Tips for Handling Your Business in a Highly Competitive Market

Nov 24, 2021

Competition. Wherever you go, whatever you do, no matter what time or day it is, there’s always someone who’s trying to outdo your efforts. This couldn’t be more true when it comes to business. Most of the time, competitors would even go to certain levels just to shut you out.

So, what should you do to make your business thrive and rise up even when you have rivals in your niche market? Read on to find out.

1. Turn your rivals into allies

Viewing your competitors as serious adversaries makes you miss out on a lot of partnership opportunities. But by making them your friends instead of enemies, you can band together to take out the bigger guys. In these scenarios, the phrases “If you can’t beat them, join them” and “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” become sensible if you want growth.

2. Accept imitation as flattery but innovate further

At times, your competitors will see your product getting too much success. And they would start to sell the same thing, only with slight differences. This is the part where you’ll need to step up your game. For example, instead of just selling soaps, which your competitors have copied, expand your inventory by opening a line of shampoos and exfoliators.

3. Stay calm

We’ve all been through a point in our lives as business owners where we experience hysteria when we discover a new competitor in the industry. And that could really throw us off as we run our business. During these times, take deep breaths to calm yourself. Don’t stoop down to their level. Remain professional. Then make plans to outmaneuver your rivals’ efforts.

4. Have belief

Trust and believe in your decisions, subordinates, partners, and products. More importantly, trust and have faith in yourself. Don’t ever compare yourself and your brand to them. Sure, it’s good to make comparisons to know where you’re falling short.

The important thing is, don’t beat yourself up for underperforming. Instead, find something you can do better. The world isn’t short of problems and neither are solutions.

5. React quickly

Once you know that a competitor is coming after you, assess how much of a threat they are and do it fast. The reality of today’s market competition is that most customers want something better in all aspects. It’s the reason why IKEA is the largest furniture brand in the entire world.

They create cheap, lighter, and a wide variety of products. If only handcrafted furniture companies anticipated IKEA’s coming, they would have made counter-strategies to avoid the massive closure of furniture factories in the United States.

6. Engage cautiously

Let’s just say that you have answers to the challenges your competitors pose. Will they work? Do you have the guts to execute them? Do you have enough resources to make a counterattack without causing your company to go bankrupt?

These are the questions you need to ask yourself if you’re planning to take your rivals head-on. Winning in a competitive market involves knowing the right time to strike, where to hit that hurts the most, and having a backup plan in case of failure.

7. Or just ignore them

Lastly, the simplest and cheapest way to deal with business rivals is to keep on doing what you do best. So there’s this new auto repair shop in town. The mechanic has a Ph.D. and has all the state-of-the-art tools. But there you are, not giving a single care about them while they’re stressing themselves out as to why most car owners still come to your shop for repairs.

Owning a business is fun. A lot of solopreneurs would even prefer having competitors because it forces them to improve their craft. Having rivals also brings life to a monopolized industry. You too can find joy in it. All you need to do is adopt that kind of mindset.

Discover more tips on how you should run a business here!