According to a recent survey by Zurich, a third (34%) of SMEs rate the impact of competition on margins as the greatest risk facing their
business. It’s not surprising given that the competition is increasing as the landscape continues to shift.
In the past, competition remained only within the sector. However, as
customer needs change, so do the areas where companies compete. Increasingly, they are taking a more flexible view of the business they’re in, looking at how their organisational capabilities can
help them to resolve customer problems.
As a result, 56% of CEOs think it’s likely that companies will increasingly compete in new industries over the next three years, while three in ten have already
entered a new sector (Source: PwC).
In an increasingly competitive environment, achieving growth and
successfully maintaining it, is difficult. A lot of companies make ‘knee-jerk’ decisions to reduce costs or implement new technologies to improve efficiencies, but these are unlikely to provide the
growth you crave since they’re not properly considered and therefore don’t fit with your overall business strategy.
To manage competitive risk, and achieve sustainable growth, you need to
consider the following areas in-line with your business strategy:
Business
Challenges
If your management team lacks particular skills, it’s important to plug
these gaps, either through training, in-house recruitment or outsourcing. Next you need to reduce your dependency on third parties to create an agile business that’s capable of reacting quickly to
help overcome those 'feast to famine' business cycles so you can take advantage of new opportunities quickly.
Discover more about the key to sustainable growth…
See: The key to creating sustainable
growth
Marketing
Challenges
Creating genuine and powerful competitive advantages is the key to
improving your lead generation results. But this must be backed by genuine IP together with a unique and powerful brand identity. Once you have the foundations right, you need to position your
company in the market, and communicate everything to your target audience to raise awareness of your brand.
Discover more about creating a competitive edge…
See:
The secret of creating competitive edge
Sales
Challenges
Unless your sales team is closely aligned to your marketing department,
achieving sustained business growth is virtually impossible. Leverage your marketing strategy to help improve lead generation and sales conversion ratios by shortening and simplifying long and
complex sales cycles, creating upselling opportunities and improving your client retention rates.
Discover more about marketing…
See: Marketing 101
Financial &
Operational Challenges
Mounting competition can make forward planning difficult, unless you
have a robust business strategy in place that takes account for unpredictable sales cycles and market volatility. By strengthening your internal controls, systems and processes, you can improve
productivity and profitability, which ultimately increases your shareholder ROI.
Discover more about business goals…
See: Business Strategy
Growth Readiness Assessment
We can help you assess your Growth Readiness with a one-day Assessment costing only £950. The
Asssesment will be conducted by highly experienced business leaders who are also fully qualified members of The Chartered Instiute of
Marketing
We will analyse your business model, identify barriers to your growth and recommend possible solutions to help you realise your business success.
Discover more and sign up today.