Beat Off Your Competition With These Simple Business Tips

The term ‘business’ could sound pretty much like ‘busyness,’ but trust me, that’s no guarantee that even the brightest business idea would keep you busy, and when you don’t even know how to pull ahead of your competition, a business can get so boring, not to mention dull. That said, competition shouldn’t be seen as an adversary to any business, but a tool to keep you on your toes and a motivation to improve your business. However, in order to pull ahead of one’s competition, one might need to dig deep (adopt external financing options like loans) in terms of the funding needed to improve the business especially when you don’t have the financial capability. But what’s worth borrowing for if not a business? Meanwhile, you need not worry about how you’re going to pay off the money you’ve borrowed to improve your business because, with some debt management institutions like the best IVA Company UK, loan repayments are not so difficult to deal with. So, to all aspiring and existing startups, my hope is that you will walk away from this article with a good understanding of how to beat off any competition you find in your industry before they beat you anyway!

DON’T JUST SELL PRODUCTS, PROVIDE SOLUTIONS

Unless you run Adidas or Nike, like it or not, folks are not out there searching for your brand! All they want is a solution to their desires. Hence, instead of listing the benefits of choosing you and the perks you offer, focus more on the solutions. State clearly to your target audience how you intend to meet their needs, how or why your product can assist them in the attainment of their goals.

Always optimize your pricing

I know this is the most popular technique for beating off competition. Despite its popularity, most people still misuse it, by simply lowering their prices thinking their low rates would attract potential customers. Dropping prices doesn’t necessarily guarantee more sales! If you are a premium brand, for instance, there are ways for you to optimize your pricing rather than lowering it. For example, you can offer the quality-conscious customer an ‘exclusive’ benefit that your rivals don’t provide. Instead of dropping your price, convince your customers that they are getting good value for their money. And don’t just do that through the words of mouth but via actions. Offer coupon codes, discounts, referral benefits, promotional offers, and several other offers to make your potential customer less-bothered by the prices of your products. When people see the benefit that is in for them, they tend to care-less about the amount they are paying, especially when what you are offering is a solution.

Hire friendly staff

Yes, it may sound obvious, but you need to be conscious of it. People are more likely to patronize your brand if they are attended to by a friendly sales assistant. Hence, friendliness should be top of your employee recruitment requirements. While the personality of the employee has no bearing on the price of your product or your product’s ability to solve people’s problems, friendly customer-facing staff will always attract more sales. The response and attention people get when they reach out to your business might determine whether or not they come back.

Do not undermine the power of improvement

Improve daily and pull ahead! Consciously or unconsciously, it is very vital for a business to improve with time. It is true that improvement sometimes costs more, but isn’t it always worth it in the end? If you cannot afford the funding needed to take your business to a level higher than where you are currently, be sure to consider debt financing. However, while debt financing is good, repayment is key. In order to make your repayment process smooth, you should use a good debt settlement strategy like an IVA, but ensure you get the right debt advice UK before proceeding. Remember, your rivals are probably planning to improve too, and the longer you stall, the riskier it gets. So, in order to beat them, you have to be ahead of them in terms of service, product, and general improvement.

Stay open longer

If you are a brick-and-mortar store and your business is the type that enjoys a rush of consumers, it is often good to stay open longer. If your rivals close up by 8 pm, why not close up an hour later? While this may cause some disgruntlement with staff, solve the challenge by getting creative with your roster. You can also monitor consumer footfall throughout the day and week to identify your busiest periods, and staff people accordingly.

Never run out of stock

This is, by far, the greatest good you can do to your business in a competitive market. You just cannot afford to run out of stock, because if you do, your potential customers won’t hesitate to go to your competitors when you don’t have what they want. If you don’t have enough funding to stockpile your inventory, do not hesitate to get debt financing. Are you scared of taking business loans? Don’t be; many entrepreneurs, like you, use debt financing to make sure they never run out of stock and if they ever get stuck with their loan repayment, they switch to schemes like Trust deed Scotland or an IVA (independent voluntary arrangement). IVA, in particular, is so effective in dealing with loans and debts of any kind. With an IVA, you can even resolve those debts that have drawn the attention of a debt collection company like Rossendales.

Don’t make people dig too deep to reach you

By all means, cut the cost and time required to get in touch with you by creating pre-existing responses on your homepage (i.e., FAQs). But, if their inquiries aren’t listed in your FAQs, do not make them click more than once on your webpage if they have to click at all. Even though we now live in the digital age, some customers would still prefer to reach out by phone rather than social media or email.For the sake of this class ofcustomers, be sure to educate your staff well if you are using a human response system. But as your business grows you may need to go AI and invest in livebots. Don’t worry, they are not so expensive. But if you still can’t afford them, then, you can use your business credit card to fund the purchase or get a small equipment loan to set them up. Don’t worry about the repayments; you can always use an IVA to get your credit card debt written off if you ever become cash strapped.

Offer something for nothing

Instead of the usual customers-buy-you-sell process, why not offer happy customers a little something to go along with their purchase, without charging them for it? For example, you can provide customers with vouchers with their purchase to redeem on your products or services.

Support your local community

People are going to love your business more when they see that your brand is actually supporting their community. For example, a cinema can offer ‘sensory screening,’ where parents and guardians are allowed to bring special needs children, like kids with autism (who are usually overwhelmed by noisy, busy environments) to enjoy a movie in a stress-free, relaxed environment. Whatever it is that you choose to do to support your local community, ensure it is in line with your brand’s journey and values.