There will always be new entrants to the market offering lower cost products and more up-to-the minute solutions, so it’s important to stay ahead of the competition. But how do you compete when you don’t have the reach or brand recognition as your global competitors? Here are five proven strategies to maintain your market share and keep competitive in a changing landscape.
1. Stay lean
You don’t want to every have to compete on price as this is a short-term strategy that will be difficult to maintain and grow your business. Also, you need to maximise your returns, so you have more money to invest in the business. To achieve both these objectives you’ll need to run a tight ship. I don’t think there is any business person out there who isn’t conscious of cost cutting where they can, but there are some costs that you can’t and shouldn’t avoid.
Competitive salaries
If your salaries aren’t in line with market rates, it’s likely your staff won’t stay and that is going to cost you in the long run (see point 4 below for more on this).
Marketing
You can’t expect to grow if you aren’t spending money on attracting new customers and keeping your brand and products fresh. Always ensure you are measuring the return on any money you spend and track the leads and lead conversions for each dollar spent. And, you can’t expect quality leads unless you are implementing a good marketing strategy and strong and consistent sales follow through.
Rewards and recognition
These don’t need to be five-star holidays for your team, but you should spend time and money recognising good work when it happens. Team get togethers, Christmas parties and employee reward programs all help build a strong culture and a satisfied workplace and the return will be worth it when they are prepared to put in the effort to keep your business running smoothly.
Strong digital presence
Not every company needs a high-traffic website or social media interaction, but the reality is, most leads are now generated online. If you don’t have a great website and a digital strategy that is directing quality leads to your sales team, you need to make that investment. The other benefit to a strong digital footprint is the potential new employees it will attract. Every new starter checks out what their potential employer is doing online, and if you are a tech-based company, they are going to want to see what you are doing that is clever and interesting enough for them to want to join.
2. Strengthen your offer
How long is it since you checked out the competition? How long since you refreshed your product offer? You must know what the competition is doing in order to stay ahead, but importantly you have to keep value adding to keep your customers engaged. If you are selling SAAS (software as a service) it’s part of your sale to continually offer product releases that fix bugs and provide a better customer UX (user experience). It’s not like you’re receiving additional money to update your product, it’s just an expectation that you’ll do it.
The same goes for physical products or services. You need to review what you are providing. Do you offer phone and online support? Are you supplying user guides in various languages? Do you know what your customers would like? Competitor scans and customer surveys are the best way of finding this out and you’re going to have to continually do this in order to stay ahead. Remember, it’s not about price but the value you are offering. It’s fine for your product to be more expensive than the competition, but you’ll need to ensure your product is worth the extra money because your customers value the extras you are providing.
3. Keep your customers satisfied
I mentioned customer feedback above, but this doesn’t mean asking for feedback only when they first purchase your products. You need to plan customer surveys and follow up at designated times after they’ve begun using your products. If your products require ongoing customer support, make sure you provide a personal touch. For this to work well you’ll probably need a good customer relationship management system (CRM). There are many on the market but basically, they create a database of all your customers, the products they’ve purchased, and any communication you’ve had with them. Most CRMs also allow you to promote products to existing and potential customers through add-on or incorporated automated marketing and campaign management software. These tools help keep your brand and products top of mind, so customers remember you when they are ready to make a purchasing decision.
You also need to ask about your service delivery. Do you always meet the expected service level agreements? If not, you are placing your company at risk, so you need to stay on top of your customer support and ensure you are following through with any promises you are making to your customers. Sometimes it’s easier to have an outside company conduct your surveying as you’re more likely to get honest responses. If you leave it up to your account manager, they are unlikely to tell you when they messed up and your customers are less likely to provide honest feedback.
4. Keep your employees satisfied
The last thing you want is unhappy employees meeting with your customers or stomping around your office. That one small eye roll from your team can signal a lot more to your customers and could eventually lead them to sourcing another supplier. I’m of the belief that dissatisfaction in a workplace tends to breed like cancer. You should cut it out in order to stem the spread. The solution is not always to fire the unhappy employees, as you may be able to turn them around. It’s far less costly to keep on top of any issues before the problem gets too large.
Ask your employees for feedback. Listen to what they say. Ask them how they would like to be motivated. Not all employees are motivated by money, although more likely than not, they’ll respond well to more. Eventually though, that extra money won’t keep them satisfied if they don’t like their manager or co-workers or the expectations of the job. Listen to them and make changes where you can. You don’t want to be held to ransom by your employees, but it costs a lot to turn staff over so, ideally you want to keep them for as long as they are performing well.
5. Target new verticals
If you have no more room for growth in your current customer industries, you may wish to look at new verticals. Often you won’t need to develop a whole new product but simply adjust the positioning or packaging to make it attractive to a new industry. This is the greatest way to create business growth and lower your risk. If there is a sudden industry downturn, but all your customers are operating in that industry, you will be at their mercy. It’s far better to spread the risk through growth opportunities so you have a far broader customer base.
Rhonda Locke is a highly experienced marketer, a customer, product and brand champion, and is the Founder and Director of Unlocke Creative.