7 Excellent Ways to Outsmart Your Competition in 2017

As technology continues to evolve, it has become even more imperative for businesses to stay afloat in their various industries. Suddenly, you are now forced to adopt new marketing tactics, add new social media channels and revamp your sales funnels in order to stay ahead of the demand that your business may be producing. Because of this if your company wants to survive the 2017 technology shift you must be willing to not only evolve with the times, but you must be ready to outsmart their competitors, here are 7 ways you can outsmart your competition in 2017:

Be an Expert

In order to be an effective business owner, you have to be an expert in whatever industry you are a service provider in. As an owner, it’s important that you educate your customer about your industry because it helps position you as a thought leader that the clients can always turn to when they need additional assistance.

An excellent way to position yourself as an expert is to begin writing or speaking on topics that are relevant to your industry. For example, if you are a motivational speaker you may want to write about “5 Ways You Can Overcome the Fear of Public Speaking” or perhaps you could speak on the topic of “How to Live Your Best Life despite the Fear You Face.” These are just a few ways you can ensure that you are consistently positioned to engage in opportunities that complement the industry you are in.

Customer Service is Key

“People may forget what you said, but they won’t forget how you made them feel,” is a popular quote that is often shared throughout customer service training courses across the world including those training courses. While the quote in itself is truly inspiring it is actually a constant reminder that customer service is vital. In fact, studies have shown that the best way you can show your clients that you truly care about them you have to be willing always to solve their problems, answer their questions or meet them at their need.  CEO Of DevicePharm Clay Wilemon even took it a step forward by even using big data at the forefront of their new customer service initiative, “it’s important to use big data to improve patient outcomes and reimbursements.”

Remember, the Customer Is Always Right

It does not matter what the situation is, your client is 99.9% of the time right. If at any time you encounter that .1% and you realize that your customer is wrong, remind yourself the customer is always right. Although this may be a tough pill to swallow for most business owners, it’s a mantra that if executed meticulously could keep your customers always coming back for more. It does not mean that your client can absolutely never be wrong but what it does say is that you’re always willing to listen to their concerns even if what they are saying is “wrong”.

Know Your Competition

You can’t outsmart your competition if you don’t know who they are.  One of the crucial steps in outsmarting your competition is not only knowing who they are but knowing what they offer. Knowing what your competition offers differently from you could be the fundamental ingredient in helping you beat them.

Celebrate Your Customers

Do you have great clients? Celebrate them. One of the quickest ways to grow your business is through customer referrals, and the easiest way to get customer referrals is by celebrating your current customer base which will, in turn, incentivize them to spread the word about your business.

Stay Focused

Stay focused when you are truly trying to beat your competition. Keep your eyes on the prize and don’t allow yourself to become distracted off the bigger picture. One of the greatest things you can ever do is become so consumed by your competitors that you lose sight of your own personal goals.

Delegate

One thing that your competitor is probably doing is burning themselves out trying to make sure they continue to beat you. Just because they deal with this problem doesn’t mean you have to. In fact, Author Tim Ferris exclusively states in the 4 Hour Work Week that delegation is the key to success.