…it’s your competition.
“I’ve never used an iPhone” was the quote from Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein during a recent interview. That makes him either a liar or a fool.
The arrogance of not deeply knowing your competition is something that perhaps would work in the past, but today and into the future is a direct line to failure. As an entrepreneur one of the most important things you can do is to understand who your competition is and what they bring to the market. Whether you’re a manufacturer, service provider or blogger you need to make it a pillar of your career to have the mindset of researching your competition. Here are some reasons why…
- In sales you will be better prepared to sell your features/benefits over your competition
- In design you will be able to exploit the design weakness of your competitions products
- In marketing you will be able to position your product where others aren’t and where others fall short
- In pricing you will be able to target your markets more competitively
- In support you will understand opportunities that your offering can utilize to reduce complaints
- In usability you will find nuances that no one can share with you, no matter how many videos, reviews or articles you read.
Being an entrepreneur today is all about learning. You need to learn your about your competition, market and customer. A lack of understanding in any one of those three areas is done at your own peril.
How about you, do you research your competition? How?
