Many people believe that they have
to do a Strengths and Weaknesses analysis, comparing their company with their
competition. Having been a business advisor to over 200 entrepreneur-led
companies I have never yet encountered any company that could do this analysis
in any intelligible form.
A business that had been trading for
over 30 years, selling vehicle alarms, realised that their customers were
drifting away. When visiting the company it was clear that none of the
directors and none of the employees knew what was causing this erosion. I
wandering around, conversing with the lower orders and picking up snippets of
information.
I discovered that an employee in the
warehouse, who had been with the company from the start, had recently died.
Apparently, this bloke was a ‘whizz’ at modifying the alarms, tailoring them to
the customers’ specifications.
Once the company had lost this
employee the company also lost their competitive advantage and traded simply by
shifting boxes, just like their competitors. This was the cause of their
decline. Conventional research by the competitors would never have uncovered
the company’s competitive strength.
How do you identify your
competitors? Ask your customers! How do you uncover the competitors’ strengths
and weaknesses? Ask your customers! It is to your customers benefit that they
tell you all about your competitors, because they will benefit by improving
their buying choices. If they can turn you into a perfect supplier they will
benefit themselves.
If your competitor reduces their
prices, you don’t have to react if your customers don’t even know about the
price reduction.
