Creating a better business (Jeff Eisnaugle) is all about having an awareness and understanding of the marketplace that is ahead of the competition and your peers. In a capitalist driven economy, it is especially important to be ahead of the competition because the entire concept of capitalist business revolves around a kind of survival of the fittest mentality. This means that you have to be bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter than the next guy in order to survive the economic jungle. The competition is something that you should always be aware of as a business owner, no matter how big or small they are. This is because the competition should be directly influencing how you run your business.
For instance, if your competitor is offering lower prices, they may be cutting corners by having cheaper materials or poorly made products. If this is the case, exploit this weakness by reinforcing to your customers that your product may be more expensive, but that is because they are better made and last longer than your competitor’s product, which in the long run will actually save your customer money. This is an example of direct competition where you make your business more appealing than the others that offer the same product or services.
Ultimately, it is up to the consumer to determine which business is the best one. Determining this is a combination of factors such as price vs quality, as well as level of customer service and satisfaction. So in order to beat out the competition, you need to assure that you are on the top of all of these trait lists.
Jeff Chapman Eisnaugle is a remarkable business broker who says that keeping an eye on the competition is a necessary part of business.