5 Reasons Your Customer Chose the Competition

Let’s face it, we’ve all wondered why a customer chose the competition, what they brought to the table that you didn’t.  You represent your product well, you’re good at what you do, you have strong team in your corner and your current customers tell you how great you’ve been to them.

Here are five reasons why that might not be enough…

Relationships Trump Skill

People often choose to do business with organizations they know.  That familiarity breeds trust as well as the notion that the relationship diminishes the possibility of getting “had”.  Don’t believe it?  How many times have you done business with someone you know?  It comes naturally to us.

Online or off, you have to network.  That means creating opportunities to create relationships.  If you’ve ever read this blog, you know we love online networking via social media and business blogging, and you have to network IRL (in real life) too. Shake hands, kiss babies, get to know people and allow your potential customers to get a little closer to you.  Join groups, go to business events.

(Editor’s note: you don’t have to whip out your business card immediately upon meeting someone – a person asking for your business card is far more valuable than one to which it was force-fed.  Also less cheesy.)

You’re Non-Existent

Where are your customers looking for you?  If you’re not there, you need to find out how and get there.  Do you have a website?  Can your customers find it?  Are your customers reading industry/news publications or blogs?  Are you in a profession (think plumbers) where people still grab the phone book?  Do you rank high in search engines for your keywords, at least at the local level? Are you a wedding DJ that doesn’t take advantage of bridal shows? The list goes on and you see the point.

Being where your customers are at that exact moment they’re looking for you gives you a distinct advantage over the competition. A simple Google search can answer a lot of these questions: Type in “[Insert Your Service] [Your City, State]” and without limiting yourself to the competition websites that pop up, look at the directories, news, events, blogs, videos etc… Then determine if you need to optimize your website, create a press release, shoot a YouTube video, guest post on a related blog or hire a pro that will do it all for you.

Unanswered Questions

When a customer does find you, have you not only anticipated their questions, but answered them to their fullest?  If you have not gone out of your way to do this, you’re paving the way to a competitor that has. And rest assured that somewhere a competitor has. Once you’ve answered the questions, take it a step further and answer the questions your customer didn’t know they had.

You’ll need help with this.  Not necessarily paid help, have someone – a friend or customer not in your industry – look at your offering (website, brochure, display etc…) and ask them if it hits the mark.  Ask if your website is intuitive.  Don’t try to persuade why you think it is, let the media speak for itself and analyze the response.  Then adjust.  Then do it again.

Uneducated Customers

It is not your customers’ responsibility to be educated about your product.  It is your responsibility to educate your customers. It is further your responsibility to educate them why they need your product, why life is so much better after they purchase it.

Write a how-to article, give a class (record it and put it on YouTube while you’re at it), speak at a seminar, write a blog, do a podcast, request to be interviewed – there are so many ways to educate your customer that the real question becomes… which do you choose?  The answer to that lies with your customer.  Ask one.

You’re Spread Too Thin

Finally, you’ve heard of “niche” businesses.  Niche businesses are largely successful because they’ve specialized in a product or service giving an advantage over the companies that try to be all things to all people.  We are strictly online marketing, for example.  We don’t offer IT support, fix computers, streamline networks, run fiber optic cable or anything else.  Online marketing is the name of our game, it’s all we do – and we refer out all other business to people who know it better than we do.

Trim the fat and offer up your specialty.  You’ll be happier doing it, your customers will be happy with your professional work and here’s a secret: doing something you love and are great at has the potential to make you more money than all that stuff you’re doing halfheartedly and hate.

If your business is guilty of any of these, do something about it.  Much of this can be done DIY, others you choose to enlist a pro.  Either way, take care of it…

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We’ve only scratched the surface on why customers sometimes choose the other guy…  Sometimes YOU are the other guy.  Why has a customer chose the competition over you or why has a customer chosen YOU over the competition?  We’d love to add to this list – let us know in the comments below.

Posted in marketing strategy