How to Handle Competition as a Small Business Owner

There are rarely any markets with zero competition, these days every field has new competition coming in all the time. To stay afloat in this competitive market, it is pivotal for small businesses to address their competition.

While competition is not necessarily bad, too much of it can drain your resources, and potentially put you out of business. Here’s how you can handle competition as a small business owner-

Know Your Business

USP

Have a clear Unique Selling Point (USP), this is what sets you apart from your competition. Before deciding on your USP, you will need to thoroughly research it, because this is the single most important factor that can propel your business ahead of the competition. A well-defined USP by itself will allow you to capture the market.

Niche

Start small, and specialize in something instead of trying to do everything and failing miserably. You should know all the ins and outs of your niche, this will allow you to tailor your business to that particular segment and cater to your customers exceptionally well. Once you are the expert, your target market will be yours for the taking.

Know Your Competitors

Analyzing your competitors will give you surprising insights, which in turn will help you view the market from a never-before-seen perspective. Once you have their complete details you will know what they are doing differently from you and if that is helping them. It is also worthwhile to know their customers' pain points and complaints about them. Using these you could bolster your own business and attract those unsatisfied customers over to your camp.

You can tap into markets that your competitors have yet to venture into. But make sure you know the reason why your competitors are ignoring these new markets, based on that, you should be able to make a decision.

When one of your competitors has a lot of cash to burn, they could try to get rid of all the competition by selling their product or service at huge discounts and accumulating large losses. The only way for you to survive is to think on your feet, in the worst case, you might have to change your business model and USP if you want to survive in the market, but all of this depends on how much of an extreme length your competitor is willing to go.

Know Your Customer

Customer Profiling

Who is your ideal customer? You will need to have a clear understanding of your ideal customer, and for that, you will have to profile them. Once you have your ideal customer down, it will get easier to tailor your marketing campaigns for them. With enough data, you can focus your efforts only on your target audience without having to waste resources by doing a broad-range sweep.

Customer Relations

Prioritize your customers above all, in a market with multiple businesses having similar offerings, the customers prefer those who treat them right. This is exactly why you need to do your best to resolve all customer issues, they need to know that you can go to great lengths to satisfy them. If you do this right, your reach will increase through the customers’ word of mouth, this is them indirectly marketing your business for you.

Feedback

In addition to providing great customer service, consider their feedback, and suggestions. Try to implement all those that are logical, showing them that you care. This will also help you greatly improve your product or service.

Innovation

The market is ever-changing, a single trend can disrupt the entire ecosystem. In an age like this, innovation is the ultimate weapon. You need to predict and innovate to survive and overtake your competition. You need to know what technology to adopt and what to ignore. Lack of innovation will stagnate your business, and with time it will come to a complete standstill.

Digital marketing is all the craze right now, innovating in that space is sure to yield great results. This is just one example, if you look hard enough you will find countless spaces to innovate and excel in.

Employees

At the end of the day, what an individual can achieve all by themself is limited. Unless it is a very small or family-run business,  a business owner usually has employees working for them. In this case, treating their employees well is crucial for their continued existence in the market. Your employees are the face of your business. If they are not treated well, it is sure to reflect in the customers’ experience.

Hiring is another important factor, if you have the right talent at your disposal, they can work wonders for your business. All you have to do is believe in their potential and give them a chance. Quite conversely, If you hire the wrong kind of people, they can make your business go stale, and worse- they could sink you along with your business.

When one of your competitors has a lot of cash to burn, they could try to get rid of all the competition by selling their product or service at huge discounts and accumulating large losses. The only way for you to survive is to think on your feet, in the worst case, you might have to change your business model and USP if you want to survive in the market, but all of this depends on how much of an extreme length your competitor is willing to go.

These should be enough to survive and overtake your competitors, but this is not an all-inclusive list. The rest is up to how you respond to the changes in the market.