When I say "eliminate", I mean find a way to minimize the number of competitors directly competing with you. It's worth it to completely specialize your offerings and separate your business from the competition, even if the product is similar, so no one can compare you to them.
You want your prospects to only think of your business, product, or service when contemplating a purchase. This way, you will get their business instead of your competition making the sale.
In other words, if you sell widgets, you want your prospects to think of your company first when they're considering buying a widget. This is easy to accomplish if your business is not in a competitive industry.
But what if there are all kinds of businesses selling the same thing you are, or filling the same consumer or business need?
How can you ensure that your prospects only think of you — and therefore only buy from you — and not those other companies?
Answer: You must thoroughly understand those competing businesses and then do one of two things.
Finding a position in the category you can own
This will distinguish you from other businesses and establish you as uniquely qualified to meet your prospects' needs.
This usually requires identifying a specific market niche or product attribute that is valuable to your prospects and not currently promoted by your competitors.
This will put you in a class of your own and virtually eliminate the competition. No one does exactly what you do. Or quite the way you do it.
Example: Your competition, like you, offers offshore bank accounts. The difference is that your competition makes the process difficult for customers. They need to put in effort to get documents approved and eventually need to visit a local bank to make signature stamps.
You could provide a fulfillment service where customers pay for the service and receive the bank account credentials and documents via email or direct mail when they are ready — no manual effort required.
That's how you differentiate yourself from the competition, even if you both have a similar product.
Turning your competitors into partners
If you partner with a competitor, they are no longer a competitor, so you have effectively eliminated one competitor in your niche. That's what smart business looks like. Others try to compete, finding themselves in a race where only the best wins.
Why not work together with competitors to make doing business easier for both sites and turn competition into a profitable venture?
It is a competitor that you turn into a partner or a cooperator. Are there businesses or individuals with whom you could partner, with the idea of referring business to each other?
A wellness coach, for instance, could partner with a Weight Watchers clinic, a health club, or a massage therapist. Although all of these practitioners sell improved health and well-being, they can also be positioned as complementary services.
Or, for instance, if you are a website designer, you could focus on working primarily with small businesses (a market niche). You could create a partnership with a website designer who focuses on large corporations.
If you agree to take on only business that fits your niche and refer business outside your niche to your partner, you both benefit.
Sounds fair, right?
You can partner with businesses in your field in this manner by identifying niches, geographic areas served, sizes, or types of clients served.
You can also partner with businesses in different categories that fill a similar customer need, agreeing to work together to help each other get customers.
Every business can effectively use one of these strategies to reduce competition. Figure out which strategy fits your business best, and prioritize eliminating your competition, even in the most competitive markets.
