Can Competitors Help Business?
Competition exists in every business, no matter what industry you are in. This fact may make you feel uncomfortable but believe it or not, having competitors can actually help you grow as a business owner.
Here are some five reasons competitors can actually help your business:
- It motivates you to innovate.
It’s too easy to be complacent if you’re the only player in the field. Hence, being in a healthy competition is a good thing. It motivates you to constantly seek improvement and/or change – be it in your product design or customer service.
- It develops awareness.
Your competitors will force you to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses both in your business and in you as a person. This is actually a good thing as it helps you come up with a unique value proposition to your customers.
- It fosters learning.
In studying your competitors’ strategies, you’ll learn a thing or two in running a business in your industry. It may be different from what you’re doing in your business but looking into them can help you come up with ways to better serve your clients.
- It forces you to narrow down your niche.
Being in a competition will make you realize that there’s always someone who is better than you at something. And that is a good thing. You can use that fact in running a business, to come up with strategies to serve better a smaller segment of your overall market.
- It makes you plan for long-term.
Without competitors, it would be harder to have that drive to have a long-term plan for your business. Being in a competition constantly challenges you to do more and better things.