiveness, variety of products, return policy and pricing.
Not only did this new competitor hit the market hot but it is now viewed as the leader causing all the legacy competitors to have to scramble and play catch up.
If an organization lacks timely, relevant insights, management can be caught off guard by industry changes, product updates or changes in client needs resulting in lost deals or missed opportunities, as was the case with this situation.
Competitive intelligence alone has no value if you don’t act on it. The goal of gathering competitive intelligence is to help you make better-informed decisions and enhance organizational performance by discovering risks and opportunities before they become apparent. Ensuring that you are periodically gathering market and competitor intel will provide you with insight to proactively drive your business strategy and success.
Consider these Customer Acceleration tips that will help you make more money from your customers and make them happier in the process!
And if you’d like some help with it, please reach out at (216-876-1165) I’m happy to help you get started. Watch the video version of this post.
