Competition? There is no such thing!

I’ve told many business owners that there is no such thing as competition.  They will usually look at me kind of cross-eyed and they think that I’m on some sort of drug or something.  They go on and say things like, “You have NO idea!”  I would then ask the client “Do you think the largest and most successful business in the area that does what you do sits around and worries about competition?  They answer no.  They still don’t believe me, but after a while, once they learn how to expand their business and gain more control over the business, they come to me and say, “You know, you were right – there isn’t any such thing as competition.  That’s just a bunch of hooey.”   You simply need to be known for your results and not necessarily how well trained you happen to be.  Let me ask you a question, if you needed surgery would it matter to you just how many advanced certifications your surgeon has if you knew of his excellent results in clinical practice rather well?  Have you ever hired a staff member based upon a resume that is filled with credentials who was an incompetent as all get out?  I have.  Have you ever hired a new graduate who blew you away?  I have.  The staff member may have the training but where are the RESULTS.  That is determined in the eyes of the client and NOT anyone else.  Handling competition is done by effectively selling the results and not necessarily the service.  I want you to know there I know that with certain professions that there are rules and regulations about how you may promote to get new clients and new patients.  There is a way to do this effectively in any profession and create, in your respective public, a demand for YOUR services versus another company in your area.

Results are what I keep saying throughout this book thus far as a very key way to build a business.  However, it is VITAL to survey your potential public to get their idea of or their definition of what a “result” truly is. If you are an accountant or financial planner or what have you, try asking your clients how they determine if you have done a good job for them.  You may get an answer that is quite different than what you expected.  Now if you were to continue survey a couple hundred businesses owners or people and rank their responses you would KNOW exactly how you would need to promote your “results” message and market your business and attract attention and get more clients.

Let’s take one profession and look it over as an example that I have worked as a consultant for many years and that is private practice physical therapists.  Doctors do the referring for the most part to physical therapists so they are the public that most physical therapists promote to versus the direct customer, the patient.  A physical therapist thinks that a “result” is a patient with full mobility, strength, walks normally, etc.  They are absolutely correct – that is a result. The physical therapist will usually send reports to the doctor on the patient results and consider that ought to do it, which is also correct.  If the physical therapists would simply survey the physicians to determine how THEY determine if their patient got a result from physical therapy they would have learned a wealth of marketing data and they could then put a message out that would attract attention and more referrals.  Please make sure you understand that the correct application of this paragraph alone has made many millions for my clients.  There really is no such thing as too much competition.  A carefully crafted message promoted correctly can boom any business that provides a high quality service or product.

Shaun Kirk www.measurable-solutions.com