They say that if you believe that you have no competitor in the products or services you offer, then one of the following three scenarios may occur:
- To have and not to know
- Don't have competition ... yet. But you will soon face it unless the third scenario happens
- There is no "market" for the products and services you offer
In the modern economy, in the age of countless choices and limited income, the rule is: "market equals competition".
But let's develop the scenarios above and look at the cause or causes of possible confusion. A confusion that is causing inconvenience and leading to misunderstandings and suboptimal choices, thousands or even hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises, mainly small and medium-sized enterprises, but also professionals. Ultimately leading them either to the pursuit of unattainable objectives, or to the wrong targeting of a market segment, or even to irreparable business failure.
Traditionally, even among marketing experts themselves, the theory has been developed that a competitor is anyone who offers the same products and/or services as us. From a different perspective, a competitor is anyone who offers a solution to the same problem that our business offers. For example, if the need is to clean a stain on a carpet, there are several choices of solutions from "competing" cleaners on the market.
According to the first scenario, the phenomenon of "competitive ignorance" is frequently encountered. This is where the firm, either because it has not carried out proper research or because it has not planned a continuous process of reviewing the market in which it operates and redefining its business objectives, remains partially or completely unaware of the competitive environment. Under the second scenario, the firm enjoys the absence of competition either because it has been the first to offer a solution or because it has been the first to identify the problem. At least temporarily, because the market rules will make the new business opportunity with 'little or no competition' perceived and attractive to many. Especially when this leading and dominant "player" has created and then "matured" the market, this is an excellent and challenging opportunity for new competitors to enter. Competitors who will simply focus on the weak points of the competitor in order to "steal", relatively easily, an even small share of the competitor's sales volume.
But there is also the case that there is no "market" for what a business offers. Not necessarily because there is no need, but because either the existence of the need or even the 'pain' resulting from not meeting it has not been properly emphasised. This includes cases where the company targets the wrong part of the market. Potential customers who either do not have a need for what it offers, or cannot buy its products and/or services.
On the other hand, the people, and more specifically, the customers who make up the "market" we move in, make their choices mainly by following their emotions. An emotion that either leads them to gain something (survival, satisfaction, joy, hope, security...) or to avoid something else (illness, wear and tear of time, unemployment, abandonment...).
The basic needs of survival, food and shelter are more or less covered. Every day we are all called upon to make a final choice, not between what meets our basic needs but where to spend our limited monthly or annual income, which for most of us is limited. But not without achieving the greatest possible 'value'* or 'value for money' in relation to what we give. "Disposable income" is a resource, and a limited one at that, and as a limited resource it is only successfully "exchanged" when what we receive satisfies our dominant values and motivations behind the choice. This is the basis for the great misunderstanding and the harsh reality of assessing what many businesses consider competition in the "market" in which they operate. The market itself is the competition. The market itself seeks to win the same customer as your business. Some say that competition is only our "bad self". This is nothing more than another view of the same approach. Our "bad self" (metaphorically and always in business terms) is the one that does not allow us to see reality, assess it properly, plan, implement, evaluate and ultimately adapt with flexibility. Our "bad self" is the one that allows the competition to "grab the opportunity" out of our hands and "speak" instead of us to the ideal customer we all aspire to.
* (By "value" or as often referred to "value added" we define what we perceive we receive when we pay for a product or service, in addition to what primarily characterises the use or exploitation for that product or service. E.g. the "value" in buying a car is for some people the ability to resell it at a low loss , the security or even the prestige that comes with owning it.
If you are facing the challenge of ever-increasing competition and want to position your business at the higher levels of preference by your potential customers or if you wish to expand into larger or different markets, you may be interested in EPATHLON's customized business development programs. A contact with us is not binding but can give you real perspectives and solutions.
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