Understanding who your competition is and how you fare against them is an insight that can only but help any business owner. And with my smart business tips, you will be able to gain this information by bringing out your own inner phantom – phantom shopper that is! Having worked with over 100 businesses, Australia wide, one of the first steps that I always undertook, on our client’s behalf, was a phantom shop. Pretending to be a shopper, my staff and I would visit competing retailers and service businesses and mark them on a range of criteria including presentation, range, staff knowledge, staff service and price. Using the Leichardt scale, my team would rate our client’s competitors out of 10 – giving them a real sense of the competition’s strengths and weaknesses.
But as I always said, the results need to be measurable. There is no use sending in a staff member to undertake a phantom shop who then reports back in vague terms about the competition and what they are doing. The phantom shop concept is basically used to create a bit of a matrix, whereby you can plot your own company and then your competition and see where you may have some real strengths, which you can then of course promote!
So who is my competition? If you are in retail then your competition would usually be within 10-15km radius of you. If however you are a specialist store eg Audio/visual equipment, then you would need to consider anyone in your city/town as a viable competitor. In the service sector, your competition obviously is in your area of specialty, but again is not restricted geographically. At times I competed for work not only on a state but national level as well. However if you are smart you will quickly work out who your competition is! Speak to industry associations and ask who provides similar services to yours, and begin to work up a list of who these businesses are. Then I suggest that you take the next step and Google these businesses.
Once on their websites you can see who their clients are and what projects they are undertaking. If these businesses seem to reflect a clientele list that matches yours (or one that you want to secure) then this would be a company that I would consider your competition. At that point you then undertake a phantom shop of 4-5 select business. If you do not have an analytical staff member who can undertake these phantom shops for your business then it is recommended that you hire a Mystery Shopping company. These companies specialise in this specific area and are a highly cost effective way of gaining an insight into your competition and your company too! That’s right!
If engaging a Mystery Shopper then your company must also be included – and I urge you not to pre- warn your staff! You also need to understand how your business performs in comparison to your competition (warts and all) so that you have a baseline to start from! The good news, is if you outperform your competition then you can strive ahead – however if you are underperforming then you will need to address these matters before you ramp up your business with a marketing plan!
The gains? If the phantom shop demonstrates that your staff offer superior knowledge or you have the best prices in town – then this is information that can guide your future marketing strategies. Alternatively if you can charge more because you offer a superior product or service – they why wouldn’t you? This kind of exercise gives you great data that can guide your business decisions and that is super smart!
But remember you want to clearly mark these businesses across a range of criteria – so be clear what they are and then get started! Good luck!
