If you are set to
launch your home business, the first step is to analyse your competition before
your quit your day job. In fact, you will to set aside a specific duration of
time at regular intervals to take a peek at your competition and gain crucial
business 'intel'. A few of the areas you should certainly observe include their
sales copy, their unique competitive advantage and marketing/advertising position.
Do not fail to look at any of these critical areas; it is indeed essential that
you cover each one of them. Be certain to talk with your competition whenever
you can, realizing that most business owners, believe it or not, really do
enjoy discussing their home business ventures since they are so near and dear
to their hearts. Really, it is much like parents enjoy discussing their kids in
many cases. Just invite another business owner to lunch and be sure it is on
you.
Obviously, you may
be better off talking with an out-of-town competitor as you certainly do not
want them to be defensive about another competitor close by. If your home
business will be limited to a certain area, then go a little outside of it. And
be certain to use the power of the web to spy on your direct competitors. This
is quite common nowadays, in fact. Such services as whowhere.com can be a big
help, and there are quite a few other services out there to choose from.
Another way to obtain this kind of information is to purchase from your
competitors. You will then get their promotional print and/or coupons, and you
will learn what they charge, which specific services that they feature and how
comprehensive their customer service is. If they ship a product, you will
discover whether or not they ship in a timely fashion. This knowledge could
give you a competitive advantage. Furthermore, you may wish to check out the
quality of the products for yourself.
You will probably
get additional insights that you never would have considered otherwise. If
their venture is a service, you can easily witness the results on your own. It
may be a good idea to be honest about what you are doing when you are going
about this market research with competitors, as you will wish to avoid a bad
reputation with them.
Remember, your home-based
business venture may start off rather slowly, regularly steadily adding
customers as you become more established. Alternately, it could take off like a
wildfire, swiftly becoming too hot for you to handle by yourself. How well you analyse
your competition beforehand will have a lot to do with either one of those
outcomes.
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