When was the last time you thought about your competition or did a little research on them? If you haven’t in a while, you can be rest assured that your competitors are probably thinking about you more than you think you’re thinking about them. This leads to an interesting question you need to be asking yourself about the competition. “How different is our business from our competitors?”
In the big scheme of customer satisfaction. customer care, value and the experience, who is better? You or your competitors? In what area do your competitors beat you? What areas do you excel over them? Price? Location? Size? Availability of your products? Convenience? Reliability? Responsiveness of your staff? Guarantees? 24 Hour Service? Friendly, knowledgeable and courtesy staff? Cleanliness? Easily accessible and the list can go on. How are you different? How are you the same?
Don’t take these questions or answers for granted, assume you already know them by heart or think your customers don’t care. In the day to day operation of your business, it’s sometimes easy to forget the things that your customers or competitors are thinking about you.
I offer and provide many of my clients “Mystery Experience Evaluations” to help them get a true real picture of what their customers are experiencing when doing business. It is more than just a typical “Mystery Shoppers Report” which mostly focuses on “service”. It can be helpful but is not as effective. As a business, it is more important to know and understand the customer “experience” which drives emotions. Emotions and feelings lead to customer loyalty. You need to know why your customers do business with you. You also need to know why your customers are doing business with your competitors.
Tips for Checking Out Your Competition: (Without anyone knowing who you are.)
1. Evaluate on different days of the week as well as different times of the day.
2. Call your competitors on the phone and observe their greetings, voice, tone and responsiveness
3. Visit their web-site or app. Is it easy to follow, informative, attractive?
4. Visit their location and observe, cleanliness, approachable staff, eager to help, knowledge.
5. Observe the team work, atmosphere, signage, displays, specials offered, guarantees.
6, Speak to their customers and ask why they choose to do business there, or what is unique with the experience.
Today, it’s not just price and customer satisfaction that makes you competitive. It is all about the “experience” and other value factors that make the difference. If you and your sales people are constantly complaining that business is slow based on prices and service, it is time for you to check out your competition to see why you are the same and why you are different. Researching your competition may give you the “Magical” feedback you need!