#77: WHAT is our competition?

I bet you know exactly WHO your competitors are.

In fact, you could probably make a list off the top of your head right now.

But do you know WHAT your competition is?

From my experience a far more important question.

For the purpose of this discussion …

‘WHO’ would define the other businesses that people might consider buying from, IF they were in the market for your products or services right now.

‘WHAT’ defines all of the other options people might have for solving their problem or achieving the result they are looking for (apart from buying from either you or your competitors) AND all of the other things that they could spend their money on right now, rather than solving this particular problem or getting this solution right now.

So, it’s ‘competitors’ versus ‘competition’.

And there is usually way more competition than there are competitors.

Which means that the market for your products or services is way bigger than what you or your competitors are currently fighting over … if you are only focused on the people that woke up this morning ready to buy what you are selling.

In fact, my research reveals that those people represent just 3% – 7% of any given marketplace.

The other 93% – 97% of potential buyers are either still considering some other way to solve the problem/get the results or have prioritized their budget on solving a different problem or gaining some other result.

Which is really good news, because whilst your competitors are focused on what you are doing, you can focus on what the real competition is.

Some of my biggest wins in my own business activities and as a strategy consultant have come from gaining a deep understanding of WHAT the competition actually is.

Once you understand what the competition is you can often create exponential growth by tapping into a much bigger potential customer base that you can completely dominate because your competitors don’t even know it exists.