In his book The Art of War, Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu warned: "If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat". "Know your enemy" is a good adage for business owners to adopt.
Knowledge gained about competitors can be used to help improve and strengthen your own business.
All business owners and managers should aim to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their competitors, and how their own business compares.
They should then actively take steps to gain this knowledge. This doesn't mean simply knowing who your competitors are, or how much they charge.
It also means researching and understanding how they conduct their business, as well as the complete range of products offered, and the real level of customer service.
Superior service is usually the main reason why one business's identical products, or even more expensive products, are selling better than another's.
The best way to understand customer service levels is to get someone to undertake a ‘secret shopper' exercise with your competitors, and with your own business.
Do it as many times as are needed for a satisfactory sized sample.
First, review services
Then, analyse the results. How do you compare? Take the time to really review competitors' services.
This could include ease of access of their location, hours of operation, Internet presence and 24 hour capabilities.
Telephone manner, speed of response, product knowledge, service backup, money-back guarantees also all contribute to the service offering, and how customers view a business.
Next, find out what your customers really want
One way to do this is to conduct a simple survey to find out what is important to them and how they rank you.
Concentrate on the important things but don't ignore the little things that can often count for more than you think.
Find out the things to do to make the customer feel good.
And remember, it is only necessary to compare yourself with your direct competitors.
Don't worry about those that are outside your own target customer base.