It’s funny, when I started my first business, I was 33 years old.
I believed in my own abilities, and I believed I would be successful. Not surprisingly, I knew I had to beat my competition. So I started with a personal service second to none and a better price point.
Winning strategies
My strategy, whilst valid, was not a winning strategy against my more experienced and established competition.
So where do we go from here?
Some 25 years later, I have learned a lot since my first business.
The biggest lesson I have learned is that strategy is vital to building a sustainable business. A business that generates profits, cash, and also the time you need away from your business to have a great life.
Strategies that compete need to be designed to win and to beat your competition.
Beating your competition is not turning up every day and it’s not being equal with your competitors – it’s about a point of difference that the market needs and values.
So as your business coach, I help owners like you create winning strategies.
I help you understand how to position your business to win, and how to understand the value inside your business so that you generate more revenue and better margins over time.
I have learned that your business strategies are always relative to your competition. If you want your profits to be sustainable over the medium term, you need to find a means to compete other than on price alone.
It’s time to STRATEGISE!
To help you work out where your strategies sit relative to your competition, one of the best methods is to do a “secret” or “mystery” buyer test.
To begin: Identify
The first step is to identify 2 or 3 competitors. Get a trusted confident or advisor to visit or call them and investigate their products and processes.
But before doing so, create a list of 5 to 10 essential facts you want to know.
Time to investigate
So these 5 to 10 facts should be things you think you can beat the competition at.
I recently worked with one of my business coaching clients and we were discussing whether we would introduce a premium range of products.
So, armed with essential information from my client, I visited 2 competitors. I spent 30 minutes with each sales person, collected brochures, took details of price points, guarantees, and their sales processes.
As a potential customer, and educated with the right questions to ask, it’s amazing how much sales people tell you once they start talking.
Our key take away?
There was enough variation in the premium price range, so we decided to compete and beat our competitors in regards to product guarantees – and these were for the long term (10 years!).
And on top of this?
The second part of our strategy was to not only get back to back support from our suppliers, but to also lock away that guarantee period exclusively to us.
If you need some help to create winning strategies so that you build a sustainable and successful business, and you want six figures and beyond added to your bottom line, then I am the business coach to get you there. Book a time with me here: Book a time slot!