Use Being Different to Your Competitive Advantage

Most people are very concerned about being different or knowing the least of everyone in the room when it comes to meetings. Sales professionals use the circumstance to their competitive advantage.

Competitors: A MICRO-STORY (400 WORDS)

“Step back!” security snapped at me as I tried to catch my builder team already walking towards the arena. Two homemade robots attempted to complete an obstacle course of ramps and doors obstructed by scattered rubble from an abandoned construction site. Each carried a red metal box filled with prize money. The team that found the key to open their box first would be the winner. Competition was serious with ten thousand dollars up for grabs during each round. Of course there was a glitch — two boxes, one key.

Your Competitors Are NOT Sleeping Under Their Desks Every Night...

… Unless you’re 21 and live on Red Bulls and pizza.

IMPORTANT: Before we start, if you can answer “yes” to ANY of these questions then this article does not apply to you and I suggest NOT reading it because your competitors probably ARE sleeping under their desks:

5 Strategies to Effectively Determine Your Market Size

Besides developing an exceptional product or hiring the right talent, doing some much-needed market research is the most critical step for any startup. A part of this research should involve market size. Without knowing your market size, you may be conducting business in a market so small, it’s next to impossible to make any money.

Understanding market size helps you distinguish between two categories: the addressable market, which is the total revenue opportunity for your product or service; and the available market, which is the portion of the addressable market for which you can realistically compete. By outlining the difference between these two, you can develop a product offering to tackle that consumer sweet spot.

Without a solid grasp on your market size, you endanger your business’ success in not only the early stages, but also throughout its entire life cycle.

6 tips for positive brand building

When we launched the Credit Karma platform in 2008, we were offering free credit scores at a time when consumers were used to deception from other companies, often getting pulled into expensive subscription programs when they thought they were getting their credit scores for free.

Because of this, one of our first goals as a company was to elevate our name above everyone else's. We've done this while consciously attempting to avoid making negative statements about other companies, and we've tried to always put actions before words. It's left us battling competing impulses at times--accentuating our own positives, without directly calling out another company's negatives--but I think we've learned to walk this line well.

5 tips for successful market intelligence programs

Blind navigation of your competitive landscape will leave you vulnerable in your market.  Realization of the need for situational awareness has led to more and more companies seeking competitive intelligence as a resource to maintaining and improving their competitive strategy, not to mention identify their competitors’ strategies.  Competitive intelligence can best be described as appropriately collecting and analyzing imperfect information.  Understanding your competitor’s allows you to anticipate challenges and proactively plan a better market presence.

Editor's Inbox: Will my business see the light of the day?

EFE WRITES…

Dear Mr. Cutter,

I have started a new shoe and bag business. The material I am using to design my wares is made of straw. Now, my challenge is I do not know how well this will sell on the market. Also, I hear it is very difficult to secure loans from the banks for such a business. Moreover, the competition in the shoes and bags industry has become very keen. I have already produced 500 pieces, but I do not know if my business will ever see the light of day. Please help.

MR. CUTTER REPLIES,  

Hello Efe,

I can see you are a very scared person and that is not good for business. Being an entrepreneur is not an easy task, you must be bolder than this. All of the issues you have outlined in your letter are just mirages. You are not a risk taker I presume, but you have to know that all businesses did not just spring up; they started from somewhere.

It doesn't matter where you go, you will always be faced with competition. Don’t look at what others are doing, just be yourself, be creative, find what makes you comfortable and find different ways of designing your wares. Sometimes, it is very difficult for people to accept something they are  not familiar with. However, with time, they will come to accept it. 

You talk about not finding market for your wares but you can start from home. Nobody gets products or services going viral like family and friends. Give them some of your wares to model for you, if people are interested, they will ask for you. You can also use social media platforms like WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook to market them. Update your new wares constantly so people know you have more to offer. Also, make sure you leave your contact details on the images you upload, where it would be easy to contact you.

Financial institutions can sometimes be a nightmare if you are looking up to just them for help. However, I will recommend that you look within for funds. By that I mean asking trusted people like family and friends. You can also apply to the rural banks and small financial institutions whose focus are on start-ups just like yours.

Yes! your business will and can see the light of day, only if you are willing to take the risk and show the world what you have. Good luck!