While the first customer could help break the ice, innovation, networking, competitive pricing, and its mainly good service quality that can help you beat competition.
First and foremost factor is to understand the need of the customers beforehand.
Its believed that it was only through innovative use of technology it would be able to help customers and make a mark for themselves in the competitive business.
It is a challenge for any entrepreneur to take on big and established players in the market but a multi-pronged strategy can help swim against the tide. Here are 8 key pointers that can help you tackle the competition:
1.Know your competition: It pays richly to research the competition. Sometimes you are taken unawares of what hits you when you enter the market unprepared. Make a list of big players that rule the market, their products and services that are doing well, and also those that are not so good. Tracking companies on a regular basis through the media can give you an insight into their strategies and plans for the future. Competition can also come from other startups vying for a piece of the pie and wooing customers in their own way.
“Competition comes from two ends for us – the big established players and the two-bit startups. We are always at the risk of getting sandwiched,” says Experts and suggests approach any new business with great zeal. Go back with real solutions for real problems – not contrived. We have to constantly struggle to outthink the competition (small or big) on any given day. Now, that’s a challenge that we're up to.
2. Getting your first customer: A good rapport with your previous employer or the people you have been in touch with in the past can get you your first customer. If you are starting in a totally new domain, you may have to work hard in the beginning to make sales pitches to bag your first order.
Offering niche products and services: This has to be any startup’s best bet. It is also its biggest challenge. Offering those products and services that either already exist or those in which the big players are in good position will not work. As an entrepreneur, you have to keep thinking of how you can get noticed by what you offer. Take, for instance, the market research segment.
3. Competitive pricing: It may sound clichéd, but as a startup you may have to put a competitive price tag to be able to take on the big players who can offer rebates at the drop of the hat. “Startups must price themselves competitively, not necessarily lower than competition/existing players.”
“An ‘entry pricing’ with an upward revision clause may work in certain cases.”. But it may get difficult to raise prices quickly, so it becomes important to think through the starting price tag. Its believed that a company does not want to lose a customer because of price constraints. Therefore, offering a variety of pricing and deployment models to make pricing a non-issue during the evaluation process is better.
4. Service Quality: No matter how good your product or service, if it annoys the customer, you have lost the game. Thus, as a startup, you can set new benchmarks for quality. It can make the big players jittery and also take note of you. This could be a great differentiating factor when it comes to competing against them. Here you can look into the shortcomings of the big companies and in turn fill in with your service.
Service quality and service satisfaction is always the function of expectations. So you create expectations and accordingly you make somebody satisfied.
“If I know I can do something in two days, I commit five days to keep a buffer with me and then deliver in three or four days. You should set the expectations right at the beginning, keeping in mind your capabilities to deliver in the given time frame.
5. Advertising and PR: When bootstrapping is the order of the day, it may be unthinkable to take on the big names on the advertising turf. But that does not mean that startups cannot reach out to new customers swiftly. Word of the mouth is the best strategy. One satisfied customer can rope in many more. Outsourcing work to smaller agencies that are themselves startups could also help. They will understand the need for publicity from a startup’s point of view. Similarly, networking can also do wonders. This can be done either through participation in conferences and events, meeting people through channels such as The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), or even social networking on the web. LinkedIn, Orkut, and Facebook have made it easier to spread the word.
6. Employee motivation: Startups can harp on the productivity of their employees by creating values such as hard work, punctuality, and customer service. While they may not be able to offer hefty pay packets, an inspiring work environment can make them get the most out of their employees. In big organizations most employees become a cog in a big wheel, while in the case of startups they can experiment with and come up with fresh ideas. Values such as integrity, hard work, and motivation should percolate from the level of the entrepreneur. This ought to go a long way in improving the productivity of employees.
7. Constant innovation: It is through constant innovation that a startup can retain customers and add more to its kitty. As an entrepreneur, it becomes part and parcel of your role to think out of the box and work upon improving your products and services. Applying for patents is another way of ensuring that your ideas do not get stolen. An innovative streak can also help attract good investors who are on the lookout for such startups. It is only through innovation that companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google have reached the top of the technology ladder. “Innovative products and services are great things to have in the portfolio. But given the time and effort any new product/service takes to sell, it is better to bring them onto the forefront once the basic cash flows needs are taken care of.”
8. Grab a pie in big projects: It helps to keep an eye on the work that large corporations get done from outside agencies, and grab a part of that business. You may be surprised at how big the money is. It can also lead to big-ticket deals and a steady flow of projects. Take the case of advertising. Large organizations that are consumer-focused have huge advertising needs and thus hefty advertisement budgets. Instead of giving the whole of it to a big advertising agency, they prefer to opt for a number of smaller agencies. It makes good sense to grab such business.
First and foremost factor is to understand the need of the customers beforehand.
Its believed that it was only through innovative use of technology it would be able to help customers and make a mark for themselves in the competitive business.
It is a challenge for any entrepreneur to take on big and established players in the market but a multi-pronged strategy can help swim against the tide. Here are 8 key pointers that can help you tackle the competition:
1.Know your competition: It pays richly to research the competition. Sometimes you are taken unawares of what hits you when you enter the market unprepared. Make a list of big players that rule the market, their products and services that are doing well, and also those that are not so good. Tracking companies on a regular basis through the media can give you an insight into their strategies and plans for the future. Competition can also come from other startups vying for a piece of the pie and wooing customers in their own way.
“Competition comes from two ends for us – the big established players and the two-bit startups. We are always at the risk of getting sandwiched,” says Experts and suggests approach any new business with great zeal. Go back with real solutions for real problems – not contrived. We have to constantly struggle to outthink the competition (small or big) on any given day. Now, that’s a challenge that we're up to.
2. Getting your first customer: A good rapport with your previous employer or the people you have been in touch with in the past can get you your first customer. If you are starting in a totally new domain, you may have to work hard in the beginning to make sales pitches to bag your first order.
Offering niche products and services: This has to be any startup’s best bet. It is also its biggest challenge. Offering those products and services that either already exist or those in which the big players are in good position will not work. As an entrepreneur, you have to keep thinking of how you can get noticed by what you offer. Take, for instance, the market research segment.
3. Competitive pricing: It may sound clichéd, but as a startup you may have to put a competitive price tag to be able to take on the big players who can offer rebates at the drop of the hat. “Startups must price themselves competitively, not necessarily lower than competition/existing players.”
“An ‘entry pricing’ with an upward revision clause may work in certain cases.”. But it may get difficult to raise prices quickly, so it becomes important to think through the starting price tag. Its believed that a company does not want to lose a customer because of price constraints. Therefore, offering a variety of pricing and deployment models to make pricing a non-issue during the evaluation process is better.
4. Service Quality: No matter how good your product or service, if it annoys the customer, you have lost the game. Thus, as a startup, you can set new benchmarks for quality. It can make the big players jittery and also take note of you. This could be a great differentiating factor when it comes to competing against them. Here you can look into the shortcomings of the big companies and in turn fill in with your service.
Service quality and service satisfaction is always the function of expectations. So you create expectations and accordingly you make somebody satisfied.
“If I know I can do something in two days, I commit five days to keep a buffer with me and then deliver in three or four days. You should set the expectations right at the beginning, keeping in mind your capabilities to deliver in the given time frame.
5. Advertising and PR: When bootstrapping is the order of the day, it may be unthinkable to take on the big names on the advertising turf. But that does not mean that startups cannot reach out to new customers swiftly. Word of the mouth is the best strategy. One satisfied customer can rope in many more. Outsourcing work to smaller agencies that are themselves startups could also help. They will understand the need for publicity from a startup’s point of view. Similarly, networking can also do wonders. This can be done either through participation in conferences and events, meeting people through channels such as The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), or even social networking on the web. LinkedIn, Orkut, and Facebook have made it easier to spread the word.
6. Employee motivation: Startups can harp on the productivity of their employees by creating values such as hard work, punctuality, and customer service. While they may not be able to offer hefty pay packets, an inspiring work environment can make them get the most out of their employees. In big organizations most employees become a cog in a big wheel, while in the case of startups they can experiment with and come up with fresh ideas. Values such as integrity, hard work, and motivation should percolate from the level of the entrepreneur. This ought to go a long way in improving the productivity of employees.
7. Constant innovation: It is through constant innovation that a startup can retain customers and add more to its kitty. As an entrepreneur, it becomes part and parcel of your role to think out of the box and work upon improving your products and services. Applying for patents is another way of ensuring that your ideas do not get stolen. An innovative streak can also help attract good investors who are on the lookout for such startups. It is only through innovation that companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Google have reached the top of the technology ladder. “Innovative products and services are great things to have in the portfolio. But given the time and effort any new product/service takes to sell, it is better to bring them onto the forefront once the basic cash flows needs are taken care of.”
8. Grab a pie in big projects: It helps to keep an eye on the work that large corporations get done from outside agencies, and grab a part of that business. You may be surprised at how big the money is. It can also lead to big-ticket deals and a steady flow of projects. Take the case of advertising. Large organizations that are consumer-focused have huge advertising needs and thus hefty advertisement budgets. Instead of giving the whole of it to a big advertising agency, they prefer to opt for a number of smaller agencies. It makes good sense to grab such business.
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