Competing Businesses Are Not Always Your Competition
Even though our society wants to put us at odds and create division when it comes to product brands and customer loyalties, we don’t have to participate. As much as a company thinks making a smear ad against their competition will make them look better in the viewers eyes, it often does just the opposite. What people look for in a product, service, price range or company is as varied as there are people out there. It is easy to feel the pressure of keeping up with the competition, making more clever ads, a better product, etc. But instead we can focus on what makes our company great, what we are proud of, what we stand for, what we value in our products/services and what makes us stand out. Most of the time it has nothing to do with the best price. There are so many examples of people choosing to pay a higher price for convenience, for quality, for great communication, for honesty, for feeling like they matter to the company they shop at. This is why it doesn’t necessarily matter to keep your rates in line with the competition. Now this doesn’t mean go crazy and charge excessive prices. What it does mean is choose the price that is fair to the customer and that will still make a good profit.
The fun part of outperforming our competition is through customer service, through complete honesty, through great communication, through working with the customer on a case-by-case basis and not just following company policy. People just want to be treated right. They want to know that each employee they interact with cares about helping them and appreciates their business. Take the time to ask the customer questions about what they are looking for, what they are trying to achieve, their end goal and why they came to our business today. There are many reasons why we may not be the best choice for the customer. It could be our repair prices are higher than they want to spend and replacing the device would be more cost effective. Perhaps we would have to order parts and so we can’t get the repair done same day, but we can call our competitors to see if they have the needed part and we can send the customer over to them. Sometimes we tell our customers to take a few days and think over their decision and when they are certain we will be glad to help them then.
By having this mindset when we are serving our customers they never feel like we are selling them anything and we never have to feel like we are pressuring them into a decision that they later will regret. We want to be the company that someone can send their grandparent to because they know we will take care of them like our own family. This can only happen if we help the customer make the right choice for them and not for us. The other side of this coin is being careful and firm on our rates. Each business knows what jobs, products, or activity makes them a profit or loses them time and money. By figuring this out and then making your minimum bench fees reflect that when you intake a job will help reduce those losses.
Because we know the service we will be providing has value and takes a specific skill we need to bill properly for that job. Whether it is a success or a no fix we need to come out in the green if we are to survive as a business. This is why we stand on our prices and don’t price match or lower the price just because a customer asks. Instead we ask the customer the tough questions about their needs and what they are trying to achieve to find out if we are a good match. If we aren’t then we need to refer them to where it will be a good match. If we are then we are happy to move ahead with the job and they are happy to pay our fair rates.
A truly successful business gets repeat customers and personal referrals. This is the greatest compliment to any business. When a person goes out of their way to leave a 5-star review or take extra business cards to hand out to their friends and family it really makes you proud to be a part of that company. There are many times we choose to go out of our way to make a situation right at the detriment to our business. Sometimes it’s because we made an error, or we feel for the tight spot the customer is in, or we just want to go above and beyond to help someone out. Whatever the reason, it usually ends up costing us extra time, resources and money. But we know that it is the right thing to do and having a successful business means nothing if it’s built without character.
When a company and a customer leave a transaction or job feeling good because it benefited both parties, that is the definition of good capitalism.