Leveraging Your Expertise: How to Strengthen Your Competitive Edge and Grow Your Business
Leveraging your professional offering can be a smart way to grow your business. Whether you are an experienced entrepreneur or just starting out, harnessing the skills, knowledge and experience you have gained can be invaluable in standing out in the marketplace, winning more customers, and ultimately getting ahead.
Barney Packer, Director and Founder of Digital PR agency Modern Classic Digital shares tips on how to treat your own business like a client while empowering growth and bringing you success.
Treat your business as a paying client
When you treat your own business as a valued customer, it can be easier to appreciate where there are opportunities for improvement. Take the time to review how you offer services and products and ensure that they meet the same standards of quality and excellence which you would provide to paying customers. Provide your own business with the same consistent and high-level customer service you would clients, and use it to continually evolve your offering and stay on top of the changing dynamics of your industry.
Look at everything from an external perspective
When activating your own services for your own business, it’s helpful to look at factors from an external perspective. Research some of your existing competitors and analyse their strengths and weaknesses. Think about how they’re offering their services and products, pricing strategies, customer service offerings and unique selling points. Keeping up to date with changes in the marketplace that could affect your market will also provide insight into what you need to do differently.
Working with an external perspective also helps prevent so much bias or overthinking, which can prevent success. Don’t let your pride get in the way of great work.
Develop a strategy and stay on track
Creating a comprehensive strategy for your business will help you stay on track and remain competitive in the marketplace. Know the purpose of your business and develop achievable goals that are linked to customer needs and growth objectives. Plan ahead and map out short-term and long-term strategies, such as launching new products or services, expanding into new markets or consolidating resources. This will help give you visibility as to what work needs to be done, when it should be completed and how much it will cost.
Be prepared to react and seize opportunities
As your business evolves, it’s important to stay ahead of the competition. That means you must react and seize opportunities when you spot them. Monitor what’s happening in your industry and use that knowledge as a basis for planning flexible strategies in case conditions change unexpectedly. Utilise data analytics tools to track customer behaviour, identify trends and monitor competitors’ activities. This will allow you to develop creative solutions and respond quickly if the market starts moving in a different direction.
