Understanding Your Competitive Advantage

Every business owner must be able to answer one very basic question, “Why should a prospective customer buy my product or service rather than a competitor’s?” If the owner cannot answer this question, he or she should probably cut his or her losses and seek alternative employment. Fortunately, this isn’t a complex question. At its core, there are only two possible answers; either the product or service is being offered at a lower price or the offering must be differentiated from the competition’s.

A recent survey shows that most companies are timid when it comes to price increases. Expert price optimization can solve that issue while enhancing profitability and growth.

While the slow economic recovery certainly affects the profitability of producers of many goods and services, a reluctance to “optimize” prices is a trend that could have far reaching negative consequences for companies in most sectors of commerce.

The dotcom boom and bust has left many businesses wondering whether it is even worth trying something new. Donald Sull offers six disciplines to help innovators manage risk: 

When the economy is buzzing, most companies can afford to overlook inefficiencies or take a broader view of what their customers want. But when times are tough, as they are now, companies have little choice but to re-evaluate how they do business if they hope to continue to grow and prosper. Managers are faced with essentially two choices: cut costs or understand precisely where the most profitable market demand is and align more effectively with it. Both options are difficult, but only one can achieve both short- and long-term objectives.

Even after knowing what they need to do to succeed and setting all the plans in place, most of the service firms get unfocused and the plans get pushed aside. Developing a strategy is not difficult however sticking on to the developed strategy is where most of the service firms fail.

The Secret to Success

The first half of this article begins before presenting keys 1, 2, and 3 to a terrible marketing strategy:
1.      Build the Strategy from the Top Down
2.      Don't Consult with Expert Tacticians
3.      Look Only at Your Own Industry and Competition

Here goes the rest: