Keeping Up with Competition in Business

[Eli]

By Benjamin Zulu Global

If you want to keep up with competition and grow your business, do not bring down your prices. That's like chopping off your feet in order to run faster. Profits are the oxygen of any business, and selling more while making little profits is pointless because you'll eventually be out of steam. The key is not to bring down your quote but to raise up your quality of services.

The market is like the world in that you attract what you are. If your competitors get into a price-cutting frenzy trying to elbow each other out of business, don't join them. Remember the trouble with the rat race? Even if you win, you're still a rat. After a while, they'll be sucked into unethical practices and compromises with quality trying to remain afloat. Eventually, the same customers who had run to them will return to you, humbled.

If you're efficient and honest, your business may not boom in a day, but it will stand the test of time. If you doubt it, consider the business philosophy of traders from India. How did they dominate almost all industries in so many countries in Africa when they were such a small minority themselves? Simple; they don't just trade valuables. They trade with values. Do things right. Be honest about quality and prices. Deliver what you promise. Do not cut corners. Pay your taxes. Do things right.

Another thing these guys do well is to specialise. They identify a smaller area so that they can be efficient and reliable there. They don't fall for the temptation of selling everything to everyone. Some have built empires around a tiny commodity like buttons for clothing. They don't deal with fabric or any other clothing accessories. Just buttons. But then they stock all kinds of buttons such that over time, they've dominated that space.

You should pick an area where you can be the go-to trader. This will give you identity and make you stand out.

Granted, sometimes you have to shift severally before you can find what to specialise in.

Let's say you do the business of Importing on Behalf, for example, which means simply handling the logistics of importation in exchange for a commission. You may change the kind of goods you import or the countries you import from as your understanding of the industry expands until you find your perfect spot.

In the end, you'll realize that the quality that will set you apart in any trade is trust. To be trusted by customers, you need to be honest and reliable. This means you say the truth, even it it means losing a sale because of it. If you can not deliver within the customer's requested time, let them know before they commit. Don't be desperate to make sales, or else you'll get into many bad sales, and they'll drain you and tarnish your name.

Efficiency is difficult to acquire because most people do the bare minimum. You have to remain hungry and curious about what's happening in your industry. You have to be more interested in understanding your clients than just getting them to buy. This is how you win their trust and loyalty, and you tap into the most powerful mode of advertisement: referrals and word of mouth. When happy customers refer their friends and family to you, those referrals come already converted.

But remember, this process requires patience and ability to play the long game. It also means you keep learning and getting batter in people skills yourself. Next time you walk into a shop and find the person reading educational material and not just searching for amusement on social media, watch that person. Within a few years, they will be unrecognizable.