Summary: If outperforming your competition is an issue for you, you want to look at who is the primary competition and what are their advantages? In what areas are they outperforming me?<br> <br> Are they outperforming me in terms of just price? If that’s what it is. And a lot of times that’s what people are up against in the online market. The online sellers are able to sell for less. And at that point you have to say, “okay, is that something I even want to try to compete with?” Or am I more interested in finding the types of clients who understand and appreciate the value that I bring to the table.<br> <br> <br> <br> David: Hi, and welcome to the podcast. Today, cohost Jay McFarland, and I will be discussing the importance of outperforming your competition. Welcome back, Jay.<br> <br> <br> <br> Jay: So good to be here again, David and this topic is very interesting to me. You know, I've been in small business. I know a lot of business owners and I got to tell you, oftentimes you're so caught up in, just generating sales that what the competition is doing, how much they're doing. Are you competing with the competition? A lot of times, those thoughts don't come up because there's just no time for that. And so I'm wondering what the consequences are if I'm not even thinking about my competition.<br> <br> David: Well, if you're doing great and you're making the money you need to make, maybe you don't have to think about your competition at all. Maybe you're the one that everybody is trying to come after.<br> <br> And when we think about that, it's not just about the fact that, okay, well, maybe somebody else is outperforming me. But a lot of people, if they've been in a market for a particularly long time and they've been selling to people who have other options, they'll find out who their competitors are.<br> <br> Because they'll say, "oh, I'm already doing business with somebody." And you ask who it is and they give you a name or they give you a company name. And you're like, okay, I've heard that name once now. And then you talk to somebody else and now I've heard another name and now I've heard another name. So you have three different names.<br> <br> Then you go to somebody else. And now you hear two for this one. Then you hear three for this one. And then four for this one. You say, "okay, this person has a lot of traction in this market." So you start to recognize them as competition.<br> <br> Also, as things have evolved online, there are now online competitors that compete with local businesses left and right. And so there are a lot of people who think in terms of the online competition. How can I compete with that?<br> <br> So, when we talk about the importance of outperforming your competition, it's not because, "well, I've got to win at all costs," and all that sort of thing. But if you are in business for yourself and you are counting on your sales and your salary to be able to put food on your table. And if your competition is sometimes interfering with that, then the necessity of outperforming your competition becomes very clear. You don't want to run into a situation where somebody says, "yes, I'm already dealing with this person." You want that person to go in there and they say, "no, I'm already dealing with you," right?<br> <br> Jay: Mm-hmm<br> <br> David: You want to be the person who already has that sort of foothold, that sort of traction in a market.<br> <br> So outperforming the competition starts with saying, "okay, who's doing a pretty good job in this market?" And is there somebody that I think is actually doing a better job in this market? Or is there somebody who is doing a job that the marketplace thinks is better? Right?<br> <br> Because you may know that you are already better than this competitor they mentioned. And nothing can be more frustrating sometimes for people, when you go into a situation, they say,
