Analyzing Your Professional Competition

Competition from business to business is the soul of capitalism??”it??™s what makes money and creates a market. One of the most important approaches to business, both in terms of writing a startup business plan and continuing to follow up on your plan for years after the grand opening will be to address your competitors. The amateur, or the old standby that dies with his antiquated business model, may not aggressively campaign against their competitors.

The reason for this lack of aggression could be due to a number of factors. Management may lack imagination, may lack a competitive streak or may even have a general dislike for the business they are in. However, the most successful businesses (especially the ones that grow from a small startup company into a franchise) are always the companies that thrive on competition.

The greatest challenge, of course, will not be in creating a mudslinging advertisement or in badmouthing your competitors to your customers. (And actually, those practices are primitive forms of competitive marketing) Rather, it will be learning your opponents; learning the market they have captured, learning what they do to sustain customer interest and coming up with a new strategy that will top their efforts.

How can you do this? You may take the direct approach by simply walking over to your competitor??™s property and analyzing the layout and direction of their store. (Or for online competitors, visit their website) Take the mindset of a customer and decide what it is about their company you like or dislike. Now work those ideas into your marketing and advertising.

Banks will expect you to analyze anywhere from 3-6 nearby competitors in your business plan before they have confidence in your marketing abilities. Even after you get started and gain a measurable market share, you will still have to keep a lookout for new and existing competitors if you hope to stay in business for the long term.

Just consider the scenario that you and your competitors have been cast away to an abandoned island, and must each market your services to the local natives. Taking this ???from scratch??? attitude may help you approach your competitors from a more analytical point of view.

Broadcast & Concentration Techniques in Lead Generation

Lead generation is a term in marketing that refers to the generation of consumer interest into a business, whether they are offering products or services.

Lead generation usually involves aggressive marketing activity that is targeted towards generating sales. Technically speaking, a ???lead??? is the information provided by the consumer to the company, who may be interested in buying, while ???generation??? could involve various activities in the marketing process.

In lead generation, depending upon the product, there may be heavy emphasis put on careful prospecting or proactive marketing. For complex transactions involving large products or services (such as in real estate) the most important aspect of lead generation is in identifying the most qualified prospects and then educating the buyer about the product.

You could say that prospecting is a reactive process, in which the seller reacts to the actions of the potential buyer. Lead generation can be highly intimidating, especially since cultivating interest can be a month long process or involve several parties.

Marketing for various commodity products can be very much the opposite; a proactive campaign that encourages impulsive buying, often time favoring emotional response over logical response.

Sometimes lead generation in this sense involves a marketing perspective of two parties, each seeking the other, but who are obscured by time and distance.

There are also differing strategies in lead generation, including broadcast and concentration techniques. Broadcast involves communicating to a broad audience expecting a statistical response. Concentration involves creating situations that concentrate an individual response, such as at a trade show.

What are some types of lead generation that have proven effective over time? Obviously, broadcast advertising has been proven lucrative for large companies and corporations.

For small to medium sized companies, efforts in direct mail or email marketing have reported positive results. For product marketing, trade show or events marketing has proven successful, while for others seminars and training sessions have earned a strong following.

Telemarketing is another common form of lead generation, as are white papers and product literature, such as pamphlets and brochures. Companies can also utilize publicity in their efforts, as well as exploit new technology in web marketing, whether through Search Engine Optimization or other Internet media advertising.

Lead generation is important in any business, whether their product or service is complex or commonplace. A business owner must constantly be looking for new leads of customer interest. A complacent business may well be a business on its way into bankruptcy.

Enhancing Referability:Smart Business Owners Know That It Pays To Be Nice In Business.

If you give your customers the cold shoulder or the short end of the stick in a transaction, you will get your reward in full and never see them again. On the other hand, the business owner who keeps his or her customers happy can count own repeat business and referrals.

Referrals are a direct result of the positive dealing you have with others. Happy customers will recommend you to their friends and family as a reputable business owner that can be trusted. What are some ways to enhance your refer-ability among customers?

First, be willing to provide high quality services, whether services are your product or you go that extra mile and provide free services along with your product. The services you offer should be clearly stated and always consistent, so that the customer never detects a double standard.

Do for one customer what you would do for all of your customers. Providing top quality services and putting forth serious efforts to please will give your customers reason to be loyal.

Meet the expectations of your customers so that you can make them happy and also prevent any misunderstandings. This involves not only providing friendly service but also making sure the customer understands beforehand what the service and product will do.

This is not the time for exaggeration or empty promises. Make sure that the customer??™s hopes are not unrealistic before making the sale. Be willing to fulfill whatever services you offer and live up to full expectations.

However, not every satisfied customer is going to want to give you free business just because you have fulfilled your obligation. This means you have to go above and beyond what is required of you and demonstrate to your customers that you deserve referrals??”that you are something truly unique in a cutthroat commercial world.

This may involve instituting a customer retention program, which rewards loyal customers with letters or free coupons.

You may also gain more referrals after providing a memorable experience for your customers. These memorable experiences often times cannot be planned. However, you will know it when the opportunity arises. Due to a customer??™s request (whether asked or implied) you may be able to provide a service to the customer for free or little cost??”in another words, a gesture of kindness.

This will usually be an emergency situation. When you take advantage of this emergency and extend unexpected hospitality, you can create a memorable experience in the mind of the customer??”and you will be worth a few dozen referrals.

Referrals spread by good word of mouth, which result from professional and courteous services.