A business’ competitive advantage is the factor or combination of factors that give your company superiority over others in the market. For a small business, this could mean a host of factors such as convenience, attention to detail, timeliness, customer service and quality of your product or service.
In this post, I will focus on two elements which I feel are the most essential to developing and maintaining a competitive edge in the market.
1.Customer Service: Keeping your customers satisfied is a given. Most companies want to do that. However, how you treat unhappy or unsatisfied customers is a greater test of your customer service. Provide customers a warm avenue to voice their complaints if they have any and when they do, listen and take action. This singular act is guaranteed to give you LOYAL customers who will go out of their way to bring their business to you. This is so because human beings want to be heard, and love to know that they have been heard. Try it and see how different things will be.
2.High Quality Products/Service: Develop an excellent product that is driven by customers’ wants and needs. It should be durable, functional and hard for competitors to imitate. It should also have the WOW factor to keep customers excited and intrigued. A company that produces high quality products creates a value for the customer that its competition does it. If you are in the service industry, render high quality service with a personalized touch. A high quality product/service will enable you charge premium prices and result in higher business profitability.
Using the factors above, how much of an edge does your company have in its market?
Share your thoughts,
Marie