It’s never set well with me the idea of pretending to be a client to check out your competitors.
That’s pure deception.
You’re wasting someone’s time, money and energy, and also leaving them feeling deflated when they assist you, but you don’t convert into a paying client.
Business development courses will tell you to search your competitors to see what they’re doing. Instead, I’d say become the trail blazer in your industry by doing what you feel needs to be done. You’ll know where there are gaps. You’ll have opinions on how to close them.
Don’t get me wrong, I get distracted every now and again when an advert pops up and you realise someone is duplicating your offering or doing exactly the very thing you were hoping to launch. We’re human, of course that’s annoying. And yep I will most definitely have a rant. Have a rant and then move on.
“Market Research” should NOT be about checking what your competitors are doing. It should be about understanding YOUR clients, finding their pain points and understanding what would get them to part money to solve the pain point. If you find a genuine pain point, you will know that whatever your competitor is offering isn’t working (else the pain point wouldn’t exist!). Either they are failing to provide the correct solution, correct price point or correct reach with their marketing.
Looking at competitors creates a fixed mindset. It makes you compete, it makes you feel you’re not good enough.
Focus on competing with only you, only with what you offered yesterday. This is what I’ve done for years.
There are people in completely different industries that I look up to and admire. There are people in the education industry that I’ll seek knowledge from – but I don’t “research the competition”. I don’t believe that serves any positive purpose.
Be a trail blazer and don’t look at what others are doing. Create a network where you can collaborate and learn, that’s the best way to grow and become known in your specialist areas 💪
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