There are two ways to view marketplace competition. You can focus on others in your sector and take yourself and your company away from the success and happiness you desire. Or you can turn your attention toward your own company and your path to being the best you can be.
The second choice offers a self-disciplined approach that will position you to make changes, improve operations and enjoy the fruits of your intentional efforts.
Devoting valuable time and energy on what other companies may or may not be doing and resenting their successes will ultimately limit yours. This mindset will also decrease the amount of happiness and fulfillment you experience in operating your business. This must be replaced with a more effective way of thinking.
Over the course of my career as a business coach and consultant, I’ve met business owners who’ve lost their way in the face of “competition” with other companies. This occurred because of their negative attitudes toward these businesses and their owners — especially when a business outperformed them or came to town and “took” market share they once dominated.
In some of these situations, I’ve even seen business owners become angry with their former customers and clients for exercising their power of choice in favor of what they perceived as the better value provided by the competition. Having a negative mindset isn’t necessary or helpful and will lead to the loss of more customers, market share, team members and possibly even the business itself.
All businesses in a given market sector vie for the loyalty and patronage of a limited number of customers. Rather than become embittered by others doing business in the same sector, choose to become empowered. Control what you can — how you, your team and your company operate on a daily basis — and let the rest go. The wise choice is to be better than you were the day before, to consistently reach for excellence in your operations.
Being aware of what the competition is doing is wise. But focus on your business and study how it operates. Evaluate the effectiveness of your leadership, consider the performance of your managers and the entire team, look at the quality of the products or services you offer and discover where you can improve. By taking this constructive approach, you’ll fuel your progress to the next level. Your attention will be riveted to how you can stand out in the marketplace through becoming the very best company possible.
This self-focused approach to business is more important than ever. As the economy cools and money tightens, customers pay more and more attention to the products and customer service they receive. They’re looking for value. Now is not the time to let them down.
This could afford one of your greatest opportunities to shine in your customers’ eyes and gain market share. Consider working with a qualified professional business coach and consultant to help you discover where you can make improvements and take action to become an exceptional company.
Once it’s been discovered where you can improve, it’s vital you and your team work together to implement the corrective steps that have been agreed upon. If you want to lead the way in customer satisfaction and loyalty — if you want to stand out in your sector and grow — necessary changes must be made and followed through to completion.
The business owners I’ve worked work with have found this self-focused and self-accountable approach to be not only effective, but also liberating. They discovered the freedom, empowerment, success and happiness that can only be possible through attention to their operations and creating a great company.
As you focus on your business, you’ll quickly notice how much more you’ll accomplish with the additional resources previously spent on worrying about the competition. And once you’ve implemented the changes that will improve your products and services, you’ll enjoy the increased happiness and success that comes with customers finding more value with you.
