Suppose you have a great business idea, but find out that other businesses are already offering similar products and services. Should you bother moving forward?
All is not lost if someone else is already doing what you want to do – there are still hidden benefits of competition. When any two markets are equally attractive in other respects, you’re better off choosing to enter the one with competition. Why? Because now you know from the start that there’s a market of paying customers for this idea, eliminating your biggest risk.
The existence of a market means that you’re already on the right side of the Iron Law of the Market, so you can spend your time developing your offer instead of proving that a market exists. If other businesses are successfully serving a market, you don’t have to worry about investing in a dead end, since you know that people are already buying.
The best way to observe what your potential competitors are doing is to buy as much as you can of what they have to offer. By doing this, you’ll gain the following insights:
- What value the competitor provides
- How they attract attention
- How much they charge
- How they close sales
- How they make customers happy
- How they deal with issues
- What needs they aren’t serving yet
You’ll get to observe what works and what doesn’t before you commit to a particular strategy.
Learn everything you can from your competition. Then create something even more valuable.
To learn more about the hidden benefits of competition, check out The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman.
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