There is a tendency to believe that in order to have a successful business, you must be better than the other businesses in your niche. You need to understand that it may be impossible to compete against some businesses in some ways. No matter what you do, they will be better at some things than you could ever be.
But that's OK. There is room for many good businesses in a niche. Your challenge will be to pick what you want to be good at, let your customers and prospects know what that specialty is, then execute your business and build your products around that strength.
Don't try to compete in things that you can't excel at. Figure skaters are excellent ice skaters, but their talents may not be of much use to a burly hockey player. They become known for their specially developed and honed skills.
Here's an everyday analogy to this concept:
When you decide to take your spouse out to dinner, do you tend to choose a restaurant by its specialty? I do.
We have local restaurants that are good for seafood, others that are known for their steaks, and still others that specialize in Mexican dishes.
All these places are in the restaurant business, all will receive my business at some time depending upon my appetite mood, and all are very good at their "core" business. There is room for these and many other good eating places in the local business economy.
But my point is that the seafood restaurant may not be able to compete successfully for my business at a time when I'm hungering for Mexican food. They have chosen to concentrate on certain products and offerings that they're good at producing.
The seafood place might have the facilities, raw food ingredients, and personnel to deliver a Mexican style dish, but they'd have a hard time competing in this space with those that have specifically focused on delivering a superior south-of-border meal.
You don't have to be good at every aspect of your business. In fact, you may only be exceptional at one thing.
Maybe your business will become famous and profitable because you chose a core specialization that no one else is delivering.
Maybe there are other businesses in your niche that have decided upon a similar expertise, but they are lousy at execution and can't do what you can.
Maybe you have chosen to have the best and fastest delivery of products there is in your market. Maybe you will be known for your unmatched personal customer attention and service. Maybe you want to become famous for the wide assortment of sizes and colors you offer in a specific line of products. Maybe your specialty is your triple-your-money-back guarantee on every item purchased.
Pick one or more areas of specialty where you can really deliver a noticeable and valuable benefit to your customers. Concentrate on letting your clients know what that specialty is, and out-deliver everyone else in the business.
It's surprising what little "perks" can do in the minds of your customers.
I know one gentleman that sells an assortment of home study courses online and has chosen to be known for his free shipping. Now this may not seem like a big deal to most of us. There are other vendors selling the exact same products for the same or even lower prices.
Shipping heavy items like large notebooks filled with lots of paper can get expensive. He told me he loses money everyday on shipping his courses out to customers. But he sells way more of these products (at $200-$1,000 a pop) than he ever did before he offered free shipping so he can afford to lose a little of his per product profit.
He figures the free shipping incentive is the deciding factor in some people's buying decision. His is the classic case of picking some benefit he can give to his customers as an incentive for them to deal with his business instead of the others in his market.
What do you want your business to be known for?
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Post#119 |
