Every business has competition — both directly and indirectly. So, how should you deal with competition in your industry?
This is a hot discussion in many social media groups. Recently, I noticed a thread on Alignable on this very question that garnered over 1,100 comments. Many people joined the bandwagon that you shouldn’t worry about competition and just focus on making your customer happy.
I agree and disagree.
I’ll also throw in some pushback because I don’t believe that’s enough.
In my opinion there are several ways you can and should deal with your competition. As a business owner you need to know how you’re different than your competitors in order for you to communicate that effectively.
Otherwise, your would be customers won’t know what the difference is between picking you or 20 other competitive businesses like yours. And, when that happens, people often make their decisions based on superficial reasons.
So, my advice is:
#1. Learn from your competitors.
Look for new business opportunities as you study your competitors. You can learn a lot about buying trends and buyer behavior by looking at the offerings, pricing, messaging and marketing tactics your competitors are doing.
What can you improve or add to up level your business?
Think about Blockbusters. They apparently did not take this approach to their competition to notice that buying behavior did indeed change. Consumers now preferred having instant access to viewing movies the way that Netflix offered.
If Blockbusters added that to their service offerings they could have still been in the game with Netflix as well as new players on the market like Amazon, YouTube Red and others.
So, what if you’re competing with the big box stores? How can you compete with the “big boys?” This is a big topic, but one tip for this is…
#2. Don’t believe you can’t compete with the big box stores.
You may not do the same volume of business they are able to do nationally, but you can carve out a loyal niche market and still grow a thriving local business.
Find a key area that you can differentiate from the big box stores. There’s more I can say on how you can stand out and differentiate here.
#3. Consider which competitors could actually make great potential joint venture / affiliate partners.
Perhaps your business really excels at one or two lines of service and some other services you offer might be the cause 80% of your headaches. Why not team up with another business you can cross promote as strategic referral partners. That way, you can focus on your low maintenance services and eliminate a lot of unnecessary headaches along the way.
#4. Use your competitors as an asset, not as a liability.
If you find yourself feeling discouraged and defeated by your competition, then they become a liability. But, if you learn how to use your competitors to help you define your WOW factor, then they become an asset to your business.
You want to nail down your one core message that communicates your overall WOW factor, but you can have multiple selling points when it comes to communicating the differences between a specific product or service that you and your competitors offer.
Often the best way to study your competitive options is to become one of their customers. It’s difficult to develop your unique value proposition without knowing exactly what it’s like to do business with some of your competitors, so do your due diligence on studying your competitors from a buyer’s perspective.
Whenever I have done this I often find critical details you just don’t discover simply from reading your competitors’ web pages and marketing materials.
I’ll give you an example of how I applied these same tips in defining the WOW factor for one of my own specific service offerings called Power Biz Academy.
Power Biz Academy is an affordable solution for busy entrepreneurs who wants to focus on attracting more clients, but may not be ready yet for 1-on-1 coaching.
Members receive weekly group coaching with me, (not with a junior associate), plus weekly video training and lots of downloadable templates and cheat sheets to help you implement the key actions that will move the needle in growing your business.
The core WOW factor that I could use to stand out when choosing an online marketing coaching program is this:
Experience Matters.Members receive the added unfair advantage of deeper insights I’m able to offer from my unique background and experience having started, turn keyed and sold 3 other businesses since 1992. It’s hard to get that from facilitator/coach who simply went through a “coach training” program.
As far as the comparing other online business coaching programs, we all offer similar deliverables like:
Access to on demand video training on sales and marketing strategies
Making content accessible from mobile and laptop
Providing downloadable cheat sheets, templates and action plan checklists
Offering weekly group coaching calls for members to ask questions and get coached.
However, only by studying other competitive solutions from a buyer’s perspective I was able to discover the #1 differentiating selling point that proved to be the key missing ingredient in helping my members achieve their desired transformation.
Want to know what that is?
(drum roll please …..)
When you join a lot of the other competitive options, the group coaching might sound like the same feature, but you’re often on the call with 50, 100, 200+ other people. (Yikes!) … which by the way, I’ve also never read a competitors’ sales page point out this important detail when presenting their online coaching solutions.
Being on a group coaching call with 50+ other people means you’ll be hard pressed to get your turn and attention. You could have a burning question or desperately want to get coached on something, but end up having to wait weeks or months to get your turn. When you’re having a problem in your business however, timeliness matters.
So, when I explain that I limit enrollment in my program to small groups of 6-12 members, people immediately see the value and the massive difference this level of personal attention would make on their business. So now, their decision isn’t based on silly, superficial things like the colors on my website.
Instead, they’re making smart decisions between whether they want a coach who was only “trained” in business vs a coach with 25 yrs of entrepreneur background?
Do they want individualized attention on weekly group coaching calls or do they want to risk never getting coached or their questions answered?
#5. Don’t stress or obsess over your competition.
Although we did talk a lot about how to deal with competition in your industry, you want to do the suggested tactics above without stressing or obsessing over your competition.
Don’t forget you have existing and past customers who already love you and your company. Focus on how you can make your customers even happier.
QUESTION: What’s your opinion on this subject? Share your comments below.
One of my new clients made a breakthrough discovery during our business coaching call recently that I thought would help you shortcut attracting more clients to your own business and troubleshoot your marketing.
Dr. Nancy (not her real name) offers therapy and coaching services, but she was struggling to scale her business, especially since she doesn’t accept insurance.
For the past 7 years Nancy had spent a total of $54,000 trying to learn everything from how to use social media to video marketing to PPC and more.
By the time she got to me, she was pretty frustrated and confused why her marketing wasn’t getting the results she was expecting.
I gave her a 7 question Marketing Assessment that I developed which took her all of 7 minutes to take.
Immediately, the results of the assessment revealed the one thing that was getting in the way of more clients saying YES to working with her.
Dr. Nancy was so excited to finally see the answers right in front of her!
Because now she knew exactly what she needed to do to fix it.
She could see why this ONE thing was completely derailing her marketing strategies from working effectively.
The only regret Nancy shared was she wished someone shared these 7 magic questions (as she referred to it) with her 7 years ago.
So, that’s my gift to you today. This works whether you’re a B2B or a B2C business because after all, we’re all H2H (human to human 🙂
If you want to attract more clients take my Marketing Assessment right now. It’s a free.
It will help you get clarity on what is your ONE thing that has been blocking your marketing success.
Getting new customer leads is exciting, but that enthusiasm can quickly wither when you don’t know how to best convert leads into new clients.
When this becomes the trend for your small business, you immediately ask, “why?” before seeking out solutions to combat your lack of sales from leads, you should be aware of some important sales conversion facts:
Online leads do not automatically translate into sales.
Per Marketo, only 25% of leads ready to buy from you.
1/4 of leads are qualified, meaning approximately 75% aren’t your ideal customer.
Now, don’t let these numbers frighten you. In addition to this, you must understand the psychology behind the lack of leads turning into sales.
The Real Reason Why People Won’t Buy from You
There are four primary reasons why small businesses fail to convert leads online. These sales barriers are as follows:
Trust: People don’t trust themselves, so how do you expect them to trust you immediately upon connecting with your business for the first time? Traffic to your website may not always translate into sales if your leads are reluctant to buy from you. The absence of trust can stem from a lack of proof showing you do what you claim, lack of contact information, a poorly designed website, or non-targeted content.
Authority: If you don’t establish yourself as the authority in your field, through quality content, you will find it quite hard to gain customers, because they may see you as untrustworthy.
Money: If your price doesn’t match the perceived value of your products or services, you are likely to miss out on sales.
Time: If the customers feel that the time is not right, they are likely not to purchase.
Turning Leads into Sales: 4 Key Strategies
There are four solutions for converting online leads, which when used together, can increase your sales conversion rates:
Social Proof
Content Marketing
Sales Qualification Process
Email Marketing Solutions
#1. Develop Trust with Social Proof (Testimonials and Reviews)
Building a reliable brand will ultimately make it easier for you to market your product or services.
One of the best and easiest ways to build trust is through social proof, specifically reviews, and testimonials from your current or previous clients. Social proof will not only confirm that you’re talking the talk, but that you’re walking the walk.
When someone encounters your brand for the first time through your website, you need to:
1) show that you’re an authority, and
2) provide social proof.
Let your current customers sing your praises by encouraging them to write a review or testimonial through email, on Yelp, Facebook, or any other relevant review site. For those “special” reviews, showcase them on your website. Do not worry about getting one or two negative reviews.
This might work to your advantage, in that, they persuade leads to believe that your reviews are reputable. If people see that others are buying your products and enjoying them, they can be persuaded to follow suit.
Invest your time in writing well-researched and helpful blog content and eBooks. If your leads find that you are knowledgeable in your industry and in the various products that you’re selling, then they will believe in your ability to provide quality products.
You can hire marketing agencies to write blog posts for you. Or, you can learn simple shortcuts and time saving templates to train you and/or your marketing assistant to turn your knowledge into written blog articles for your business website.
#3. Utilize a Sales Qualification Process
One of the most crucial strategies for converting leads into sales is to have a qualification process. Lead qualification is the evaluation of the ability of a lead to purchase from you.
The qualification process involves gathering the necessary information about your leads to move them through the sales process. There are three types of leads: Information Qualified Leads (IQL), Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL), Sales Qualified Lead (SQL). How each is determined varies from business to business. Once your qualification metrics are defined, only then will you be able to take appropriate action that will convert your leads into sales.
Using a sales qualification process prevents you from coming on too strong and putting off potential clients. It also helps your sales team save valuable time and instead focus it on customers who are ready to buy.
For those leads who have not been identified as “ready to buy” or an SQL, you can nurture them through your sales funnel using email marketing solutions.
#4. Leverage Email Nurturing Solutions
Email nurturing is one of the greatest tools that you can use to convert leads into sales.
It’s all about leveraging marketing automation to follow up and remain in contact with any leads that come through your sales funnel. If you follow up with leads within 5 minutes, you are 9 times more likely to get a sale.
Strategically sending your clients or customer regular emails will drill information about your business and your services or products into their minds. The more they hear from you, the more they are likely to buy. You want to send targeted emails, to targeted email lists, based on where they are in your sales funnel and how they interact with your emails.
These emails can be anything from newsletters to content offers. The purpose of this strategy is to guarantee the right lead is receiving the right email at the right time.
The Bottom Line
Today, even though most marketing efforts are online, customers still need to feel that personal touch. By incorporating these few lead conversion ideas into your business strategy will help to ensure that you not only have thousands of people stopping by your website, but you will have them laying down their money!
QUESTION: What is your favorite strategy that’s been working for you in your business when it comes to converting leads into sales? Share your comments and questions below.
Author Bio: ShaDrena Simon is a digital strategist and inbound marketer for Yokel Local Internet Marketing Inc. You can reach her at: shadrena@yokellocalmarketing.com
If you’re planning to launch to new product, a brand new program or a new service offering in your business you need to have a written launch plan to follow.
But, how do you know you have the right actions plans or the best strategies in your launch plan?
Reality is … [bctt tweet=”#bizgrowth tip: you won’t know what you don’t know until you ask someone else who does know. ” username=”yooncannon”]
So, wouldn’t you like to know whether you’re on the right path in developing your launch plan?
That’s what we are going to dive into in today’s Q&A episode.
Last week I shared 4 tips in Part 1 to the question submitted by one of my listeners Stacy, who asked … “how do you know whether you have the right action plans to achieve your goals?“
I invited Stacy to share her launch action plan with me, so I could provide a laser coaching episode that would address discoveries I made on her specific launch plan.
And, as I suspected, what I found from reviewing Stacy’s launch plan is the same feedback would benefit many of you who are in the similar stage in your business launching a new program or service.
So, click the play button below and listen to
Part 2 – How to Create the Right Action Plans to Achieve Your Goals
Then, join the conversation.
QUESTION: What is the biggest lesson you learned when you launched a new program or service? Share your comments and questions below.
How do you know whether or not you created the right action plans that will help you achieve your business goals most effectively? That’s this week’s question submitted by Stacy from Atlanta, GA.
Reality is, if you’re pursuing a new goal that you’ve never achieved before, you just won’t know what you don’t know.
You could certainly move forward on pure intuition while trying to piece together bits of tips from various free content you’ve found. However, I don’t recommend doing that.
Trial and error always ends up being way more time consuming. And for most people, it usually leads to making costly mistakes. It’s an age old truth.
There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12
The risk of prolonged lack of progress and costly mistakes, for many people leads them to give up which means the death of their dreams.
I don’t want to see “death of a dream” happen to you. So, let’s dive right into this week’s episode to help you:
Create Right Action Plans to Achieve Your Business Goals
What is your brand? … Do you know how you’d answer that question?
Having a strong brand is an important part of your marketing plan, but as small business owners you can’t approach branding the same way as the “big” businesses can.
But, that doesn’t mean small businesses should skip branding.
Eight top branding experts share their small business branding tips to help you stand out from your competition.
Dan Antonelli gives emphasis on positive brand impression in his article Why Small Businesses Need Strong Logos
First, make sure that your logo is clear and easy to interpret, because you don’t have the years of brand recognition behind you that ensure that people will associate your name with your product or service.
Second, unlike large companies, you don’t have the large advertising budget required to brand icons too generic to help consumers understand the nature of your business.
In short, then, your logo needs to convey what you do and who you are, and leave a positive brand impression. That’s why small business logo design is a different animal from corporate logo design. Corporations can throw enough money into marketing to ensure that people associate any symbol or graphic with their name.
Small businesses don’t have that luxury: Each impression is so important. You need to very quickly connect with your audience members and give them something to latch on to — at the same time that you give them something disruptive in your competitive space.
Business Branding Tips – #2. Assess how you’re positioning your primary product or service within the marketplace.
[bctt tweet=”Small #Business #Branding #Tips @CANCapital says assess your product position in the marketplace. #biz” username=”yooncannon”]
Daniel DeMeo shares from his article Four Tips for Enhancing Your Small Business Brand
This applies whether you’ve been in business a year or for over two decades. While conducting an exhaustive customer perception study of your firm may not be something you want to invest in at this time, there are less formal ways you can evaluate how the market perceives your brand and your offerings.
Develop a formal panel of your most loyal customers to understand why they choose your brand and what it is they believe your products and services represent in the marketplace. Is it your quality service? Commitment to the local community? Your low prices? Getting to the heart of why customers stick with your firm will help you understand better what you are doing correctly and what messages you may want to adapt, based on how your business has evolved over time.
Ross Kimbarovsky’s article on 10 Tips To Help You Build A Successful Small Business Brand says
What you say is important, but don’t overlook how you say it. Your company’s “voice” is the language and personality you and your employees will use to deliver your branding message and reach your customers. Successful brands speak with a unique voice. Think about the brands you admire – what makes them unique? How do they communicate with you and other customers? What do you like about their voice?
Business Branding Tips – #4. Don’t try to mimic the look of chains or big brands.
[bctt tweet=”Small #Business #Branding Tips @MysteryTwit says don’t try to mimic the look of chains or big brands” username=”yooncannon”]
According to Ten Ways to Build a Brand for Your Small Business by Dan Einzig
Try and carve out your own distinctive identity. There is a big consumer trend towards independent establishments, and several chains are in fact trying to mimic an independent feel to capture some of that market. Truly independent operators can leverage their status to attract customers who are looking for something more original and authentic, that aligns with how feel about themselves.
Business Branding Tips – #5. Make Your Employees Brand Ambassadors
[bctt tweet=”Small Business Branding Tips @LouImbriano says make your employees #brand ambassadors #smallbusiness” username=”yooncannon”]
Try and carve out your own distinctive identity. There is a big consumer trend towards independent establishments, and several chains are in fact trying to mimic an independent feel to capture some of that market. Truly independent operators can leverage their status to attract customers who are looking for something more original and authentic, that aligns with how feel about themselves, says Lou Imbriano in his article According to Branding 101: Tips for Building a Killer Identity.
Business Branding Tips – #6. Be an Advocate for Your Business – Not Just a Salesman
[bctt tweet=”Small Business #Branding Tips @caronbeesley says be an advocate for your business. #businessgrowth” username=”yooncannon”]
Caron Beesley, author of 10 Tips to Help You Build and Grow a Stand-Out Small Business Brand says
You don’t have to be the greatest salesman to succeed in business. Selling takes many forms – and being a brand advocate gels them all together. For example, many small business owners strive to be the number one salesman, the number one cheerleader, and the number one fan of their own business (you’ve got to be excited about it if you want others to be excited too). If you are passionate about your business, be an advocate for it. Use many of the tips in this blog to make sure people understand what you do, the story behind your products, what your products have done for people, your methods and mission, and all that good stuff. Invite people in!
Business Branding Tips – #7. Keep it Professional
[bctt tweet=”Small Business Branding Tips @AllStarDesignUK says keep it professional. #entrepreneurship #biztips” username=”yooncannon”]
Dean McNamara of All Star Design and author of Top 5 Branding Tips for a Small Business, says the use of professional images matters a lot in creating your personal brand.
Use professional images – you will be amazed at how much better professionally produced images make your marketing and brand look. This doesn’t necessarily mean spending money on a photo shoot (although that helps if you have the budget!) but there are plenty of great free photos online which take a little bit of searching and you also have istock; don’t be afraid to use what’s available just make sure it fits your brand (and check its copyright terms).
Edwin Dearborn, author of 9 Small Business Branding Tips, advises to use Co-Branding.
Many people will come to know your brand if you are associated with a trusted brand that they are already fond of and doing business with. Your small business brand can accomplish your marketing and sales objectives much more effectively when you tap into the complementary strengths of another brand and their loyal customer base. Mortgage brokers co-branding with real estate agents is a natural fit. Wedding planners co-branding with a florist is another. Co-branding opportunities are only limited by your imagination and hustle. Co-branding is also known as:
Co-marketing
Cross-marketing
Affinity marketing
Alliance marketing
Cooperative marketing
Combined brand marketing
Business partnerships
The bottomline is, branding is part of a marketing plan. You can either allow your business to stand out or be easily forgotten. Like any other plan, if it is well implemented, it will result in something positive, if not, it will not work effectively.
QUESTION: As a small business owner, what is your biggest challenge when it comes to building a strong brand for your business? Share your comments and questions below.
First, make sure that your logo is clear and easy to interpret, because you don’t have the years of brand recognition behind you that ensure that people will associate your name with your product or service.
This applies whether you’ve been in business a year or for over two decades. While conducting an exhaustive customer perception study of your firm may not be something you want to invest in at this time, there are less formal ways you can evaluate how the market perceives your brand and your offerings.
What you say is important, but don’t overlook how you say it. Your company’s “voice” is the language and personality you and your employees will use to deliver your branding message and reach your customers. Successful brands speak with a unique voice. Think about the brands you admire – what makes them unique? How do they communicate with you and other customers? What do you like about their voice?
Try and carve out your own distinctive identity. There is a big consumer trend towards independent establishments, and several chains are in fact trying to mimic an independent feel to capture some of that market. Truly independent operators can leverage their status to attract customers who are looking for something more original and authentic, that aligns with how feel about themselves.
Try and carve out your own distinctive identity. There is a big consumer trend towards independent establishments, and several chains are in fact trying to mimic an independent feel to capture some of that market. Truly independent operators can leverage their status to attract customers who are looking for something more original and authentic, that aligns with how feel about themselves, says 
You don’t have to be the greatest salesman to succeed in business. Selling takes many forms – and being a brand advocate gels them all together. For example, many small business owners strive to be the number one salesman, the number one cheerleader, and the number one fan of their own business (you’ve got to be excited about it if you want others to be excited too). If you are passionate about your business, be an advocate for it. Use many of the tips in this blog to make sure people understand what you do, the story behind your products, what your products have done for people, your methods and mission, and all that good stuff. Invite people in!
Use professional images – you will be amazed at how much better professionally produced images make your marketing and brand look. This doesn’t necessarily mean spending money on a photo shoot (although that helps if you have the budget!) but there are plenty of great free photos online which take a little bit of searching and you also have istock; don’t be afraid to use what’s available just make sure it fits your brand (and check its copyright terms).
Many people will come to know your brand if you are associated with a trusted brand that they are already fond of and doing business with. Your small business brand can accomplish your marketing and sales objectives much more effectively when you tap into the complementary strengths of another brand and their loyal customer base. Mortgage brokers co-branding with real estate agents is a natural fit. Wedding planners co-branding with a florist is another. Co-branding opportunities are only limited by your imagination and hustle. Co-branding is also known as:
