Tag Archives: business case

Competitive Intelligence Not Espionage

detective

Business start-ups tend to stumble when it comes to gathering information on their competitors. And yet, going into business without having a thumb on the pulse of your industry is a sure way to go broke.

When planning a business, and particularly when it comes to researching competitors, people stress about what’s right or wrong, and often feel they are spying. In business planning workshops, learners ask about the ethics of snooping and whether it’s right to sneak into a competitor’s shop posing as a customer.

Here are a few methods to get you past the initial feelings of espionage and nefariousness, and on to non-intrusive learning about the industry you’re getting into.

1. You can find articles on competitor’s businesses by searching on the Internet. Just plug in your questions and topics and follow your nose.

2. Gather information from competitor’s websites, catalogues and other marketing materials. Whether via the Internet or through offline marketing, your competitors must communicate their offerings to potential customers. And yes, it’s ok to review competitor’s materials; they’ll certainly be pouring over your brochures and flyers once they’re published.

3. You can source information on competitors through Trade Associations and Trade Publications. Just search the Internet for “trade associations” or “trade publications” for your region and your business. In just moments you can narrow your search to a few possibilities for which you can visit websites to learn more. As an association member or publication subscriber, you will be kept up-to-date on industry and business trends and developments.

4. In the process of doing market surveys, you are sure to find yourself interviewing some of your competitor’s customers. A few well-crafted questions will enable you to compare your goods and services with the competition, things such as pricing, packaging, office hours, servicing and guarantees. If you’re uncomfortable doing the surveys yourself, it will cost more, but you can also opt to hire an agency or individual to do them for you.

5. The above methods will fill your folders with heaps of information, but if you do all that and still hunger for more information, there’s nothing wrong with asking a competitor out for a coffee and picking his or her brain yourself. Just be sure to go prepared to share your own information, as the person you’re querying will probably have a few questions to ask of you as well.

In researching your competitors, it’s important to keep in mind that the focus is less about the person, more about the products and services and providing the best deal for your customers.

Just because you’re competing doesn’t mean you are enemies. Most newbies are pleasantly surprised, once they get out and mingle a bit, to learn that their competitors aren’t as scary as imagined. Once you get past the adversarial image, you might find some competitors to be like-minded, interesting people, entrepreneurs just like you. Rather than awakening slumbering trolls, you are far more likely to find yourself learning like crazy, discovering opportunities to collaborate on larger projects, and even making a few friends.

Prove Your Business Case: Selling Laptops to Polar Bears

The purpose of business planning is to prove or disprove your business case.

Scary as that might sound, it’s as simple as making sure your business will draw enough customers to pay enough money for your products or services to enable your business and you to survive and perhaps even thrive.

What’s proof to some may not be proof to others. While absolute proof is hard to come by, there are many ways to strengthen or weaken your business case. The stronger your case, the more confident you will be in your business idea. Your confidence will come about as a result of a number of things you do. The important thing is to use building blocks that make sense to you, and to those you may be trying to romance with your business plan.

Newbies tend to experience uncertainty at the beginning of any business venture. A business plan provides an opportunity for you to gain confidence in your ideas. In other words, prove it to yourself and you will be in a better position to convince others.

Here is a glimpse of how it works. Imagine you have $100,000 and I am trying to entice you to invest it in my hot new business idea; selling laptop computers to polar bears.

When I first mention my business idea, you might think I’m crazy and set your browser to block my emails.

If I back my claim up with letters of support from the Northern Polar Bear Association, you might be curious enough to want to know more.

If I show you written orders for 20 laptops, signed by furry bad-breathed polar bears, you might start returning my phone calls.

If I increase the number of orders to 100 and include a couple of long-term contracts with established retailers in polar bear country, you might take me more seriously. You might even Google me, my ancestors, polar bears (your misdirected search for “bare laptops”, proves to be nasty!).

If I provide you with credible financial projections that detail how you can earn a staggering return on your investment over the next 18 months, you might consider the case “proven” and lunge for your chequebook.

The business plan is an opportunity to build your business case, step by logical step. By the time you get through it you will either have proven your business case, or not. Prove it and you may be ready to go into business. If you can’t prove it, don’t give up your day job just yet.