It's Monday afternoon and you have just returned from an enjoyable lunch, thinking that you will continue working on the task you started in the morning. As you sit down to your keyboard, you notice a photocopied article from a well-known industry magazine taped to your screen with a post-it note tagged onto it. The note reads: "Who are they and where did they did come … [Read more...] about Strategies for Finding Information on Private Companies
Competitive Advantage
Business Intelligence: Secret Weapon to Successful Business
Unlock your company's most valuable resource with Business Intelligence. Remember IT? Information Technology? It seems many businesses forgot that the computer age was supposed to be about information and efficiency. Instead, the entire computer industry became about the collection of data for its own sake. In recent years the concept of Business Intelligence (BI) has … [Read more...] about Business Intelligence: Secret Weapon to Successful Business
Creating Competitive Advantage: Give Customers a Reason to Choose You Over Your Competitors
Why should I do business with you . . . and not your competitor? Whether you are a retailer, manufacturer, distributor, or service provider -- if you cannot answer this question, you are surely losing customers, clients, and market share. The eye-opening book Creating Competitive Advantage: Give Customers a Reason to Choose You Over Your Competitors reveals that … [Read more...] about Creating Competitive Advantage: Give Customers a Reason to Choose You Over Your Competitors
How to Build a Competitor Profile
Sooner or later, somebody in your company will ask you to build a company profile. Where to start ? This article will outline the steps in building a good competitor profile and the questions you should ask yourself: What is this profile for? What should be included? What format is most appropriate? What sources can I use? What do I do next ? What is this … [Read more...] about How to Build a Competitor Profile
How to Deal with Competition: Changing Your Market Position
Are you finding many of your best prospects already working with competitors? When you pursue a new opportunity, is someone else capturing the prize? Maybe it's time to re-evaluate your positioning. Understanding Market Position Your market position is the place you occupy in the mind of your prospective clients. It's how they think of you as compared to your … [Read more...] about How to Deal with Competition: Changing Your Market Position
How to Use Your Competition to Succeed
If you've been considering your competitors as roadblocks, or hindrances, you've been overlooking an important springboard to success. Business owners frequently consider their competition as the enemy. Many focus on "beating the other guy" because that's how they measure their success just like in sports, where one side has to beat the other to win. However, by focusing … [Read more...] about How to Use Your Competition to Succeed
8 Advantages of a Small Business
When a big boy moves into your territory, you have an ace up your sleeves - your size! Being a small business offers some distinct and impressive advantages. Learn how to get the most powerful benefits from your inherent advantage in size. 1. Faster response time to customer needs. In a small company, it is less likely that difficult customer problems will fester … [Read more...] about 8 Advantages of a Small Business
How to Work with Competitors
Are you overlooking strategic alliances because you call them “competitors”? It is amazing how many business owners and corporate employees view similar businesses strictly as “competitors”. And its sad that these same business professionals throw away some of the best opportunities they face, if only they could see the opportunity. What do I mean by that? If I own an … [Read more...] about How to Work with Competitors
How to Use Marketing to Beat Your Competitors
"Everywhere I look I've got competitors, from the large companies to other independent financial advisors like myself. What can I do to beat the competition and get more clients?" - Martha, Financial Services, San Diego CA In 500 B.C. Sun Tzu had the answer; "Know thyself, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories." In war or business the key to success … [Read more...] about How to Use Marketing to Beat Your Competitors
How to Beat the Competition
One inevitability faced by any kind of business, whether big or small, is competition. If you don't have any competition at the moment, then count your blessings. But if your product or service is a good one, you soon will. Not that competition is all bad. In fact, it can even help your business. First, it's easier to get a decision from a customer when he has a choice … [Read more...] about How to Beat the Competition