3 thoughts for the week of January 11, 2010 (know the competition, network & advice from Tom Brady)
January 13, 2010//Last Updated January 6, 2013
- Frugality and Practicality are the name of the game in 2010. With consumers being more selective where they spend their dollars, businesses have to make sure that are working smart to make sure their customers don’t go looking for alternatives. To be successful, they have to be fully aware of what those alternatives are. When’s the last time you did a comprehensive competitive analysis? Are you paying attention? Do you know what your competitors have been up to? Time to take a broad look at not only your direct composition (those who do what you do), but also what alternatives your customer has to fulfill that same need. For example, if you make paper towels, you are not only competing against other paper towel makers, but also the sponge makers, wash cloth makers and even those Chamois guys. You all offer a solution for cleaning up spills, but which one is offering the best value? You need to know where you stand. And in that sea of options, how do you stand out?
- We often talk about the marketing tools available via print and web, but one of the most important marketing tools is networking. You market so that your potential customer can get to know you. You want to start a relationship. Well, an actual handshake is a very effective way to do that. Get back to basics, get out there an make friends. You never know who you maybe able to help and also who maybe able to help you.
We have some made some great contacts with members of some local networking groups. Check them out:
- As last weekend’s Patriot’s game illustrated, past performance is no guarantee of future success. Predictions are made all the time that never come to fruition. The lesson everyone can take away from this two fold: 1) You can never rest on your laurels, and 2) Don’t let anybody ever count you out. Whether you have experienced success or road blocks in your past, today you have to set your goal and do everything you can to achieve it. In his post game press conference, Tom Brady (Matt’s heterosexual-man-crush), said “Part of it is mental toughness and moving forward and saying, ‘This year didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to and next year we’re going to make it a hell of a lot better.‘” And you keep going.
Posted in 3 Thoughts, Blog