How to strangle your trading competitor. Competition keeps you busy

18.12.2013 04:05

A competitor of the Ukrainian company Galakton launched ads, discrediting its products, increasing its sales by 43%, while Galakton lost 40%. Sales of Tolstyak beer in Smolensk decreased by 4 times in 10 days: rivals aimed eliminating competitors spread information that E. coli was found in the drink. No company is immune from a competitive war in business. How to defeat competitors in the battle for a place in the market, save face and turn the situation in your favor?

If in the “roaring nineties” in competitive wars, as they say, all means were fair, today more sophisticated methods of eliminating competitors are used (Figure 1). The best way The question of how to defeat competitors in such a confrontation is to prepare for it in advance. I propose to consider five typical situations competitive wars and five non-standard methods eliminating competitors and countering their actions.

How to beat your competitors in trading if you don't know them

What happened. The situation may seem absurd at first glance. However, unfortunately, it is very real. Suppose your company has been operating for several years, there are not many players in the local market, the development strategy has been thought out, and promotion is in full swing. However, sales are falling.

Recommendation. There is such an example in our portfolio. The cargo transportation service is two years old. The company actively advertises and in its marketing policy focuses on delivery safety, that is, the integrity and safety of the cargo for the client. The market can hardly be called highly competitive, however, clients began to leave. To the question “Who are your competitors?” the commercial director listed the companies whose leaders he knew personally, those who were humanly unsympathetic to him. However complete information he did not own it, and as a result, the strategy built with this view of the market in mind was ineffective.

The solution was simple and quick way research - survey. Developed options for communicating with clients through correspondence, telephone conversations or in personal meetings ( figure 2). All consumers were divided into groups: regular customers, failed customers and potential clients random selection who are not partners of the company.

Thus, the company received first-hand reliable information about real competitors, its advantages and weaknesses oh and about what to bet on so that potential clients become regular ones. Most respondents mentioned companies that the commercial director did not even consider as competitors. The survey also showed that what is important to the consumer is not the safety of cargo (all players guarantee this by default), but how the manager talks to him on the phone. Many failed customers noted that they were answered dryly, sometimes even rudely. Action was taken immediately and the situation improved.

I would like to emphasize that when conducting surveys and local studies, it is important to thank the respondent for their participation. A nice addition will be a small gift: chocolate in branded packaging, delivered by courier, discount or interesting article, written by your marketer.

Conclusion. If there is no market research for the industry, use the rule when developing strategic campaigns: it does not matter who you consider to be a competitor, it is important which companies the consumer chooses between. To find out, sometimes it’s enough to ask clients – your own and others.

What to do if a competitor steals your idea

What happened. Your company introduces a unique product or service: conducts a marketing campaign, accustoms people to the product. You are already anticipating an increase in sales volume, but suddenly a new product appears on the market. new player, who came up with exactly the same solution, or perhaps simply borrowed your idea. A newly created competitor may be stronger, for example, instead of one store, open five at once. You will not only lose the planned profit, but, what’s worse, at your own expense you will “educate” a consumer for a competitor.

Recommendation. Before you write: “This has never happened in our city before!”, think about the fact that your idea may be picked up by a competitor. Therefore, it is necessary to seriously prepare for an attack. If the proposal is truly new (for example, a massage technique or spa treatment using certain herbs or healing mud), register a patent to prevent a competitor from using your idea. But this option is also unreliable: it is enough to make a minor change to a product or service, and officially it will be a different product. Therefore, you need to build promotion in such a way that your special offer associated only with your company. So, no one is looking for adhesive tape in the store - everyone just asks for adhesive tape. In the minds of the consumer, the innovation should be firmly associated with the name of your company.

If during your time in the market you have not become a leader, it is really difficult to save the situation. For example, a small company opened the first crossbow shooting range in the city. The idea is unique - at the time of opening there were no competitors. Three or four months later, a major player entered the market and launched a whole network of shooting ranges, including crossbow ones. There was an outflow of visitors to the network, where prices were lower due to large turnover, and the pioneer company began to lose profit. However, its leaders were not at a loss: together with sponsors, they organized a city tournament on the basis of the club, after which they began to position the shooting range as an elite club - a place where not amateurs, but professional shooters gather, where crossbow shooting is elevated to the rank of philosophy. Now the competitor's shooting ranges were perceived as ordinary establishments in which teenagers from the neighboring yard, drinking beer, indiscriminately fired at targets. The serious and solvent public increasingly began to turn to a reputable professional club.

Conclusion. If a competitor steals your idea, you are left with two options for development: either try to retain loyal customers and work for your audience (like neighborhood stores or beauty salons serving a limited number of clients), or modify the product or service to create a unique advantage. Find weak spots“follower”, and offer the market something that other players in your sector are not capable of.

1 Reverse osmosis water is water filtered using reverse osmosis technology. IN in this example the aggressor wanted to emphasize the unnaturalness of the competitors' water, which had passed special procedure cleaning.

A competitor sabotages your products

What happened. The market in which you operate is highly competitive, and all players are approximately equal in terms of product and service levels.

Recommendation. As an example, I will give another situation from our practice. In 2011, a law was passed legalizing the activities of microfinance organizations, after which the number of companies issuing small loans for short periods (Pay Day Loans format) began to grow exponentially: “Bystrodengi”, “Migcredit”, “Home Money”, “ Express loan." We received an order to create a new federal brand in this market. It should be noted that the mechanism for providing such services is the same for all market participants, so it is not easy to find rational advantages that would allow the consumer to make a specific choice. Then we began to study not the market, but the consumer: who is this person who urgently needed money, why did he turn to a microfinance organization, what emotions does he experience?

In the course of a psychological study, we found that the speed of obtaining a loan is not so important for the consumer. It is not even a unique advantage, as all market players presented it. This is just a characteristic of the service. The need to take out a microloan is usually caused by some force majeure situation (an accident, dismissal, a doctor’s appointment, a date for which there is no money), so sympathy is important for the consumer. If the manager dryly offers to fill out a form and looks suspiciously (“will he give you the money or not?”), then the whole procedure is more reminiscent of begging than service. Based on this, we proposed building development on a friendly attitude towards consumers: we named the company “Miladenezhka”, and managers were recommended to greet customers with a polite question: “What happened to you?” Thanks to these actions, the new brand has noticeably stood out from its competitors, the network of offices is actively developing, and the franchise is successfully sold in different regions of the country.

Conclusion. The key to success in a highly competitive market is a clear and precise positioning of the company: how you differ from others and how you attract customers. Once you study the market and understand how your competitors' offerings meet consumer expectations, develop an interesting and effective development strategy. Focus on your features, be it unusual service or memorable packaging.

Killer Techniques for Eliminating Competitors

Black PR. Any company in a market environment can be destroyed, and unscrupulous competitors take advantage of this, not unreasonably assuming that it is much easier to denigrate a competitor than to convey their advantages to the consumer. Black PR can be considered the leader of an unfair competitive attack. Some companies pay the media for commissioned materials or themselves spread rumors in the media environment.

Often, a media campaign is aimed at discrediting business owners and top managers. Publications may also relate to poor management of the enterprise, inefficient use of property, failure to fulfill contractual obligations, violation of employee rights, or alleged bankruptcy. In order to discredit the company in the eyes of its partners, unscrupulous competitors can throw truthful, but damaging information into the media.

Loan redemption. This is a scheme that has already become a classic of the genre, when a company’s overdue and poorly managed accounts payable is purchased by an unscrupulous competitor from creditors (usually the consent of the debtor is not required). Then an enterprising rival files a claim in court and, based on the received writ of execution, seizes the company or initiates bankruptcy proceedings.

Psycho-administrative attack. Some companies actively write statements to the relevant law enforcement agencies with a request to check the activities of a competitor, and also initiate various legal proceedings (for example, about the collection of accounts receivable, although previously these issues were resolved through negotiations), and then actively cover them in the media in order to discredit the enemy. Typically, such actions are carried out on a massive scale in order to psychologically weaken the opponent.

Competitors may go further. For example, initiate an on-site extraordinary inspection of control and supervisory services, accompanied by a large-scale seizure of documents or a demand for copies of corporate and financial and economic documents, which subsequently end up in the hands of the instigator of the inspection. Such actions are aimed at disrupting the current financial activities of the company.

Competitive wars: capturing advertising channels

What happened. Until recently, your company bought advertising blocks in specialized publications a year in advance. Today they were bought by a competitor. Moreover, your structures are dismantled, and advertising posters covered with opponent's advertising or simply painted over.

Recommendation. When we developed advertising campaign for a boiler equipment service center, we visited many cottage villages where the target audience lives. All direct competitors placed advertisements on billboards along highways, so we decided to use a different advertising technique. We produced a batch of booklets, stylized as “bombs,” on a magnetic base, and attached them to the gates of cottage plots. The booklets contained the following information: “Are you sure there is no bomb in your house? It is quite large and is located in your basement. Boiler equipment without maintenance is a ticking time bomb. Do not risk the health and lives of loved ones. Be sure to have your boiler inspected twice a year.” Next came information about the boiler center: address, phone number. The three-thousandth circulation cost approximately 70 thousand rubles. — the same amount would have to be spent on advertising on three banners for a month. But banner advertising would not have provided such an influx of customers: the number of requests after the promotion increased by 48% compared to last year, which was more than three times higher than expected. Let us note that the action did not cause a single negative review. We placed advertisements for the same boiler center in the city newspaper, but not in advertising blocks, but first on the sports page (Figure 3) and then in the “Crime” section ( figure 4).

Conclusion. One of the most common mistakes is to use the same advertising channels that a competitor chooses (magazines, distribution areas). In promotion, you always need to look for new ways. Even if you use the same channels as your competitors, look for bright, non-standard solutions.

What to do if competitors dump

What happened. Competitors spontaneously reduce prices, forcing them to follow their example.

It is necessary to find an advantage that will compensate the consumer for the difference in price. For example, the supply of dry construction mixtures may be accompanied by a consultant’s visit. IN advertisement a higher price must be justified in such a way that cheapness will seem like a dubious advantage: “We care about your health,” “You deserve it,” and the like, depending on your target audience.

Another option: in response to lower prices, create a duplicate brand in a lower price segment. It will take the brunt of the blow, and you will keep the profit. Thus, large advertising agencies open subsidiaries whose services are significantly cheaper. This creates a launching pad for young designers: they can learn from low-cost commissions.

Conclusion. If a competitor lowers the bar, do not rush to follow his example. The consumer gets used to the reduced price, and it will be difficult to raise it again without damaging demand. Create added value for your product or service. Or look for other moves, take risks and make a profit.

How a competitor can turn into a customer

Vitaly Katranzhi, sales trainer-consultant, Oy-li

Once, while working with a small company specializing in the organization of communication networks, we encountered a market leader and former monopolist, who is now part of Rostelecom, in a struggle for a large and promising client. Our offer was very profitable, but the competitor promised Better conditions, technology and connection price. We understood that we were not able to complete this project in such a time frame and with such a budget, and we relented.

However, the relationship with the customer was not interrupted and they constantly conducted third-party audits of the competitor’s actions. In personal communication with the customer, they gently and accurately predicted possible problems from a competitor during the implementation of the project. And when it became clear to everyone that the major player could not cope with the task, we prepared an agreement in which we acted as a subcontractor for this project. For a competitor, this project was not very profitable anyway. And in order to avoid legal costs and the inclusion of the company in the blacklist of unreliable suppliers, he signed an agreement on our terms. Thus, we not only implemented the project within the deadlines established by the contract, but also received a good profit. The most important acquisition was a loyal client, who implemented all subsequent projects through our company. In addition, the competitor was convinced that our connection technology could save the situation at many other sites where deadlines were being delayed.

The vast market of various commercial services, of which individual entrepreneurs are full members, is constantly in motion. New proposals appear all the time that are somehow better than the old ones. The quantitative and qualitative composition of participants in this market is changing. One of the main reasons for such changes in the market is competition. It is everywhere and concerns all participants in this market. It is thanks to this phenomenon that there is a constant struggle between various commercial structures for their interests. Individual entrepreneurs who have been operating for several years now find it much easier to resist this struggle than those individual entrepreneurs who are just entering the zone of this multifaceted battle.

Types of competition.

The process of competition in the commercial market itself is very diverse. There are many time-tested and new methods of doing it. But in general, methods of competition can be divided into three main types:

1. Legal methods.
2. Hidden illegal methods.
3. Illegal methods.

Accordingly, there are various methods eliminating competitors. There are also quite a lot of them and each of them, to obtain greater effect, must take into account all the nuances in the actions of your opponents.

Let us consider each of the above types of competition in more detail and possible methods counteract them.

Legal methods of competition.

Given these types of competition, the actions of modern marketers are considered to be the most effective. Over the years of the formation of small and medium-sized businesses, their arsenal has already accumulated enough effective and efficient techniques to adequately win the fight against competitors in almost all areas of commercial activity. It has long been no longer considered fashionable to have a marketing specialist on staff of a commercial company; it has already become an urgent necessity. Internet marketers, specialists in promoting business on the Internet, stand apart here.

Of course, not every individual entrepreneur can afford to hire their own marketer, and even with experience practical actions on the competitive front. But every individual entrepreneur who values ​​his business and wants to develop can and even should use the services of such a specialist from time to time, or at least practice some of the methods from their arsenal himself. Here are some of the most effective marketing techniques today that will help you cope with your competitors.

— Carefully monitoring the actions of competitors and analyzing their effectiveness.

This means that you must know all your most significant competitors, be aware of all the measures they are taking to expand the market for their products or services, and also objectively evaluate the effectiveness of the actions they take. This is something every entrepreneur should do constantly.

— Create and constantly update a database of your regular customers.

This means that you are required to remember every valuable client of your business, as well as find out as much information about them as possible and enter it into your database. Small example:

— Knowing your client’s birthday, you can congratulate him in any form, even simple SMS. This will not go unnoticed. You will further strengthen your connection with him. He will probably tell his friends and family about you and your services. Thus, through it, you will acquire more than one potential consumer of your goods and services.

— Maintaining a constant dialogue with key clients and creating special conditions for them to consume your services.

This method can be considered a continuation of the previous one. When creating a client base, highlight regular and largest clients. To prevent them from going to your competitors, it is advisable to offer them preferential terms for purchasing your goods or services. These may not necessarily be price discounts; installment payments or an offer of “interest-free trade credit” may be effective.

— Periodically conducting carefully planned advertising campaigns.

This can be done, including via the Internet, which does not require large financial investments. Sometimes they give a special effect advertising companies, created specifically against your main competitor. It is best to consult with a professional in this market about how to carry it out.

Hidden illegal methods.

Methods of competition related to this paragraph are not prohibited by law, but are classified as “hard”. They often border on illegal practices. Let's introduce some of them.

— Poaching personnel.

This is perhaps one of the most common and effective ways weakening their competitors. In this way you can solve several problems at once:

• Acquisition of an employee already experienced in this market sector.
• Getting some classified information about your competitor.
• A kind of “bleeding out” of a competitor due to the weakening of the qualitative component of its personnel.

There is only one way to counteract this - creating especially favorable working conditions for your most valuable employees.

— Copying the services and products offered by a competitor.

This method was called “Chinese” among businessmen. In this way, you can significantly minimize your costs for creating your commercial offers.

You can combat this method by improving the quality of your proposals and actively using the fact that you were here first. You can also use the competitor’s anti-advertising method.

— Dissemination of false information about the commercial services offered by the opponent.

It can be done different ways, but the easiest way is through non-regular clients who use both your commercial services and the services of competitors. In this way, you can achieve the outflow of a certain amount of them to you.

It's best not to fight this at all. You just need to constantly support high level running your business and the quality of the goods and services offered.

Illegal methods.

It’s good that the dashing 90s have already passed, when similar methods competition were the main ones. Therefore, we will not focus on them special attention, but here are a few examples of such actions:

— Contacting your friends (relatives) working in state regulatory authorities in order to organize an illegal audit of the activities of a competing party. This is usually followed by the imposition of a large fine or even a decision to close the competitor’s enterprise.

— Destruction of a competitor’s material assets that are used in its activities.

— Obtaining illegally insider information about the state of affairs in a competing organization and plans for development. With its help, subsequently, the competitor is usually ousted from the positions it already occupies in the market.

00:00 31.01.2001

VKontakte Facebook Odnoklassniki

Previously, ambitious people had a free hand. An opponent could be poisoned in various interesting ways, slandered, driven to the guillotine, or infected with a bad disease. In fact,

Previously, ambitious people had a free hand. An opponent could be poisoned in various interesting ways, slandered, driven to the guillotine, or infected with a bad disease. In fact, now all these tricks are just as widely used. There is gossip that they tried to “heal” Yeltsin in the Kremlin during his confrontation with Gorbachev. The "Writers' Case" took Chubais' team out of the game; only the captain could not be removed. And how much good people are in prison. And they were lucky! Because those who were unlucky were buried with honors accompanied by a brass band.

But in our age of triumphant information, all this is quite troublesome. And unsafe. For daily use, more bloodless but effective measures will do.

Once again for slow-witted people: competition is normal. Everything you took in a fair fight is yours. And the people understand this.

He doesn’t understand something else: eliminating a competitor is a purely rational matter. And with us all this is done very emotionally. Who do we bait and survive? The one you don't like. Or the one who is weaker - by rotting the secretary, we assert ourselves. But you need to eat the one who interferes with work and stands in the way of the coveted position! There is no need to mix spring with clear. A competitor can be the nicest person. But this is not a reason to moderate your own appetites!

You can lay down your life to survive a competitor. But it is better to do this calmly and rationally.

It is useless to try to push away the boss's personal friend, his wife (husband), relatives or mistress (lover). Everyone who tried to fight the presidential family was burned to death. There is no point in picking on a colleague who occupies the same position as you. This should only be done if you want to put “your” person in his place. It will be difficult to catch an informal leader.

Where to begin? Find a niche that you can fill. No hyperactivity in the team in which you are going to make a career. It’s not worth “digging” for someone right away. In any company there is a “nobody’s”, “unselected” area of ​​work. In addition to your main job, you can buy light bulbs, organize banquets, and coordinate documents. When organizing your work front, do not forget to enlist the support of formal and informal leaders. Gradually expanding your field of activity, you gain weight (this will take from three months to six months). It is no longer enough for you to be an ordinary employee - your powers must be broader. After all, in fact, you are doing the work of a department head (deputy, etc.).

So you need to remove it.

1. The law of business says: the boss doesn’t care who his boss is. right hand. For him, the main thing is that a number of problems are resolved. If you want to catch up with your competitor, do the work that he doesn’t have time to do. Emphasize: you work for the company and do not pursue any self-interest. Burning out at work, you cannot: fall in love, get sick, burden others with your problems. No one should know that you don’t have a residence permit, your feet are wet, you’ve leaked gas, you have problems with your wife, etc.

2. Enlist the support of a team that is actually already working under you, but does not realize it itself. You also need well-wishers from the boss's reference group - that is, from among those who go to his office and with whom he has conversations. These people should provide your promotion. The team should establish the opinion that you are the force, the engine, etc. And people from the reference group may accidentally say to the boss: “This N is the head. Why is he still on the sidelines?” The third time a thought flashes through the boss’s head: maybe this is true? This is exactly how Dmitry Vasiliev, the former chairman of the Federal Securities Commission, acted. He was appointed chairman of the State Property Committee, but he quickly figured out where he wanted to be. And he began to introduce the idea everywhere that in the place of chairman of the FCSM he would be simply irreplaceable. Soon Chubais appointed him there.

3. Start a war of incriminating evidence, but under no circumstances say nasty things about your competitor. To do this, it is not necessary to monitor whether your competitor takes bribes.

Each piece of evidence has its time. Now we see the birth of the third wave of compromising evidence. First: “Where did you hit on August 19?” That is, the compromising evidence was the connection with the regime. The second wave saw revelations of theft and bribes. Now competitors are being ruined by talking about their unpleasant physiological qualities. Everyone already knows about Lebed’s cystitis and Zhirinovsky’s sweating. The pinnacle of mastery is the operation to implant a hip joint, shown by Dorenko in “Time” with a parallel story about Primakov’s illnesses. Have pity on your competitor: poor fellow, his breath, feet, etc. smell so bad. If the boss suppresses conversations of this kind, be half a step ahead. Instigate a conversation with your colleagues on this topic in the presence of your boss and reprimand your colleague. If, on the contrary, he encourages you, be half a step behind the boss.

4. Master the technique of manipulating the "dung ball". Remember, Yavlinsky accused the Primakov government of corruption? He collected information (like a dung beetle its ball) and released it into society. Everyone is shocked, they comment (that is, they get dirty on this manure), and Grigory Alekseevich, who has more information than everyone else (after all, he came up with everything), he comments. This is not a scam in the literal sense, but its own very skillful PR. Knowing that the company is facing, for example, restructuring, you can collect information about new management methods and practices in global business and give it to your competitor. And then comment on the competitor’s behavior.

5. Show that without a certain status you cannot fulfill your responsibilities. “These negotiations with clients should be conducted by a person with great authority,” you tell the boss. And you give the project you came up with to your competitor. Moreover, it is desirable that the competitor does not notice the importance of the moment (“I brought you papers here, look when you have time”) and ruin the project. It cannot be otherwise, because you prepared this project, you know what’s what.

To show the failure of a competitor, do not be afraid to ruin several projects. A competitor ruins your projects, and you wear them and carry them in your beak. Everything is for the good of the company! 6. Change your image. If you've grown up for a new position, show it to your boss. Wear suits to work, not jeans. Learn English. Get your hair cut by a good hairdresser. Write with expensive pens. 7. Pay attention to the boss’s personal preferences. Good work alone is not enough. Does the boss hate cats and sluts? Let it be known that your competitor is a passionate cat person. Organize a creative mess on his desk - cover your competitor with papers, casually leave a dirty glass there, and place a trash can at his desk.

8. No boss likes talking about money. Bring to the attention of your boss - preferably through an accountant or commercial director - that your competitor is interested in when they will increase their salaries (they will pay for gas for employees, they will send them on vacation with the company's money, they will give a bonus).

9. Your task is to enter the boss’s reference group. To do this, you must be like the people around the boss.

Almost all of our prime ministers were vaguely similar to Yeltsin - heavy-set, wore double-breasted suits, and spoke in riddles. On the one hand, this is correct. But you cannot become a “shadow”. "Shadow", she copies not only external techniques - the boss has the idea that the "shadow" has the same goals as he does. He imagines a conspiracy. And now the former “successor” is excommunicated from his chair. The current prime minister was completely “his own”, but unlike the others (specific speech, single-breasted suits, thinness, etc.). But he is not a double and does not copy the boss. At the same time, it is understandable and predictable.

10. Your career should be built in the same way as the boss’s career. The latter was able to use the conflict between Gobachev and Yeltsin to his advantage, because Boris Nikolayevich’s career model was “mentally” closer to society. Gorbachev had a rapid, progressive career. He did not reveal human weaknesses (that’s why everyone clung to Raisa Maksimovna). Yeltsin’s career was built using the “comb” method: strongly forward and slightly backward. A “comb” career is more understandable and in demand by people. And that’s why Yeltsin bypassed Gorbachev. You have to be offended sometimes. And even try to prolong this situation somewhat. If you are scolded by your boss, do not rush to correct yourself. Let him feel that you care deeply. As for the career building model, it can also develop sequentially - step by step, in a spiral, built like a pyramid, or sharp falls can alternate with rises. Therefore, try to ensure that your temperament and model for moving up coincide with the temperament and model of your boss.

11. If you did everything right, get ready. The boss will either offer you to supervise the direction, or remove your competitor.

And one last thing. Never be friends with someone you're picking on. Traitors are not moved and are not loved.

The concept " fight against competitors"is found today in almost any field of activity, and sometimes is a significant part of the business. Opening new shop, we start by studying the market and free niches in it. So, for the distribution of these free zones, we will have to fight with competitors, who can be either existing players in the market or newly created companies.

Choosing a strategy to combat competitors

— "capture" or "offensive"

This is a fairly active and rapid tactic aimed at capturing a certain market share and attracting buyers to their product at almost any cost.

Consider your strengths with this strategy

— peaceful coexistence

Here, Napoleonic goals of conquering the entire market are not usually set; business is carried out quite calmly in order to maintain a certain niche and increase its profits due to the influx of new clients.

Maintain your niche and attract new customers

When choosing a strategy, first of all, you need to determine the ultimate goal, as well as what you are willing to sacrifice to achieve it. You need to understand that the owners of other retail outlets may also be more active, stronger, faster, etc. Sometimes, the development of competition may require from you an unlimited flow of additional financial investments (for example, in advertising), as well as an investment of effort and time.

All work in this direction can be divided into several stages:

1. Identification of main competitors (through research of the target audience of your business);
2. Development of your advantages and their development;
3. Definition of strategy;
4. Approval of tactics, methods, calculation of costs.

Identification of competitors

So, we are in a residential area - the so-called “convenience store”. Who are our rivals?

We have already determined the portrait of our potential buyer– we will build on it. At the same time, one should not discount the fact that our client does not always go only to local points, but also looks into shopping centers. However, we will not compete with large retail chains, because the effort spent on fighting them could cost us too much.

Don't fight the malls

Let's take a closer look at all the nearby (within 2-3 blocks) children's stores, both those selling only shoes and multi-purpose establishments. It is also worth considering stores for adults that have their own children's department. You will need to study their assortment in sufficient detail, communicate with sellers, analyze advertising and, perhaps, even make test purchases. All this is necessary in order to correctly identify your advantages in relation to them, to understand what niche you will have to fight for. Analyzing the results of collecting information about other points, it is necessary to identify the weaknesses of each of them and concentrate on what strengths you have.

Eg, in our case, one of the main competitors turned out to be a very large regional multi-specialty store, which has everything from underwear to felt boots. It presents a fairly wide range of shoe manufacturers, with an emphasis on well-known trademarks, but at the same time, a very low trade margin is used. Everyone in the area knows that the cheapest place to buy shoes is there, and there is plenty to choose from.

Knowing well the portrait of our potential buyer, understanding his needs and how they are satisfied by current offers on the market, it will be much easier for us to determine more strengths both the advantages of your own business and the fight against competitors will also become easier.

Identify your potential buyer to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your business

Key Benefits

So, in order to determine a strategy for developing the advantages of your business, you must begin with a step-by-step identification of the needs of our buyer, taking into account the analysis of proposals from other businessmen.

One of key advantages can be:

• features/highlights in the assortment (read the article:);
• staff;
• marketing promotions and loyalty programs;
• unique purchasing conditions.

Yes, of course, you can bring the most best product made from high-quality and natural materials, which no one else has on the market in the whole city, but if at the same time the buyer needs something completely different or at a different price, you will not get any effect.

Give the buyer what he needs, not what is not on the market

For example, the period August-September is known to everyone as preparation for school, and everyone is diligently purchasing school shoes from the widest range. But, at the same time, many people forget about one important detail for many parents - at the same time as school, children begin all sorts of classes, and parents are forced to look for fairly simple, but very necessary shoes. Czech shoes/jazz shoes/ballet shoes are not a product on which you can make a lot of money, but this is it competitive advantage, which will make the whole area talk about your store.

And in order not to order all the products from different suppliers, you can find companies that supply the majority of goods. Such a company is. There you can order both the school assortment and the necessary shoes for sections. Delivery is paid only once, ordering is simple. The advantages for filling the assortment are obvious.

While studying your “business neighbors,” you definitely had to get to know their staff, namely their professional qualities. You have already noted their positive/ negative sides. Now all that remains is to correctly analyze this information and do something qualitatively new at home.

Study the positives and negatives of your competitors' sellers

Returning to the example of our competitors, one of the significant advantages today is the staff (read the article:). Works at that multidisciplinary point great amount salespeople, but they all seem to be from the “Soviet” period, with the appropriate communication style and sales skills. However, our potential buyer is quite young and ready to absorb information like a sponge. Therefore, we have focused on vocational training and trainings for sellers more than they invested in the product range.

One of the advantages may also be a loyalty program that can attract both regular “discount seekers” and customers who enjoy their first visit and will be ready to come again. For example, it could be a coupon for a small, but still, discount on your next purchase within a month.

We also saw that most do not have a special play area for children, where they could take a break from boring fittings or waiting for their turn. Now we have quite a lot of clients who come to a fitting with children, knowing that it will be psychologically comfortable, because... the child will be busy playing, and parents will have time to calmly select models.

The play area will greatly help in running a business selling children's goods.

Strategy and tactics

Having initially decided on the strategy of your behavior in the market, it is also important to determine tactics, calculate costs and resources.

Considering that we are considering the option of just opening a store, we should not immediately apply only price methods of competition. It is important for us to enter the market, define ourselves as a player, declare certain advantages for a potential buyer and, only then, move on to price methods of struggle.

When you have just opened, you first need to decide on the market

While we are just opening, our closest competitors also do not know what to expect from you, they are looking closely and are not taking active actions. There is a certain time period when you can set your strategy. And subsequently it will be necessary to take into account the actions of competitors and, perhaps, even respond to them.

For example, in our case, the neighboring stores, after 2-3 months of our work, experienced a certain outflow of customers, and we immediately began inspections by various services: the fire department, the territory improvement committee, the consumer rights protection society, etc. It is very important that from the very beginning all documents are in perfect order, and these actions do not unsettle you.

Summarize

Taking into account all of the above, we can summarize that the main thing in competition still remains information that will give you the most basic advantage. Correctly defining the client’s profile and his needs is the basis. And then everything depends on your imagination, resources and, of course, the behavior of competitors. If you initially correctly analyze all the data and draw conclusions, you can avoid mistakes and losses in the future.

In the online catalog site. Come in and buy!

Today I own a retail store of children's goods - clothes, shoes, toys, transport - and two online stores. Ten years of experience in sales gave me strength when starting my business, but there were also many difficulties that I did not even suspect.

08.11.2001

Probably every business representative has something to tell about how competitors react to his successes. And for some, the competition ends very sadly: the loss of business and even life.

About the methods used by seemingly colleagues, an interview between a DK correspondent and a detective from one of the divisions of the Grant-Vympel group of companies, Sergei N.

These stories may seem vague to you,” said Sergei. - In fact, for those who are now in a similar situation, they are more than real. I am sure that many of our clients will recognize themselves in these stories, although, as we agreed, we will do without names and surnames.

Accountant spy

One of our clients was sent to prison by his competitors. As a result of this story, he lost everything: his company, money, was forced to sell his apartment and car, and was left with literally nothing.

He was engaged in shipchandler activities - bunkering of ships - a relevant business for Primorye. At some point, he found himself without a chief accountant - the employee went on maternity leave, and he urgently looked for a new person. Competitors were not slow to take advantage of this. They created a certain situation, it was not particularly difficult, and substituted their own person as an accountant for our client.

Having got a new job and gaining access to documents, this lady immediately began leaking information to competitors. And all of it - this was the main purpose of her employment. Then the new chief accountant arranges for the company to become a tax debtor. It is interesting that many companies can be on the list of debtors for years and get away with it, but the tax police immediately opened a case against this company. Events unfolded so quickly that it was simply strange. Without having time to do anything, the head of the company finds himself behind bars. During his absence, the chief accountant puts such “order” in the company’s documents that now the director “faces” a very real sentence.

At this time, a ship arrived in Vladivostok, the maintenance of which was to be handled by our client’s company. Seeing that the partners are unable to fulfill their obligations on time, the captain is at some loss. At this moment, another company very successfully appears and offers its services. The ship is safely refueled and it sets off on its voyage.

We had to work very hard to get our client out of jail. To avoid another arrest, he was even forced to go to a mental hospital, and there, as you understand, it is not much sweeter than in prison. And in order to pay the tax debt, he had to sell everything he had.

If the business is family, but the family is not yours

In general, the use of law enforcement agencies to deal with more successful competitors is common in Primorye. For example, the previous administration of the region dealt with people who interfered with the family business of big bosses. But this is what happened this year with a group of our friends who dared to do the same thing as a close relative of one current official.

In fact, the company of our friends and clients has been working in this market for many years, moreover, over these years the company has managed to become the largest in this type of business in Far East and is deservedly proud of its reputation. This year began for the company with a tax inspection that lasted a month.

Businessmen know what it is; in fact, the work of the accounting department was paralyzed for a month. Please note that this check did not reveal any violations. Nevertheless, two days after its completion, a higher tax office comes to the company with an inspection. The second inspection, which also did not reveal any violations, lasted another month. The accounting department is paralyzed again, the company still has problems for a whole month, it cannot respond to partners’ proposals as quickly as before.

The company's employees did not find it funny at all when, a week after the end of the second inspection, a third came to the company - this time from the regional tax office. The company, in which colleagues were unable to identify any violations over the previous two months, was painstakingly checked by employees of the regional tax office for another month with the same result. After that, people from the securities commission come to check the company, whose form of ownership is registered as a closed joint-stock company, and... that’s right, for another month the company’s accounting department devotes its time to people from this commission.

Other events are happening in parallel. The company has outlets in different areas of the city. At the same time, local police officers come to each of them and issue fines for the fact that after a snowfall (this happened in February) the snow was not removed from the territory of the company's representative office. Then firefighters come to all these points. After them, an investigator from one of the police departments appears at the main office of the company, she takes several copies of the product (it must be said, very expensive) and declares that there are no certificates for it. When they try to show her certificates and explain something, she literally covers her ears with her hands and leaves with “samples seized for examination.”

A smaller company simply could not withstand such pressure. After our friends turned to us for help, we took countermeasures. Let's just say that we also have connections in law enforcement agencies. Seeing that the company was resisting, the enemies retreated.

It’s funny that the Moscow company, with which a relative of the Vladivostok official collaborated, signed an agreement with the company of our friends after this whole story. And on very favorable terms for them. Apparently, people realized that if the company survived after such pressure, it means they can do business with it.

They ordered a murder

This client was referred to us by a psychologist we knew, to whom this man ended up after a visit to a psychic. It was there that he first went with his problems. Fortunately, people turned out to be quite smart. Maybe this is what saved our client’s life. I still remember his square eyes and red hair standing on end. The first thing he said was: “They want to kill me.” In history, there really were a real killer with a weapon, hired for money, transferred from another city, and real threat life.

Three people worked in this area of ​​business in Vladivostok, but they could not divide the market and had been seriously at odds for a long time. Unfair competition as a result of this hostility escalated into war. Moreover, there were no winners in it, because all its participants were so carried away by the idea of ​​​​crushing a competitor that making their own profit ceased to matter. For example, in order to attract a competitor’s clients, they dumped to such an extent that the prices for their services fell below zero. It was such a passion that one of the participants in this war at some point thought that our client had “ordered” him. He decided to get ahead of him and himself ordered the murder of our client.

We managed not only to prevent bloodshed, but even to unite seemingly irreconcilable enemies. These two became our clients. We were able to convince them that a bad peace is better than a good quarrel. We persuaded them to follow our recommendations. Today, firms continue to operate in the market. One of them took up supply, the second became a carrier, and together they formed serious competition for the third businessman.

Do you know who your assistant is sleeping with?

Problems associated with unfair competition are only a small part of those that company managers face if they do not care about the economic security of the company.

It is interesting that many people still understand security as the physical protection of their person and the presence of a person on duty at the entrance to the office. Meanwhile, one should not underestimate the capabilities of economic intelligence. And, before concluding an agreement with someone, or even better, before entering the market at all, you should study the situation yourself or with the help of specialists. By the way, our group of companies provides similar services. Sooner or later, everyone comes to the conclusion that preliminary collection of information is necessary. And not only about clients and prospective partners, but also about employees. It’s a pity that people usually begin to understand the need for this after something has already happened.

For example, at the beginning of my career, I worked as the head of the security service in a large seaside company that produces and sells drinking water. The boundless gullibility of the company's managers was simply amazing - not to be interested in those to whom you give goods for sale! When I tried to introduce a basic survey with the goal of simply getting to know the people who work for the company, I was met with misunderstanding. And not only from the side of the company’s personnel. It should be noted that women especially protested, who were outraged by “digging through dirty laundry.” In fact, I was not going to find out the details of my personal life - who sleeps with whom, etc., although this, you see, can sometimes be important. But even the company's leaders believed that the security service should only deal with security. It was because of this that I left the company.

Life has confirmed that I was right: how many people were dragged from the enterprise because of this carelessness. People stole millions of rubles, the luckiest of them left Vladivostok long ago and used this money to get a good job elsewhere.