There have been thousands of books and articles written on ways to stay ahead of your competition which suggests there’s no ‘one way’ to do it. It’s worth reading as much as you can on the topic as every bit of information can add to your arsenal of knowledge and tactics to stay ahead of your competition. It’s also worth bearing in mind that your competition is probably doing the same thing. At KnowFirst^TM we have just three really simple concepts that will give you an edge.

Know what your competition is up to

There is nothing worse than being blindsided by a competitor who has launched a new product, advertising campaign or sales tactic. Being aware of your competitors’ activity may not prevent them from any of that. But it will however allow you to plan for your response or to take action as early as possible to limit the effect of their actions.

Identify the needs in your market which are not being serviced well (or at all)

In many industries companies will forge away at what they do best and compete in the markets they know well. The greatest opportunities can arise through a discussion with your clients or prospects about what challenges they have and what could make their life easier. Regular engagement with stakeholders and customers will uncover little pockets of opportunity in the form of unfulfilled needs and unresolved problems. New products, services or even a ‘tweak’ to your existing service or product can be the difference between you and your competitors.

Look after your customers

Sounds really simple. And it really is. There’s a saying that goes “if you don’t look after your customers, your competitors will ”. The key is to understand your customers’ sentiment toward you and your service / product and that way you can address any concerns they might have. There a three commonly used metrics to know:

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT). This metric will measure how well you serviced your customer in the last interaction.
• Customer Effort Score (CES) – CES goes a bit deeper as to how easy (or difficult) it was for your customer to interact with your business. In other words, what was their experience with your business.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS) – This is a metric widely used to measure the overall satisfaction with a company using a simple scale of the likelihood of a customer recommending the company to others.