Whatever business you happen to be in, it’s important that you have a thorough understanding of your competitors. If you don’t, you’re missing out on at least some profits. You’ll also find yourself in a very competitive marketplace, where it’s difficult to turn any kind of profit.
A wonderful example of this came to light today, when I arranged a new windscreen for my car. I phoned around several auto glass places, and the prices varied from crazy to outright ridiculous. Two places, though, had quite similar prices.
The first of those two was ultimately the cheapest, but only by $100, give or take. The second, whilst slightly more expensive, had a far superior quality of service. I’d have gone with the second, purely based on that fact alone.
But, before I could act, they’d asked me about earlier quotes. Of course I mentioned the cheaper quote, and they hastily matched the price. I’m happy about that, but I couldn’t help but see the loss they’d made in doing that.
If the slightly more expensive place knew their value above their competitors, they’d have made a 20% premium. Because they assumed that all customers base purchasing decisions on price, they missed out. That’s commodity pricing, and premium service isn’t a commodity.
The take away here is to understand what you provide to customers that your competition doesn’t. Understand their service offerings, and shape yours to always command a reasonable premium. It’s not greedy, unethical or immoral. It just makes good business sense. If you’re interested in finding out more about how competitive intelligence can help your business, but aren’t sure where to start, contact keyXI Consulting, and we’ll help you out.