5 Powerful Ways To Succeed In A Highly Competitive Market

Breaking into a highly competitive market is usually difficult for any new business; especially when the market is already saturated, the startup is poorly funded, and the market share it has claimed so far is still 0%.

Many new businesses find themselves in this position when they set out to start and grow a successful new business. They burn through a lot of money, try different things, and eventually quit with the notion that no new player can truly get any chunk of the existing market.

What many startups fail to realise is that competition breeds adaptation, and the resulting effects are companies providing better services at mostly lower costs.

If you plan to grow a successful new business in a highly competitive market, several factors must the met, and a strict adherence to them would determine if your business will make it past its rough stages to eventually turn out successful. So, here are 5 powerful ways your business can succeed in a highly competitive market:

1). Have A Good Business Plan:

Going into battle without a plan will leave your platoons dead in the water before they even get a chance to prove their worth. The same applies to entrepreneurship. If you start up a business with the mindset of “we’ll cross that bridge when we get there”, you’ve already set yourself up for failure.

Preparation is key before any action must be taken in all life events. Jumping into an activity, game, or business, without understanding the terrain, knowing how to maneuver, and how best to play your cards, will keep you only aiming for luck, which is a 98% certainty for failure.

Before you start a business in a highly competitive environment, ensure you carryout an extensive market research. The results of your research will form the benchmark for your business plan, which would ultimately keep you focused and on the right path every single step of the way.

See Also: How To Write A Business Plan: Step By Step Guide

2). Go With The Right Team:

“If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want far, go with others”. This statement has stood the test of time, and remains valid every single day. A one man or woman team can sure go a distance, but it ultimately has its limitations. Building a strong team ensures that every move the startup makes is been vetted severally with the finest possible minds, and that the most carefully calculated decisions are executed.

When you build a team with a great mix of all the relevant pieces that can make almost any business succeed, you’ve then sure covered an important step that will determine your short-term or long-term growth.

3). Listen To The Opinions Of Others:

Getting feedback is crucial to knowing if your business is on the right track every single step of the way. Instead of making all the decisions based on your intuition or on publicly available market research data, take time out to ask your customers if you served them right and what part of your services need improvement.

Another set of people to ask are your employees; especially former employees that are no longer with your business. These sect interface directly with the customers and know some of their deep pains or gains regarding your products or services.

You can get feedback from previous employees using your current employees because, they no longer owe anything to your organisation and would feel more comfortable ranting about their experience at their previous work place to a former colleague than to a former boss.

See Also: The Two Most Important People To Give You Feedback On Your Company’s Products And Services

4). Make Your Customers Feel Like They Own Your Business:

The customers are the most important people in your business. They determine if you stay or fall out. Their patronage is everything to your survival, and a little turnoff can get a bulk of them gone forever.

When dealing with this highly important part of your business, it’s important you make them know how much you care about them. Their happiness must be your happiness because, angry customers can spread bad news like wild fire and damage your reputation in the process.

Until you can make your customers feel not just like family, but like the most important people in the world, you will never be truly successful.

5). Closely Track Your Expenses:

This is by far one of the top reasons small, medium, and large businesses fail on the long-run. They just cannot contain their expenses! It’s an even worse situation when you’re burning through a lot of money in a highly competitive market. Doing this in this situation, especially when it’s a market that has shown no real signs of profitability for the old players, will definitely end your business.

Rather than join the bandwagon of entrepreneurs spending a lot of money on things that add no real value to the business like official cars and similar wasteful expenditures, focus instead on spending all that money on the one thing that has shown a highly scalable potential.

By narrowing your focus and containing your costs, you not only manage your expenses better, but you also set yourself up for growth on the long run.

See Also: How To Save Money Fast In An Economic Recession!

What are your thoughts on these 5 ways to succeed in a highly competitive market? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

Image Source: entrepreneur.com