August 21, 2024 • 47 mins
Curious how competition can become your greatest ally in business? Discover insights and strategies from my journey in the cutthroat restoration industry. This episode promises to transform how you perceive competitors, shifting your view from threat to opportunity. You'll learn how to harness competitor insights to boost your operations, marketing efforts, and customer satisfaction, ultimately driving your business to new heights.
In our discussion, I share stories about how building relationships with competitors has led to unexpected benefits, including valuable referrals and a better understanding of market dynamics. Learn the importance of keeping an updated list of competitors and attending local events to foster professional interactions. With practical tools like Wayback Machine, you can gain insights into competitors' past strategies and use these lessons to stay ahead in the game. Plus, discover how friendships with competitors can provide support during slow periods and contribute to your overall business growth.
Finally, we'll tackle the hard truths about entrepreneurship, highlighting the importance of perseverance and strategic thinking in overcoming business challenges. Hear about real-life experiences and setbacks, and how competition can be an unexpected motivator. Tune in to understand why success is rarely an overnight sensation and to gather tips on how to adapt and thrive in a competitive market. This episode is packed with actionable advice designed to help you leverage competition to fuel your business growth and sustain long-term success.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everyone, it's Jonathan Wagner and I want to
welcome you back to anotherepisode of the Business Guide.
On today's episode, we're goingto talk about a subject that
every single business ownerdeals with, and that is
competition.
But instead of fearingcompetition, I want to go over
how you can take thatcompetition and turn it into
(00:21):
fuel to grow your business.
So if you're dealing with acompetitor in your industry,
stay tuned to this episode, guys, looking over your shoulder at
competitors is something that weall do.
We get into the market we set.
You know, we're doing marketresearch, we're figuring out
who's the best in our market orwho's the best in our industry,
(00:44):
and we're definitely kind ofcreating our business plan or
creating our business somewhatlike somebody else's Again or
not again.
But there's no reason torecreate the wheel, if you will.
Now.
Every single business has itsown spin, its own personal touch
, and that is how you grow.
But using your competitors asan example and thriving to be
(01:08):
better than your competitors candefinitely grow and excel your
business.
I speak from experience Yearsand years and years and years
ago and I'm talking about a mucholder generation, from my
experience in interacting withthem, competition was a very,
very bad thing.
They didn't want anything to dowith each other.
(01:30):
Any dollar that wasn't goinginto their particular pocket was
a threat to their business.
Now, this day and age socialmedia, networking, communication
is all a different.
Yeah, it is on a differentlevel, and I can tell you that I
have made hundreds of thousandsof dollars a year from
(01:51):
competitors.
Competitors are a great streamof income for your business and
over time can make you verywealthy and really fuel your
business.
So let's dive into this, let'sdissect this industry.
Now, specifically, let me gointo my industry.
(02:14):
My industry I've mentioned itin the past restoration.
It is a very tight, verysaturated market, if you will.
So many people are popping upevery single day and everybody
wants kind of a bite ofinsurance proceeds and all of
that good or all of that goodstuff, if you will.
So my market is verycompetitive.
(02:35):
I go out and have to networkwith other people that are going
after maybe my same targetaudience for marketing and all
that good stuff.
So I can tell you verysaturated market, very hard to
break into, but people stillbreak into it and still make a
killing breaking into it.
So just because a market isflooded with competition does
(02:57):
not mean that you cannot standout immediately and make some
money and turn a profit.
Stand out immediately and makesome money and turn a profit.
So let's dive into this.
Let me get into my notes.
So I think it's very importantfor everybody to understand
competition is a natural part ofbusiness and rather than I mean
(03:24):
I kind of went over thisalready, but rather than see it
as a threat, you need to see itas an opportunity that going
online, looking at reviews,looking at different websites,
looking at different marketingmaterials this can all help you
build your business.
Now I know, when I wasrelatively in my infancy of
(03:45):
business, I went on everycompetitor's website.
I looked at their strategies, Ilooked at their marketing, I
looked at their price points.
I went on and I mean, if I sawtheir print material lying
around, I took a copy of it andI definitely I wouldn't say
copied my competitors, but I sawwhat was working for them and I
(04:07):
decided to do it better andreally, really excel my business
, if you will, with my personaltouch.
Remember, we don't have toreinvent the wheel here.
This is something that you knowthis day and age, you can go on
to.
If you're a plumber.
You can go on to Facebook.
You can go on to so manydifferent platforms that have
huge plumber societies andgroups that just talk about
(04:28):
common questions and answers andstruggles you're going through.
So always leave that door openand I will give you an example
of how I was able to make moneyfrom somebody that wasn't even
in my state off of just aFacebook connection and that was
technically a competitor.
So yeah, competition is huge.
(04:50):
Competition improves our market.
When I started, I mentioned thison a couple episodes ago, but I
was always going after reviews.
Not a lot of people were doingthat at the time.
I was going specifically onYelp and in my industry and
years later I had run into acompetitor that had always
(05:11):
trailed behind me and they saidhey, jonathan, I just want to
shake your hand to say thank you.
I really think that you havedrawn or you have set an example
of what the industry in ourarea needs to be, and we have
had to match that same customersatisfaction and expectation and
without you going after thereviews and really standing out
(05:35):
online, we would have neverthought to do that.
So thank you for that.
So this is how competition cangrow the market and that
particular person, years later,has turned into a referral
source and a referral source andI will go over that as well.
So leave the door open forcompetitors.
It is a very, very good thingExpanding your market as well.
Maybe there's a competitor thatyou have that is offering the
(05:58):
same particular service as youright now, but maybe they decide
that or, excuse me, you decideto get into another service or
tack on another service thatgoes in line with your primary
service, but you're not able tooffer that.
Your competitor might have areferral because you are a good
person in the industry.
So keep that in mind when youare talking to your competitors.
(06:20):
You're dealing in your market.
Competitors are a very, verygood thing.
Now, it can be frustrating.
It can be frustrating andthere's a lot of people protect
yourself from certaincompetitors, don't let them take
advantage of you.
Um, competitors can befrustrating.
Sometimes there are competitorsthat will tell you one thing
(06:42):
and go out and do another.
It happens in my industry allthe time.
I see it probably on aquarterly basis, of maybe
somebody making a phone call tome asking me a question about
something and then I hear aboutit later in maybe a negative
light or they're using my namein a negative light.
I'm not afraid to be veryfriendly with my competition,
(07:03):
but also call them out Um.
I'm not afraid to be veryfriendly with my competition,
but also call them out Um.
I know that there was acompetitor that uh was in my
field and he was just offeringhorrendous services, completely
ripping off the customerscompletely.
Just, this guy should have goneout of business.
And uh, you know I would seehim around.
Uh, local, you know, just thelocal area.
Him getting gas, him going tothe supplier, things like that,
(07:25):
and we'd see him around and hewas always willing to have a
conversation, very friendly guy.
His reputation preceded himfrom customers that were calling
, getting second opinions,things like that.
So that particular competitor,I called him out for it.
I said you need to do better,you're doing horrible.
I gave him some examples.
People sometimes appreciate thetruth.
(07:52):
I know he did in that situation.
Has he gotten better in thelast couple of years?
Yes, do I think he should stillbe in business?
No, but that's okay.
His reputation and the productthat he leaves behind just makes
me look better in my field.
So absolutely, pay attention toyour competitors.
You know what do they say?
(08:13):
Keep your friends close, butyour enemies closer.
I would almost say that keepyour friendly competition close,
but keep your.
I don't know, I don't know whatI was trying to do there, guys,
but yeah, keep your competitorsclose.
I don't know, I don't know whatI was trying to do there, guys,
but yeah, keep your competitorsclose.
Watch the ethical ones, watchthe unethical ones and use it to
improve your market and yourniche and your message.
Okay, so one way we need to getin we've got to figure out how
(08:38):
to go after competitors.
So I'm going to start with that.
So let's go in, let's researchcompetitors, let's figure it out
.
So, I think, going back,breaking into my market Google,
start with Google, start withyour service area.
Start with every competitor.
Make a list, make a list of 10or 15 of the best people in your
(09:03):
area that come up.
Next, go on their Yelp profiles, go on their Google Plus
profiles, go on their Facebookpage Anywhere you can see a
review.
Look at their reviews.
Now, remember and I think itwas the last episode or the
(09:24):
episode before it was the reviewepisode Look how they're
responding to their reviews.
That is pretty crucial becauseyou're really going to peel back
kind of the onion that way.
Maybe they like to blame theclient for their downfalls.
Maybe they don't show up ontime, maybe they don't show up
at all, maybe they don't dressappropriately.
(09:44):
There's so many differentthings that you can jot down.
Put this on an Excelspreadsheet and look at it.
Start creating notes.
Okay, so, now that you've gonethrough their reviews, go on to
their websites.
Look at their brand.
See what their brand is about,see what their message is about.
Are they family owned?
Are they a big corporation?
You really need to know this.
(10:05):
Moving forward, this is very,very important.
I've got a really goodcompetitor in one of the cities
we work in, very friendly guy.
He's never referred me any work.
I'll get into how mycompetitors refer me work later,
but this particular guy neverreferred me work.
But man, this guy will pick upthe phone any time of day or
night and just chat with you andgive you his honest opinion of
(10:29):
what's going on in the market.
Now he has also indirectly mademe some money.
I'm not going to go over that,but leave the door open to
always talk to your competitors.
So you've gone on.
You've looked at their reviews.
You've looked at their reviews.
You've looked at their website.
You want to find out kind ofwhat their brand identity is.
(10:49):
Maybe you're going intodistributors or suppliers.
You're seeing their advertising.
How are they advertising?
What are they?
Excuse me, what are they doing?
Go on Indeed, go on anyplatform LinkedIn.
Go on Indeed, go on anyplatform LinkedIn.
See how they're hiring theiremployees, see what their
breakdown.
Open up a job description fromthese companies and find out
(11:13):
what their company is about.
This is all research you shoulddo on your competitors 10 or 15
.
I would absolutely make a listof 10 or 15 people as you start
diving in.
I would definitely hold true tothat.
On the reviews on the website,figure out their brand, but
(11:34):
getting into their jobdescriptions and how they're
hiring employees and theexpectations that they have, I'd
probably save that for the topfive competitors you're going
into.
You want to structure yourselfto be competitive in the
industry.
Remember, you're not just goingafter customers, you're going
after employees too.
You want to go after betterpeople.
(11:55):
So you've done all of thatresearch.
I feel like I'm forgettingsomething.
(12:16):
Social media Okay, pop ontotheir social media Now.
This is going to go in linewith their website presence,
their brand identity?
What does their social medialook like?
I've got a competitor that doesnot put out the best quality
stories on Instagram, facebookpictures, but gosh, that guy
puts out a lot of quantity.
(12:36):
Is he keeping his audienceengaged?
Probably has a great followingon some of these profiles.
I've got another competitor notin my direct city but
definitely does come to mycounty.
That competitor has hired afull-time photographer that goes
around, photographs their work,videotapes, edits everything
(12:59):
and puts it out online.
They are consistently posting.
That is a part of their brandidentity.
They have a huge following.
They're definitely doing thatis a part of their brand
identity.
They have a huge following.
They're definitely doing itright on social media.
So really you need to dive intosocial media, probably on that
website research Definitely lookat their brand identity, their
brand identity online.
You need to be able to use thisto gain insights, right?
(13:21):
You're not going to be able towalk up to your competitor and
say, hey, can I get your secretson how you make your customers
happier?
Hey, can I get your secrets onyour advertising?
They're not going to give thatto you, but slowly start
building this strategy or thisExcel spreadsheet, I would say,
as you're going on Google andyou're typing in your particular
service, look for paid ads.
(13:41):
Look for paid ads on Facebook.
Slowly through time, and thesealgorithms on Facebook or
Instagram or TikTok, they arecatered to us but sometimes they
mess up.
So if you're in a particularindustry, you may see that
industry.
You may see that personadvertising to you by accident
in that industry.
Take note of what they'reputting out there on social
(14:02):
media.
Take note of what they'reputting out there on social
media.
Take note of what they're doingfor ads.
It's going to be a good insightto figure out what your
competitors are up to and whatthey are doing Now.
The next section is leveragingcompetitors' successes and
(14:22):
mistakes.
Leveraging Competitor Successesand Mistakes.
Yeah, I had a really bigcompetitor that had the
employees, they had the brandidentity, they had the work, but
they did not have the pricepoint and let me rewind by they
(14:45):
had the work.
So they definitely had a volumeof work, for sure, and it was
enough to keep their entire teamemployed, making money.
They were very successful.
But they let a lot slip throughthe cracks on their overall
process of how they in took aclient and handled billing that
(15:10):
client, getting that client anestimate, the communication
between the client and thentheir pricing.
Their pricing was huge.
So when I was starting, Irealized that that competitor
was leaving a lot of money onthe table because their process
was broken.
So I advertised a certain way.
(15:30):
I came up.
When they came up, I got calledas a second opinion and I wrote
my estimates fair to what Ineeded at the time as a business
, and I killed it.
I picked up so much of their Idon't want to say garbage,
(15:51):
because it definitely wasn'tgarbage.
These were high quality jobsbut their excess and their fall
through.
I picked the clients that fellthrough the cracks, so that
helped me very early on inbusiness.
This is how all of mycompetitor research the stuff
I'm saying.
Put it on an Excel spreadsheet,use Google Sheets.
(16:13):
That's what I use.
That is something that I didand still have to this day of a
list of all of my competitorsand different things that they
do.
And during slow seasons or onceevery other quarter, I'll go
through it and I'll make surethat I'm advertising or I'm
(16:33):
responding or I'm going ontotheir websites and I'm looking
at their brand identity to makesure that my stuff is all fresh
and relevant.
Now my competitor let a lotslip through the crack years ago
this was probably eight, nineyears ago.
Moving forward to now, that hastaught me a valuable lesson of
(16:53):
not letting a client slipthrough the cracks.
So these competitors eventhough that particular
competitor is no longer around,still helps me in my business
and my mindset, becausesomething I learned early on
still helps me to this day tomake money and capture clients
(17:18):
Getting to know your competitors.
I would say going out to localevents.
Don't be standoffish.
When you see a competitor Walkup, smile, be nice, introduce
yourself professionally.
It is so refreshing as alegitimate business that has
legitimate competitors that arewilling to work together in the
(17:41):
same market and be friendly.
Now we all have differentstrategies of how we do business
, how we don't do business,things that maybe we like, that
they don't like.
That is the beautiful part ofcompetition.
Don't see a competitor and sayI'm not going to talk to that
guy.
He works for ABC company andI'm their direct competitor.
(18:02):
I'm not going to talk to him.
Don't do that.
Make a name for yourself.
Show them you're not afraid tostand out in your market and be
the leader.
You would be surprised at howmany people have started very,
very small and have become verybig, but the people that were
big never thought that wouldhappen and they lose their
(18:23):
market share.
So, as a business owner, don'tget comfortable, but definitely
continue to know yourcompetitors and what they are up
to.
Looking at your competitorsyou've met them.
You talk to them.
Maybe go through and look attheir services.
(18:44):
Look at things that work, thatdon't work.
Now this could go back intosome market research, but if
you're online and you want toknow what their website looked
like five years ago, go toGoogle and search Time Machine.
I think it's Wayback Machine.
Go to Google search WaybackMachine and type your
(19:05):
competitor's URL in there.
You'll be able to see whattheir website was, maybe five or
10 years ago to what it is now.
What services are they offeringthat they don't offer anymore?
That is important.
Maybe you're just gun-hogetting into the industry and
you want to offer every serviceunder the mount or under the
under the sun, and maybe it'snot as profitable for you.
(19:27):
Maybe you're going to go in thered.
These things are super crucial.
So break down what yourcompetitor has evolved to to
this day.
Use that as a little cheatsheet for yourself.
Maybe there's things thatthey've the mistakes that
they've made on their servicesor items or prices and you don't
want to make that mistake.
Use this as an example.
(19:48):
Now, if you are friendly to acompetitor and they do begin to
open up, build a friendship.
I've got a lot of friendshipswith competitors in my field, my
industry, and that is local forsure.
I have a ton of them.
I go out and have routinedinners, routine lunches, phone
calls these people I'm talkingto all the time.
What I really like about it is,if my market slows down, I'm
(20:11):
able to pick up the phone andI'm able to talk to a competitor
about that slowdown.
Hey, what's going on?
Have you ever seen this before?
What do you think it is?
These are things that, as yourbusiness maybe slows down, maybe
it's a seasonal period or maybeit's just an abnormally slow
season for you, this is going tohelp you get a better gauge of
(20:33):
the market.
Now, disclosure, disclosure.
Not all competitors will sharethat information.
That's why it's important tohave multiple friends and
buddies in the industry, becausemaybe out of 10, maybe six
actually open up.
(20:53):
But now that you're talking tosix and six are kind of
confirming what you're goingthrough now.
You know, maybe there's aslowdown and something's going
on, so this is huge.
Maybe, as they're opening up,talk to them about the mistakes
they've made in the industry.
What they have walked away fromNow, that way back machine is
something that's great, but thatjust gives you a snapshot in
(21:15):
time of what they offered atthat time, and there could be so
many different reasons.
They don't offer that anymore.
So if you've got a competitorthey're talking to you, maybe
ask them hey, what's some adviceyou have for me in this area?
A couple months ago I met areally nice couple that was
(21:35):
starting up getting in our field.
I can tell you my field issaturated, but after talking to
them I realized that they weregoing to be a big player in the
market and they have started toshape the market and carve a
little niche spot for themselves.
So they were very friendly,coming up and talking to me.
(21:58):
They invited me to lunch.
This was a good relationshipthat they were trying to start
from the beginning with me.
They invited me to lunch.
This was a good relationshipthat they were trying to start
from the beginning with me anddefinitely thankful for that.
But now, as they go throughtheir ups and downs.
I'm getting the phone callsfrom them of, hey, is this
normal, is this not normal?
And it gives me an idea, as abigger competitor, how they're
(22:20):
doing and some of the strugglesthat they're going through.
Now I don't want to say that Iuse some of those pain points as
leverage, but they arecompetitors and I have a
business that I'm trying to runand succeed.
Now I do not go around and burncompetitors or do certain
things to competitors.
What goes around comes aroundright, but when you're marketing
(22:41):
and you're doing certain things, I have to say, being maybe an
established business, ourbudgets are a little bit higher.
There's things that we can doand we can use that as a
strategy or in a.
We can use that as acompetitive advantage.
So keep that in mind,competitive advantage.
(23:17):
So keep that in mind.
So I started the business, grewthe business.
I have my competitors, I have abig part of my market.
We have a huge event and Iinvite a bunch of competitors to
talk at a local town hall.
(23:38):
So I have a bunch ofrelationships with competitors.
Downhaul so I have a bunch ofrelationships with competitors.
I want to let them know that Ihave their backs because there's
enough work to go around,essentially, if you will.
So I call them in and pass thatdown.
What happens in thosesituations and I'm trying to be
(24:00):
broad because I just don't feellike this applies to everybody,
but I feel like if I'm broadabout it, you can think of yeah,
this could work for me or thismight not work for me.
So we have a huge event, we getinvited to a town hall because
(24:24):
we are a more establishedcompany, we have a presence and
I invite competitors behind meto talk about the industry as
well and common scams andeducation for our community
Number one as the anchorbusiness that is trying to
educate the community.
Well, I look good bringing inall these different competitors,
(24:46):
but I'm the one up there thatis the market leader, inviting
other people up there to talk.
So people that are looking formy service are now directly
calling me because they see meas that leader me because they
(25:07):
see me as that leader.
They're also networking with mycompetitors directly, creating
a bond with my competitors andmy competitors are getting work
out of that.
So in this example that I gaveyou, where we had an incident,
(25:29):
we coordinated a town hall withmy company and multiple
competitors.
We host it.
It not only was very successfulfor me as the company that was
offering up this, verysuccessful for me, but it was
also very successful for mycompetitors to tag along and
know me and be in the industry.
So I was broad with my example.
I hope that you're able to thinkif you're a plumber or an HVAC
(25:52):
company or a landscaping companyand there is something that
happens in your industry orthere's something that's going
on in the year that you thinkyou can bring a couple local
competitors together, therecould be an opportunity for both
sides to make money.
So keep that in mind.
Making money is something weboth want to do.
(26:15):
So if we can both do it, weboth succeed Right.
If we can both do it, we bothsucceed right.
(26:38):
It's funny.
I'm trying to think how Istructure this story because I
have a couple different personalstories I can share with you.
But I remember going into thiscompetitor's facility when I was
first starting my business andagain remember I was very
friendly, looked up competitors,did my research and went in and
(27:02):
introduced myself.
So I walked into thiscompetitor's facility and they
engaged.
They were so positive, theywere so nice.
I remember looking up on theirwall and seeing every different
certification and license thatyou could imagine.
I was like, wow, these guys areit.
These guys have made it and Ijust I don't know if I'll ever
(27:30):
be up to their level.
It's funny because within ayear I completely went over
their level and thosecompetitors to this day are
really good friends of mine thatconsistently refer me work on
probably a quarterly basis.
(27:51):
But the thing about their workit's interesting.
They like the smaller projects.
It's a much smaller outfit sothey can handle a lot of small
projects, but anytime they getbig projects which is
specifically what my companylikes it gets a little over
their head.
So they call us in to back themup immediately, without any
hesitation.
(28:11):
They pick up the phone and callus and, depending on the
situation, either we give them akickback or a percentage of the
job.
So we are fair to them.
They are making money bypicking up the phone and calling
us, but so are we.
So I would encourage you to goin and cold call or cold door
(28:34):
knock that competitor, becausethat competitor can still make
you money years down the line ifdone right.
And don't be discouraged.
I know I felt a littlediscouraged looking at all those
certifications and licensingand thinking these guys are so
far out of my league.
Little did I know.
Quickly, after about a year,they would be calling me and
(28:58):
asking me for my advice.
So that's a good one.
I have a competitor that is avery, very, very, very, very
small operation and, again,loves the small jobs but doesn't
get a lot of work.
I mean, he'll take the biggerjobs, but does not have the
(29:19):
workforce to do anything bigwhatsoever on a big scale.
If he got a big project, hedoes use some temporary labor so
he's able to figure it out, butit's very far and few between.
What I'm getting at with thisparticular competitor, though,
is he is a master networker.
He has no problem going toevery single networking event in
(29:43):
our county.
He is a solid networker.
He has no problem going toevery single networking event in
our county.
He is a solid networker.
Like if you could give a goldstar for networking, this guy
would have 10 of them, but on aday-to-day basis it does not pan
out to work.
He goes to all these in-personthings.
(30:03):
It should definitely be in yourmarketing strategy, but you
shouldn't solely rely on it.
This particular guy does.
He does get a trickle of work.
Like I said, he likes the smallprojects.
He can handle them.
He likes the bigger projects.
He's got to call in some peoplebut his work volume is very low
.
That's a good word for it.
(30:23):
Work volume is low.
So now think about a very, verybusy season where we have a big
event in our area and that hashappened a few times throughout
the course of the years thatI've worked with this competitor
.
When his phone rings and hecan't handle the work, he just
(30:47):
essentially gives them my numberand wants absolutely nothing in
return, just his referralstaken care of.
So it's interesting You've gotsomebody that is a smaller
operation and likes the smallerjobs and will pass us the bigger
jobs and we give them apercentage or a kick.
(31:08):
And then you've got somebodyelse that is comfortable with
the volume of work that he gets,but then when the phone starts
to ring in an active season hejust hands it off and says I
just want you to take care of myclient.
Now there are many delicious,delicious lunches and dinners
(31:29):
that he has had, because I don'tlet him get away scot-free
where it's just yeah, I'm justgoing to take those customers.
I do want to give you something, so let me buy you a nice fancy
, fancy, fancy dinner or lunch,but you can see there two
competitors that make up alittle bit of a lead source.
It's definitely not adependable lead source that I
(31:50):
can count on, but nonethelessleads that are essentially free
into my business.
And it's funny.
I met that particular guy doingwhat he does best, which is
marketing.
I met that particular guy doingwhat he does best, which is
marketing, and he was going to aparticular group that, and I
wouldn't say, didn't directlyallow other competitors in there
(32:13):
, but there was an unspoken ruleand I remember kind of treading
lightly saying, hey, I don'twant to join this because I
don't want to step on your feet,and he embraced it and said no,
you come along, I've got my ownthing, you can come out here
and you can do what you need todo.
So pretty interesting there howcompetition has made me money.
(32:34):
So I give you these examplesbecause these are everyday
people like you and me that aresuccessfully making money
working with each other.
I know I have a competitor that, again, I wouldn't say likes
smaller jobs, but I put it thisway, new in the industry and me
(32:57):
just being the nice guy that Iam wanting to build a
relationship with somebody thatI think is going to be
successful in our industry, Ifunnel him a couple jobs that
not necessarily weren't lostincome for my business, but at
the time we were just a littletoo busy to handle these
particular line items and he wasable to take care of them.
(33:19):
He was able to buy and pay offspecific equipment and start
growing a little business forhimself.
Now this is long run.
I have not seen any referralsfrom him directly to me, but
this is a long-term play for me.
(33:41):
So I'm not in business to makemoney for six months.
I'm in business to lay thegroundwork for five years from
now, 10 years from now, 15 yearsfrom now.
That's why I'm in business, soI do think of these as long-term
plays years from now.
That's why I'm in business, soI do think of these as long-term
plays.
So I can't stress enough Go,show up to your competitor's
(34:06):
office, call your competitor,run into them at an event and be
nice, be friendly.
I'm going to share a bad exampleof a competitor.
There was a particulargentleman that was going around
on these different networkinggroups.
I was running into him rightand left Me being the friendly
(34:26):
guy I wanted to make arelationship.
This guy could see that.
He then asked we kind of cameup with our agreements of he
could go to these groups, Icould go to these groups, I
could do these events he coulddo these events was going to go
(34:49):
to, but then coming over to myevents and one day I finally
asked him.
I said, hey, we kind of came upwith an agreement so we weren't
stepping on each other's toes.
You have not held up youragreement.
When can I expect you to dothat?
And he was rude.
(35:12):
He says look, I'm in businessto make money, I'm not in
business to make friends.
About a month later I saw him atan event that I had sponsored a
booth and he literally walked acouple booths down.
He was not a vendor, didn't sayhi to me, but as people passed
my booth he then handed out hisbusiness card.
Yeah, unethical businesspractices, shady competition.
(35:33):
That was definitely somebody Iwas willing to give a shot and I
was willing to be a friendlycompetitor.
I was willing to do thesethings.
But he wasn't about that.
He was a part of that oldergeneration that I was talking
about talking about, but I willsay something about him versus
(35:59):
me now is there's a cleardifference between both of our
businesses.
My business is still inoperation and his isn't.
So let's think about who wonthe long-term play there.
Be good to your competitors,they will be good to you.
Don't trust every single one ofthem, but don't just rule it
out, because you can totallymake a ton of money.
(36:20):
I think I'm trying to.
I'm trying to think of how Ican structure this.
(36:40):
To be a broad example, yeah, Ican't, so I'm just not gonna say
(37:02):
that.
Look my note.
My note here says coexisting ina mutual beneficial manner.
That's kind of a kind of amouthful.
So I I think it's confusing me,but you don't have to get along
with every single competitor.
Keep the door open.
(37:22):
That competitor I was tellingyou about with the reviews very
early on in business, thatcompetitor switched out into a
different field.
That happens to be a directreferral source for my current
business.
So at the time we were bothgrowing our carpet cleaning
businesses.
We both changed and adapted andgot into different industries,
(37:44):
but now he is a main referralsource for my business.
Guys, that's just me beingfriendly competition with these
guys.
So don't rule it out.
Create a strategy, get a GoogleSheet going, figure out who
your competitors are, what'sworking for them, what's not
working for them.
Pick up the phone, walk inperson and create real
(38:09):
meaningful relationships, realmeaningful relationships.
And look, if you have 20competitors, I'd expect you to
only probably actually networkand have a friendship with
probably five or six of them andthen probably out of that 20,
(38:30):
an additional five or six thatknow who you are will pick up
the phone, will take your callat any point.
So that's like 12 competitorsyou've got on your side and the
rest, don't expect them to doanything, expect garbage people
or expect them to do unethicalthings that maybe you wouldn't
do.
But use that to your advantage.
(38:52):
You know if they're not doingsomething right.
Use that to your advantage.
You know if they're not doingsomething right, use that to
your advantage.
Use it as a selling technique.
Use it on something to landtheir clients away from their
business over to yours.
So I hope that you found thisepisode helpful on competitors.
Again, guys, unscripted new atpodcasting.
(39:16):
So I appreciate if you'velistened.
If you have listened this farthrough the episode, I really
appreciate it.
Give me a shout out that youyou listen to it.
I'd love to see it.
Speaking of shout outs, I have aquestion, a question from one
of the listeners.
So if you don't know if you'reon a podcast, apple podcast or
(39:36):
Spotify, you can actually send alittle message.
This came in through there,comes in as a text message, I
think.
You send us a text message, sopretty cool, but I get it.
I can definitely reply, go backand forth with you, but I want
to get these out onto ourpodcast.
So, jesse don't know where he'sfrom.
I'm just going to assume theUnited States says why is it so
(40:07):
easy to fall but so hard to getback up?
Now, this came in from our lastepisode on adapting to change.
If you didn't listen to thatepisode, please take 30 minutes
and check that out.
It's important to adapt to yourmarket trends.
But, jesse, this is such agreat question on why is it easy
to fall but so hard to get backup.
I'm almost going to challengeyou and say for me it's probably
(40:33):
harder to fall and easier toget back up onto the horse,
because I have fallen so manytimes.
See, being an entrepreneur and abusiness owner, I think there
is definitely.
I mean I know there is amisconception.
We have all of our stufffigured out, we have successful
(40:58):
businesses.
Man, we're living the high life.
That's a perception that a lotof people put on being a
business owner, right, and Ithink when you start a business
and you create this golden idea,you dump a ton of money into it
or a ton of your time into itand you think, hey, just because
(41:20):
I've got the best product andI've got the best equipment, now
the customers are going to useme and I'm going to make a ton
of money.
And when you start losing that,when that doesn't start working
out, when that doesn't work outfor you, Because, right,
building a business, I mean youwould be very lucky if you were
(41:42):
an overnight success, but 99% ofus aren't.
We have worked hard and we haveworked hard for years, and a
lot of people getting into aparticular industry, they don't
necessarily take that intoconsideration.
It takes years to ramp up andso, with the comment of why is
it easy to fall, I would sayit's probably easy to fall
(42:06):
because you're giving up or youdon't have enough invested.
I spoke in the last episode that, adapting to market change, you
can't take your foot off thatgas or, excuse me, sometimes you
have to take that foot off thegas or foot off the throttle.
I know I said something like ithurts your pride, but it's yeah
(42:33):
, I think it hurts your pride,right?
You're putting your heart andsoul into this.
You're putting long hours,maybe you're not spending as
much time with the family andyou're pouring it into the
business and the business isn'tworking out.
And now you have to let off ofthat because maybe you need to
adapt to your market.
You need to take a couple stepsback.
You need to regroup.
You need to think.
(43:08):
That, for me personally, isharder than getting back up.
So fall is definitely hard,right, you look in some wounds,
you got to put some Band-Aids on, but when you started to learn
how to ride a bike, I bet youfell, because I did, but you
didn't stop riding the bike, yougot back up and you got back
onto the bike.
So we need to get back onto thehorse.
(43:30):
We need to get back onto thehorse and we need to go Again.
So we need to get back onto thehorse.
We need to get back onto thehorse and we need to go Again.
(43:52):
I hope that helped's been somany things that have not worked
out my way, but I can tell youI didn't quit.
I was dedicated and I stayedvery clear-minded on being in
business and working throughthose problems, and I was able
to work through that.
All right, guys.
(44:16):
Some final thoughts.
Competition does not have to bea race to the bottom.
It can be a powerful driver forgrowth and innovation if you
approach it with the rightmindset.
Embrace healthy competition anduse it as a tool to elevate
your business.
Now I really stared at mycomputer because I wrote this
(44:39):
down, thinking if there is amessage that I want to get
across out of all the examplesand out of the different things
that I'm telling you about theepisode because, right, I'm kind
of free ball on this, if youwill this is important.
(45:02):
You don't need to be discouragedif a competitor is doing better
than you are.
Use it as fuel, use it to growyour business.
Use it to grow your business.
I had I had a not so friendlycompetitor, by the way, I'm
(45:36):
still in business and thiscompetitor is not Tell their
staff that I was a fly on thewall when we started to ramp up
and that somebody needed tosquash that fly.
That was mean.
I don't say that about mycompetitors, but I always go
back to thinking about that whenI'm dealing with competitors.
(45:57):
Don't underestimate the smalldog or that small fly on the
wall, because one day they'regoing to take your food and
they're going to fly away.
And that's what we did we tooktheir food, flew away and they
are no longer in business.
So use your competition as avery powerful tool to grow your
(46:17):
business and use it as let me goback and use it as a tool to
elevate your business.
Okay, guys, hey, thanks forjoining us on another episode of
the Business Guide.
I really appreciate the timeyou've taken to listen to this
episode.
I'm doing this for you, guys.
I want to put good content outthere.
(46:38):
So if you can think ofimprovements that I need or you
can think of an episode that youwould like to hear, please let
me know.
Again, I'm not a professionalpodcaster.
I'm just a regular Joe Schmothat happens to be in business
and I've been pretty successfulat it so far, and I just want to
share the message of thedifferent things that I've been
(46:59):
through in business to helpother entrepreneurs succeed.
So with that, thank you againfor joining us and I'll catch
you on the next episode.
Hey everyone, it's Jonathan Wagner and I want to
welcome you back to anotherepisode of the Business Guide.
On today's episode, we're goingto talk about a subject that
every single business ownerdeals with, and that is
competition.
But instead of fearingcompetition, I want to go over
how you can take thatcompetition and turn it into
(00:21):
fuel to grow your business.
So if you're dealing with acompetitor in your industry,
stay tuned to this episode, guys, looking over your shoulder at
competitors is something that weall do.
We get into the market we set.
You know, we're doing marketresearch, we're figuring out
who's the best in our market orwho's the best in our industry,
(00:44):
and we're definitely kind ofcreating our business plan or
creating our business somewhatlike somebody else's Again or
not again.
But there's no reason torecreate the wheel, if you will.
Now.
Every single business has itsown spin, its own personal touch
, and that is how you grow.
But using your competitors asan example and thriving to be
(01:08):
better than your competitors candefinitely grow and excel your
business.
I speak from experience Yearsand years and years and years
ago and I'm talking about a mucholder generation, from my
experience in interacting withthem, competition was a very,
very bad thing.
They didn't want anything to dowith each other.
(01:30):
Any dollar that wasn't goinginto their particular pocket was
a threat to their business.
Now, this day and age socialmedia, networking, communication
is all a different.
Yeah, it is on a differentlevel, and I can tell you that I
have made hundreds of thousandsof dollars a year from
(01:51):
competitors.
Competitors are a great streamof income for your business and
over time can make you verywealthy and really fuel your
business.
So let's dive into this, let'sdissect this industry.
Now, specifically, let me gointo my industry.
(02:14):
My industry I've mentioned itin the past restoration.
It is a very tight, verysaturated market, if you will.
So many people are popping upevery single day and everybody
wants kind of a bite ofinsurance proceeds and all of
that good or all of that goodstuff, if you will.
So my market is verycompetitive.
(02:35):
I go out and have to networkwith other people that are going
after maybe my same targetaudience for marketing and all
that good stuff.
So I can tell you verysaturated market, very hard to
break into, but people stillbreak into it and still make a
killing breaking into it.
So just because a market isflooded with competition does
(02:57):
not mean that you cannot standout immediately and make some
money and turn a profit.
Stand out immediately and makesome money and turn a profit.
So let's dive into this.
Let me get into my notes.
So I think it's very importantfor everybody to understand
competition is a natural part ofbusiness and rather than I mean
(03:24):
I kind of went over thisalready, but rather than see it
as a threat, you need to see itas an opportunity that going
online, looking at reviews,looking at different websites,
looking at different marketingmaterials this can all help you
build your business.
Now I know, when I wasrelatively in my infancy of
(03:45):
business, I went on everycompetitor's website.
I looked at their strategies, Ilooked at their marketing, I
looked at their price points.
I went on and I mean, if I sawtheir print material lying
around, I took a copy of it andI definitely I wouldn't say
copied my competitors, but I sawwhat was working for them and I
(04:07):
decided to do it better andreally, really excel my business
, if you will, with my personaltouch.
Remember, we don't have toreinvent the wheel here.
This is something that you knowthis day and age, you can go on
to.
If you're a plumber.
You can go on to Facebook.
You can go on to so manydifferent platforms that have
huge plumber societies andgroups that just talk about
(04:28):
common questions and answers andstruggles you're going through.
So always leave that door openand I will give you an example
of how I was able to make moneyfrom somebody that wasn't even
in my state off of just aFacebook connection and that was
technically a competitor.
So yeah, competition is huge.
(04:50):
Competition improves our market.
When I started, I mentioned thison a couple episodes ago, but I
was always going after reviews.
Not a lot of people were doingthat at the time.
I was going specifically onYelp and in my industry and
years later I had run into acompetitor that had always
(05:11):
trailed behind me and they saidhey, jonathan, I just want to
shake your hand to say thank you.
I really think that you havedrawn or you have set an example
of what the industry in ourarea needs to be, and we have
had to match that same customersatisfaction and expectation and
without you going after thereviews and really standing out
(05:35):
online, we would have neverthought to do that.
So thank you for that.
So this is how competition cangrow the market and that
particular person, years later,has turned into a referral
source and a referral source andI will go over that as well.
So leave the door open forcompetitors.
It is a very, very good thingExpanding your market as well.
Maybe there's a competitor thatyou have that is offering the
(05:58):
same particular service as youright now, but maybe they decide
that or, excuse me, you decideto get into another service or
tack on another service thatgoes in line with your primary
service, but you're not able tooffer that.
Your competitor might have areferral because you are a good
person in the industry.
So keep that in mind when youare talking to your competitors.
(06:20):
You're dealing in your market.
Competitors are a very, verygood thing.
Now, it can be frustrating.
It can be frustrating andthere's a lot of people protect
yourself from certaincompetitors, don't let them take
advantage of you.
Um, competitors can befrustrating.
Sometimes there are competitorsthat will tell you one thing
(06:42):
and go out and do another.
It happens in my industry allthe time.
I see it probably on aquarterly basis, of maybe
somebody making a phone call tome asking me a question about
something and then I hear aboutit later in maybe a negative
light or they're using my namein a negative light.
I'm not afraid to be veryfriendly with my competition,
(07:03):
but also call them out Um.
I'm not afraid to be veryfriendly with my competition,
but also call them out Um.
I know that there was acompetitor that uh was in my
field and he was just offeringhorrendous services, completely
ripping off the customerscompletely.
Just, this guy should have goneout of business.
And uh, you know I would seehim around.
Uh, local, you know, just thelocal area.
Him getting gas, him going tothe supplier, things like that,
(07:25):
and we'd see him around and hewas always willing to have a
conversation, very friendly guy.
His reputation preceded himfrom customers that were calling
, getting second opinions,things like that.
So that particular competitor,I called him out for it.
I said you need to do better,you're doing horrible.
I gave him some examples.
People sometimes appreciate thetruth.
(07:52):
I know he did in that situation.
Has he gotten better in thelast couple of years?
Yes, do I think he should stillbe in business?
No, but that's okay.
His reputation and the productthat he leaves behind just makes
me look better in my field.
So absolutely, pay attention toyour competitors.
You know what do they say?
(08:13):
Keep your friends close, butyour enemies closer.
I would almost say that keepyour friendly competition close,
but keep your.
I don't know, I don't know whatI was trying to do there, guys,
but yeah, keep your competitorsclose.
I don't know, I don't know whatI was trying to do there, guys,
but yeah, keep your competitorsclose.
Watch the ethical ones, watchthe unethical ones and use it to
improve your market and yourniche and your message.
Okay, so one way we need to getin we've got to figure out how
(08:38):
to go after competitors.
So I'm going to start with that.
So let's go in, let's researchcompetitors, let's figure it out
.
So, I think, going back,breaking into my market Google,
start with Google, start withyour service area.
Start with every competitor.
Make a list, make a list of 10or 15 of the best people in your
(09:03):
area that come up.
Next, go on their Yelp profiles, go on their Google Plus
profiles, go on their Facebookpage Anywhere you can see a
review.
Look at their reviews.
Now, remember and I think itwas the last episode or the
(09:24):
episode before it was the reviewepisode Look how they're
responding to their reviews.
That is pretty crucial becauseyou're really going to peel back
kind of the onion that way.
Maybe they like to blame theclient for their downfalls.
Maybe they don't show up ontime, maybe they don't show up
at all, maybe they don't dressappropriately.
(09:44):
There's so many differentthings that you can jot down.
Put this on an Excelspreadsheet and look at it.
Start creating notes.
Okay, so, now that you've gonethrough their reviews, go on to
their websites.
Look at their brand.
See what their brand is about,see what their message is about.
Are they family owned?
Are they a big corporation?
You really need to know this.
(10:05):
Moving forward, this is very,very important.
I've got a really goodcompetitor in one of the cities
we work in, very friendly guy.
He's never referred me any work.
I'll get into how mycompetitors refer me work later,
but this particular guy neverreferred me work.
But man, this guy will pick upthe phone any time of day or
night and just chat with you andgive you his honest opinion of
(10:29):
what's going on in the market.
Now he has also indirectly mademe some money.
I'm not going to go over that,but leave the door open to
always talk to your competitors.
So you've gone on.
You've looked at their reviews.
You've looked at their reviews.
You've looked at their website.
You want to find out kind ofwhat their brand identity is.
(10:49):
Maybe you're going intodistributors or suppliers.
You're seeing their advertising.
How are they advertising?
What are they?
Excuse me, what are they doing?
Go on Indeed, go on anyplatform LinkedIn.
Go on Indeed, go on anyplatform LinkedIn.
See how they're hiring theiremployees, see what their
breakdown.
Open up a job description fromthese companies and find out
(11:13):
what their company is about.
This is all research you shoulddo on your competitors 10 or 15
.
I would absolutely make a listof 10 or 15 people as you start
diving in.
I would definitely hold true tothat.
On the reviews on the website,figure out their brand, but
(11:34):
getting into their jobdescriptions and how they're
hiring employees and theexpectations that they have, I'd
probably save that for the topfive competitors you're going
into.
You want to structure yourselfto be competitive in the
industry.
Remember, you're not just goingafter customers, you're going
after employees too.
You want to go after betterpeople.
(11:55):
So you've done all of thatresearch.
I feel like I'm forgettingsomething.
(12:16):
Social media Okay, pop ontotheir social media Now.
This is going to go in linewith their website presence,
their brand identity?
What does their social medialook like?
I've got a competitor that doesnot put out the best quality
stories on Instagram, facebookpictures, but gosh, that guy
puts out a lot of quantity.
(12:36):
Is he keeping his audienceengaged?
Probably has a great followingon some of these profiles.
I've got another competitor notin my direct city but
definitely does come to mycounty.
That competitor has hired afull-time photographer that goes
around, photographs their work,videotapes, edits everything
(12:59):
and puts it out online.
They are consistently posting.
That is a part of their brandidentity.
They have a huge following.
They're definitely doing thatis a part of their brand
identity.
They have a huge following.
They're definitely doing itright on social media.
So really you need to dive intosocial media, probably on that
website research Definitely lookat their brand identity, their
brand identity online.
You need to be able to use thisto gain insights, right?
(13:21):
You're not going to be able towalk up to your competitor and
say, hey, can I get your secretson how you make your customers
happier?
Hey, can I get your secrets onyour advertising?
They're not going to give thatto you, but slowly start
building this strategy or thisExcel spreadsheet, I would say,
as you're going on Google andyou're typing in your particular
service, look for paid ads.
(13:41):
Look for paid ads on Facebook.
Slowly through time, and thesealgorithms on Facebook or
Instagram or TikTok, they arecatered to us but sometimes they
mess up.
So if you're in a particularindustry, you may see that
industry.
You may see that personadvertising to you by accident
in that industry.
Take note of what they'reputting out there on social
(14:02):
media.
Take note of what they'reputting out there on social
media.
Take note of what they're doingfor ads.
It's going to be a good insightto figure out what your
competitors are up to and whatthey are doing Now.
The next section is leveragingcompetitors' successes and
(14:22):
mistakes.
Leveraging Competitor Successesand Mistakes.
Yeah, I had a really bigcompetitor that had the
employees, they had the brandidentity, they had the work, but
they did not have the pricepoint and let me rewind by they
(14:45):
had the work.
So they definitely had a volumeof work, for sure, and it was
enough to keep their entire teamemployed, making money.
They were very successful.
But they let a lot slip throughthe cracks on their overall
process of how they in took aclient and handled billing that
(15:10):
client, getting that client anestimate, the communication
between the client and thentheir pricing.
Their pricing was huge.
So when I was starting, Irealized that that competitor
was leaving a lot of money onthe table because their process
was broken.
So I advertised a certain way.
(15:30):
I came up.
When they came up, I got calledas a second opinion and I wrote
my estimates fair to what Ineeded at the time as a business
, and I killed it.
I picked up so much of their Idon't want to say garbage,
(15:51):
because it definitely wasn'tgarbage.
These were high quality jobsbut their excess and their fall
through.
I picked the clients that fellthrough the cracks, so that
helped me very early on inbusiness.
This is how all of mycompetitor research the stuff
I'm saying.
Put it on an Excel spreadsheet,use Google Sheets.
(16:13):
That's what I use.
That is something that I didand still have to this day of a
list of all of my competitorsand different things that they
do.
And during slow seasons or onceevery other quarter, I'll go
through it and I'll make surethat I'm advertising or I'm
(16:33):
responding or I'm going ontotheir websites and I'm looking
at their brand identity to makesure that my stuff is all fresh
and relevant.
Now my competitor let a lotslip through the crack years ago
this was probably eight, nineyears ago.
Moving forward to now, that hastaught me a valuable lesson of
(16:53):
not letting a client slipthrough the cracks.
So these competitors eventhough that particular
competitor is no longer around,still helps me in my business
and my mindset, becausesomething I learned early on
still helps me to this day tomake money and capture clients
(17:18):
Getting to know your competitors.
I would say going out to localevents.
Don't be standoffish.
When you see a competitor Walkup, smile, be nice, introduce
yourself professionally.
It is so refreshing as alegitimate business that has
legitimate competitors that arewilling to work together in the
(17:41):
same market and be friendly.
Now we all have differentstrategies of how we do business
, how we don't do business,things that maybe we like, that
they don't like.
That is the beautiful part ofcompetition.
Don't see a competitor and sayI'm not going to talk to that
guy.
He works for ABC company andI'm their direct competitor.
(18:02):
I'm not going to talk to him.
Don't do that.
Make a name for yourself.
Show them you're not afraid tostand out in your market and be
the leader.
You would be surprised at howmany people have started very,
very small and have become verybig, but the people that were
big never thought that wouldhappen and they lose their
(18:23):
market share.
So, as a business owner, don'tget comfortable, but definitely
continue to know yourcompetitors and what they are up
to.
Looking at your competitorsyou've met them.
You talk to them.
Maybe go through and look attheir services.
(18:44):
Look at things that work, thatdon't work.
Now this could go back intosome market research, but if
you're online and you want toknow what their website looked
like five years ago, go toGoogle and search Time Machine.
I think it's Wayback Machine.
Go to Google search WaybackMachine and type your
(19:05):
competitor's URL in there.
You'll be able to see whattheir website was, maybe five or
10 years ago to what it is now.
What services are they offeringthat they don't offer anymore?
That is important.
Maybe you're just gun-hogetting into the industry and
you want to offer every serviceunder the mount or under the
under the sun, and maybe it'snot as profitable for you.
(19:27):
Maybe you're going to go in thered.
These things are super crucial.
So break down what yourcompetitor has evolved to to
this day.
Use that as a little cheatsheet for yourself.
Maybe there's things thatthey've the mistakes that
they've made on their servicesor items or prices and you don't
want to make that mistake.
Use this as an example.
(19:48):
Now, if you are friendly to acompetitor and they do begin to
open up, build a friendship.
I've got a lot of friendshipswith competitors in my field, my
industry, and that is local forsure.
I have a ton of them.
I go out and have routinedinners, routine lunches, phone
calls these people I'm talkingto all the time.
What I really like about it is,if my market slows down, I'm
(20:11):
able to pick up the phone andI'm able to talk to a competitor
about that slowdown.
Hey, what's going on?
Have you ever seen this before?
What do you think it is?
These are things that, as yourbusiness maybe slows down, maybe
it's a seasonal period or maybeit's just an abnormally slow
season for you, this is going tohelp you get a better gauge of
(20:33):
the market.
Now, disclosure, disclosure.
Not all competitors will sharethat information.
That's why it's important tohave multiple friends and
buddies in the industry, becausemaybe out of 10, maybe six
actually open up.
(20:53):
But now that you're talking tosix and six are kind of
confirming what you're goingthrough now.
You know, maybe there's aslowdown and something's going
on, so this is huge.
Maybe, as they're opening up,talk to them about the mistakes
they've made in the industry.
What they have walked away fromNow, that way back machine is
something that's great, but thatjust gives you a snapshot in
(21:15):
time of what they offered atthat time, and there could be so
many different reasons.
They don't offer that anymore.
So if you've got a competitorthey're talking to you, maybe
ask them hey, what's some adviceyou have for me in this area?
A couple months ago I met areally nice couple that was
(21:35):
starting up getting in our field.
I can tell you my field issaturated, but after talking to
them I realized that they weregoing to be a big player in the
market and they have started toshape the market and carve a
little niche spot for themselves.
So they were very friendly,coming up and talking to me.
(21:58):
They invited me to lunch.
This was a good relationshipthat they were trying to start
from the beginning with me.
They invited me to lunch.
This was a good relationshipthat they were trying to start
from the beginning with me anddefinitely thankful for that.
But now, as they go throughtheir ups and downs.
I'm getting the phone callsfrom them of, hey, is this
normal, is this not normal?
And it gives me an idea, as abigger competitor, how they're
(22:20):
doing and some of the strugglesthat they're going through.
Now I don't want to say that Iuse some of those pain points as
leverage, but they arecompetitors and I have a
business that I'm trying to runand succeed.
Now I do not go around and burncompetitors or do certain
things to competitors.
What goes around comes aroundright, but when you're marketing
(22:41):
and you're doing certain things, I have to say, being maybe an
established business, ourbudgets are a little bit higher.
There's things that we can doand we can use that as a
strategy or in a.
We can use that as acompetitive advantage.
So keep that in mind,competitive advantage.
(23:17):
So keep that in mind.
So I started the business, grewthe business.
I have my competitors, I have abig part of my market.
We have a huge event and Iinvite a bunch of competitors to
talk at a local town hall.
(23:38):
So I have a bunch ofrelationships with competitors.
Downhaul so I have a bunch ofrelationships with competitors.
I want to let them know that Ihave their backs because there's
enough work to go around,essentially, if you will.
So I call them in and pass thatdown.
What happens in thosesituations and I'm trying to be
(24:00):
broad because I just don't feellike this applies to everybody,
but I feel like if I'm broadabout it, you can think of yeah,
this could work for me or thismight not work for me.
So we have a huge event, we getinvited to a town hall because
(24:24):
we are a more establishedcompany, we have a presence and
I invite competitors behind meto talk about the industry as
well and common scams andeducation for our community
Number one as the anchorbusiness that is trying to
educate the community.
Well, I look good bringing inall these different competitors,
(24:46):
but I'm the one up there thatis the market leader, inviting
other people up there to talk.
So people that are looking formy service are now directly
calling me because they see meas that leader me because they
(25:07):
see me as that leader.
They're also networking with mycompetitors directly, creating
a bond with my competitors andmy competitors are getting work
out of that.
So in this example that I gaveyou, where we had an incident,
(25:29):
we coordinated a town hall withmy company and multiple
competitors.
We host it.
It not only was very successfulfor me as the company that was
offering up this, verysuccessful for me, but it was
also very successful for mycompetitors to tag along and
know me and be in the industry.
So I was broad with my example.
I hope that you're able to thinkif you're a plumber or an HVAC
(25:52):
company or a landscaping companyand there is something that
happens in your industry orthere's something that's going
on in the year that you thinkyou can bring a couple local
competitors together, therecould be an opportunity for both
sides to make money.
So keep that in mind.
Making money is something weboth want to do.
(26:15):
So if we can both do it, weboth succeed Right.
If we can both do it, we bothsucceed right.
(26:38):
It's funny.
I'm trying to think how Istructure this story because I
have a couple different personalstories I can share with you.
But I remember going into thiscompetitor's facility when I was
first starting my business andagain remember I was very
friendly, looked up competitors,did my research and went in and
(27:02):
introduced myself.
So I walked into thiscompetitor's facility and they
engaged.
They were so positive, theywere so nice.
I remember looking up on theirwall and seeing every different
certification and license thatyou could imagine.
I was like, wow, these guys areit.
These guys have made it and Ijust I don't know if I'll ever
(27:30):
be up to their level.
It's funny because within ayear I completely went over
their level and thosecompetitors to this day are
really good friends of mine thatconsistently refer me work on
probably a quarterly basis.
(27:51):
But the thing about their workit's interesting.
They like the smaller projects.
It's a much smaller outfit sothey can handle a lot of small
projects, but anytime they getbig projects which is
specifically what my companylikes it gets a little over
their head.
So they call us in to back themup immediately, without any
hesitation.
(28:11):
They pick up the phone and callus and, depending on the
situation, either we give them akickback or a percentage of the
job.
So we are fair to them.
They are making money bypicking up the phone and calling
us, but so are we.
So I would encourage you to goin and cold call or cold door
(28:34):
knock that competitor, becausethat competitor can still make
you money years down the line ifdone right.
And don't be discouraged.
I know I felt a littlediscouraged looking at all those
certifications and licensingand thinking these guys are so
far out of my league.
Little did I know.
Quickly, after about a year,they would be calling me and
(28:58):
asking me for my advice.
So that's a good one.
I have a competitor that is avery, very, very, very, very
small operation and, again,loves the small jobs but doesn't
get a lot of work.
I mean, he'll take the biggerjobs, but does not have the
(29:19):
workforce to do anything bigwhatsoever on a big scale.
If he got a big project, hedoes use some temporary labor so
he's able to figure it out, butit's very far and few between.
What I'm getting at with thisparticular competitor, though,
is he is a master networker.
He has no problem going toevery single networking event in
(29:43):
our county.
He is a solid networker.
He has no problem going toevery single networking event in
our county.
He is a solid networker.
Like if you could give a goldstar for networking, this guy
would have 10 of them, but on aday-to-day basis it does not pan
out to work.
He goes to all these in-personthings.
(30:03):
It should definitely be in yourmarketing strategy, but you
shouldn't solely rely on it.
This particular guy does.
He does get a trickle of work.
Like I said, he likes the smallprojects.
He can handle them.
He likes the bigger projects.
He's got to call in some peoplebut his work volume is very low
.
That's a good word for it.
(30:23):
Work volume is low.
So now think about a very, verybusy season where we have a big
event in our area and that hashappened a few times throughout
the course of the years thatI've worked with this competitor
.
When his phone rings and hecan't handle the work, he just
(30:47):
essentially gives them my numberand wants absolutely nothing in
return, just his referralstaken care of.
So it's interesting You've gotsomebody that is a smaller
operation and likes the smallerjobs and will pass us the bigger
jobs and we give them apercentage or a kick.
(31:08):
And then you've got somebodyelse that is comfortable with
the volume of work that he gets,but then when the phone starts
to ring in an active season hejust hands it off and says I
just want you to take care of myclient.
Now there are many delicious,delicious lunches and dinners
(31:29):
that he has had, because I don'tlet him get away scot-free
where it's just yeah, I'm justgoing to take those customers.
I do want to give you something, so let me buy you a nice fancy
, fancy, fancy dinner or lunch,but you can see there two
competitors that make up alittle bit of a lead source.
It's definitely not adependable lead source that I
(31:50):
can count on, but nonethelessleads that are essentially free
into my business.
And it's funny.
I met that particular guy doingwhat he does best, which is
marketing.
I met that particular guy doingwhat he does best, which is
marketing, and he was going to aparticular group that, and I
wouldn't say, didn't directlyallow other competitors in there
(32:13):
, but there was an unspoken ruleand I remember kind of treading
lightly saying, hey, I don'twant to join this because I
don't want to step on your feet,and he embraced it and said no,
you come along, I've got my ownthing, you can come out here
and you can do what you need todo.
So pretty interesting there howcompetition has made me money.
(32:34):
So I give you these examplesbecause these are everyday
people like you and me that aresuccessfully making money
working with each other.
I know I have a competitor that, again, I wouldn't say likes
smaller jobs, but I put it thisway, new in the industry and me
(32:57):
just being the nice guy that Iam wanting to build a
relationship with somebody thatI think is going to be
successful in our industry, Ifunnel him a couple jobs that
not necessarily weren't lostincome for my business, but at
the time we were just a littletoo busy to handle these
particular line items and he wasable to take care of them.
(33:19):
He was able to buy and pay offspecific equipment and start
growing a little business forhimself.
Now this is long run.
I have not seen any referralsfrom him directly to me, but
this is a long-term play for me.
(33:41):
So I'm not in business to makemoney for six months.
I'm in business to lay thegroundwork for five years from
now, 10 years from now, 15 yearsfrom now.
That's why I'm in business, soI do think of these as long-term
plays years from now.
That's why I'm in business, soI do think of these as long-term
plays.
So I can't stress enough Go,show up to your competitor's
(34:06):
office, call your competitor,run into them at an event and be
nice, be friendly.
I'm going to share a bad exampleof a competitor.
There was a particulargentleman that was going around
on these different networkinggroups.
I was running into him rightand left Me being the friendly
(34:26):
guy I wanted to make arelationship.
This guy could see that.
He then asked we kind of cameup with our agreements of he
could go to these groups, Icould go to these groups, I
could do these events he coulddo these events was going to go
(34:49):
to, but then coming over to myevents and one day I finally
asked him.
I said, hey, we kind of came upwith an agreement so we weren't
stepping on each other's toes.
You have not held up youragreement.
When can I expect you to dothat?
And he was rude.
(35:12):
He says look, I'm in businessto make money, I'm not in
business to make friends.
About a month later I saw him atan event that I had sponsored a
booth and he literally walked acouple booths down.
He was not a vendor, didn't sayhi to me, but as people passed
my booth he then handed out hisbusiness card.
Yeah, unethical businesspractices, shady competition.
(35:33):
That was definitely somebody Iwas willing to give a shot and I
was willing to be a friendlycompetitor.
I was willing to do thesethings.
But he wasn't about that.
He was a part of that oldergeneration that I was talking
about talking about, but I willsay something about him versus
(35:59):
me now is there's a cleardifference between both of our
businesses.
My business is still inoperation and his isn't.
So let's think about who wonthe long-term play there.
Be good to your competitors,they will be good to you.
Don't trust every single one ofthem, but don't just rule it
out, because you can totallymake a ton of money.
(36:20):
I think I'm trying to.
I'm trying to think of how Ican structure this.
(36:40):
To be a broad example, yeah, Ican't, so I'm just not gonna say
(37:02):
that.
Look my note.
My note here says coexisting ina mutual beneficial manner.
That's kind of a kind of amouthful.
So I I think it's confusing me,but you don't have to get along
with every single competitor.
Keep the door open.
(37:22):
That competitor I was tellingyou about with the reviews very
early on in business, thatcompetitor switched out into a
different field.
That happens to be a directreferral source for my current
business.
So at the time we were bothgrowing our carpet cleaning
businesses.
We both changed and adapted andgot into different industries,
(37:44):
but now he is a main referralsource for my business.
Guys, that's just me beingfriendly competition with these
guys.
So don't rule it out.
Create a strategy, get a GoogleSheet going, figure out who
your competitors are, what'sworking for them, what's not
working for them.
Pick up the phone, walk inperson and create real
(38:09):
meaningful relationships, realmeaningful relationships.
And look, if you have 20competitors, I'd expect you to
only probably actually networkand have a friendship with
probably five or six of them andthen probably out of that 20,
(38:30):
an additional five or six thatknow who you are will pick up
the phone, will take your callat any point.
So that's like 12 competitorsyou've got on your side and the
rest, don't expect them to doanything, expect garbage people
or expect them to do unethicalthings that maybe you wouldn't
do.
But use that to your advantage.
(38:52):
You know if they're not doingsomething right.
Use that to your advantage.
You know if they're not doingsomething right, use that to
your advantage.
Use it as a selling technique.
Use it on something to landtheir clients away from their
business over to yours.
So I hope that you found thisepisode helpful on competitors.
Again, guys, unscripted new atpodcasting.
(39:16):
So I appreciate if you'velistened.
If you have listened this farthrough the episode, I really
appreciate it.
Give me a shout out that youyou listen to it.
I'd love to see it.
Speaking of shout outs, I have aquestion, a question from one
of the listeners.
So if you don't know if you'reon a podcast, apple podcast or
(39:36):
Spotify, you can actually send alittle message.
This came in through there,comes in as a text message, I
think.
You send us a text message, sopretty cool, but I get it.
I can definitely reply, go backand forth with you, but I want
to get these out onto ourpodcast.
So, jesse don't know where he'sfrom.
I'm just going to assume theUnited States says why is it so
(40:07):
easy to fall but so hard to getback up?
Now, this came in from our lastepisode on adapting to change.
If you didn't listen to thatepisode, please take 30 minutes
and check that out.
It's important to adapt to yourmarket trends.
But, jesse, this is such agreat question on why is it easy
to fall but so hard to get backup.
I'm almost going to challengeyou and say for me it's probably
(40:33):
harder to fall and easier toget back up onto the horse,
because I have fallen so manytimes.
See, being an entrepreneur and abusiness owner, I think there
is definitely.
I mean I know there is amisconception.
We have all of our stufffigured out, we have successful
(40:58):
businesses.
Man, we're living the high life.
That's a perception that a lotof people put on being a
business owner, right, and Ithink when you start a business
and you create this golden idea,you dump a ton of money into it
or a ton of your time into itand you think, hey, just because
(41:20):
I've got the best product andI've got the best equipment, now
the customers are going to useme and I'm going to make a ton
of money.
And when you start losing that,when that doesn't start working
out, when that doesn't work outfor you, Because, right,
building a business, I mean youwould be very lucky if you were
(41:42):
an overnight success, but 99% ofus aren't.
We have worked hard and we haveworked hard for years, and a
lot of people getting into aparticular industry, they don't
necessarily take that intoconsideration.
It takes years to ramp up andso, with the comment of why is
it easy to fall, I would sayit's probably easy to fall
(42:06):
because you're giving up or youdon't have enough invested.
I spoke in the last episode that, adapting to market change, you
can't take your foot off thatgas or, excuse me, sometimes you
have to take that foot off thegas or foot off the throttle.
I know I said something like ithurts your pride, but it's yeah
(42:33):
, I think it hurts your pride,right?
You're putting your heart andsoul into this.
You're putting long hours,maybe you're not spending as
much time with the family andyou're pouring it into the
business and the business isn'tworking out.
And now you have to let off ofthat because maybe you need to
adapt to your market.
You need to take a couple stepsback.
You need to regroup.
You need to think.
(43:08):
That, for me personally, isharder than getting back up.
So fall is definitely hard,right, you look in some wounds,
you got to put some Band-Aids on, but when you started to learn
how to ride a bike, I bet youfell, because I did, but you
didn't stop riding the bike, yougot back up and you got back
onto the bike.
So we need to get back onto thehorse.
(43:30):
We need to get back onto thehorse and we need to go Again.
So we need to get back onto thehorse.
We need to get back onto thehorse and we need to go Again.
(43:52):
I hope that helped's been somany things that have not worked
out my way, but I can tell youI didn't quit.
I was dedicated and I stayedvery clear-minded on being in
business and working throughthose problems, and I was able
to work through that.
All right, guys.
(44:16):
Some final thoughts.
Competition does not have to bea race to the bottom.
It can be a powerful driver forgrowth and innovation if you
approach it with the rightmindset.
Embrace healthy competition anduse it as a tool to elevate
your business.
Now I really stared at mycomputer because I wrote this
(44:39):
down, thinking if there is amessage that I want to get
across out of all the examplesand out of the different things
that I'm telling you about theepisode because, right, I'm kind
of free ball on this, if youwill this is important.
(45:02):
You don't need to be discouragedif a competitor is doing better
than you are.
Use it as fuel, use it to growyour business.
Use it to grow your business.
I had I had a not so friendlycompetitor, by the way, I'm
(45:36):
still in business and thiscompetitor is not Tell their
staff that I was a fly on thewall when we started to ramp up
and that somebody needed tosquash that fly.
That was mean.
I don't say that about mycompetitors, but I always go
back to thinking about that whenI'm dealing with competitors.
(45:57):
Don't underestimate the smalldog or that small fly on the
wall, because one day they'regoing to take your food and
they're going to fly away.
And that's what we did we tooktheir food, flew away and they
are no longer in business.
So use your competition as avery powerful tool to grow your
(46:17):
business and use it as let me goback and use it as a tool to
elevate your business.
Okay, guys, hey, thanks forjoining us on another episode of
the Business Guide.
I really appreciate the timeyou've taken to listen to this
episode.
I'm doing this for you, guys.
I want to put good content outthere.
(46:38):
So if you can think ofimprovements that I need or you
can think of an episode that youwould like to hear, please let
me know.
Again, I'm not a professionalpodcaster.
I'm just a regular Joe Schmothat happens to be in business
and I've been pretty successfulat it so far, and I just want to
share the message of thedifferent things that I've been
(46:59):
through in business to helpother entrepreneurs succeed.
So with that, thank you againfor joining us and I'll catch
you on the next episode.
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